Night World : Spellbinder Chapter 13

You kip d confess, he probably only sexual loved you because of the yemonja, Blaise verbalize.Thea dateed up from her seat in the empty chemistry lab. It was morning break, and this was the or so private pipice they could bewilder wind at school. Thanks, Blaise. I needed that. that maybe it was true. Shed almost bury that shed used a firearm to posture him in the first place.That should view as a difference, she told herself. If it was all artificial, I shouldnt even miss it.She even-tempered entangle as if she were encased in ice.Did you get it?Sure. Blaise tossed a ring on the high table. I asked her if I could look at it, then(prenominal) misrepresent I dropped it in the bushes. Shes still turn out there searching.Thea pulled the cloging spell out of her c everywhere chargepack.Two anatomically correct dolls, both force with the obscure wax Blaise used for her jewelry. Beautiful little creatures-Blaise was an artist. The virile one contained the Kleenex wit h Erics descent and a single sandy hair Thea had found clinging to her shoulder.Thea fix up pilars cobalt blue ring just close to the feet of the female doll and tied it with a inflammation thread to detainment it on. She held out a grant.From her rearwardpack, Blaise produced a corked hexagonal bottle. The liquid inwardly was made up of all sorts of disgusting things, including reason bezoar stone. Thea held her breath as she poured it over the two figures, which immediately began to smoke.Now bind them together, Blaise say, coughing and waving a hand to clear a dummy to breathe.I know. Thea took a thin scar allow train of thought seven feet broad and patiently began winding it close to the two figures. It wrapped them interchangeable mummies. She close in the loose end into a loop.And there they are, Blaise state. Bound till death. Congratulations. Lets see, its decennium fifteen now, so he should shoot forgotten your existence by to the highest degree enu nciate, ten sixteen. She reached up and her hair ran resembling black pissing through her hands as she stretched.Thea tried to smile.The pain was bad. It was as if near part of Theas visible body had been cut move out. She felt raw and haemorrhage and not at all able to deal with things like cut or trigonometry. there must be more to life. Ill go virtuallywhere and do something for new(prenominal) people Ill work in third dry land countries or try to save an endangered species.But call uping most future good works didnt help the raw ache. Or the judgment that if the ache stopped she would just be numb and never be happy again.And all this for a humanIt didnt work anymore. She couldnt go back to her old way of thinking. Humans might be alien, exactly they were still people. They were as good as witches. Just different.She managed to get through the schoolday without trail into Eric-which mainly meant scuttling around corridors after bells rang and universe tardy for c lasses. She was scuttling after the work bell toward Danis U.S. government class when she almost collided with Pilar.TheaThe interpretive program was surprised. Thea looked up.Deep amber-brown eyeball, border by spiky black lashes. Pilar was looking at her precise strangely.Wondering at your good luck? Thea thought. Has Eric proposed to you yet? What? she said.Pilar hesitated, then just shake her head and walked off.Thea ducked into the history classroom.Dani said, TheaEverybody sounds the same.Whereve you been? Erics looking all over for you.Of course, I should have realized. Blaise was injure-hes not just unlesston to forget about me andwalk away. Hes a gentleman hes way out to tell me hes walking away. chthonianstructure I go home with you? she asked Dani wretchedly. I need some space.Thea Dani dragged her to a corner and looked her over with anxious eyes. Eric really wants to find you notwithstanding whats wrong? she whispered. Is it something about Suzanne? The old g yms still closed, isnt it?Its nil to do with that. She was about to notify they get moving when a tall figure walked in the door. Eric.He walked straight to Thea. The kids abatement around the teachers desk were looking. The teacher was looking. Thea felt like a freak show.We have to tattle, Eric said flatly. Shed never seen him look quite like this before. He was pale, glassy-eyed, hollow-cheeked. He somehow managed to look as if hed missed a calendar weeks worth of sleep since that morning.And he was right. They had to talk to end it. She had to explain that it was okay, or hed never be able to go. I apprize do that.somewhere private, Thea said.They left Dani and walked through the campus, past the old gym with its yellow ribbon of police tape hanging limp and still. Through the football field.Thea didnt know where they were spill, and suspected Eric didnt either-they just kept moving until they were out of sight of people.The spirt of the tended grass gave way to yellow-g reen, and then brown, and then relinquish. Thea wrapped her arms around herself, thinking about how cold it had gotten in just a week and a half. The last trace of summer was gone.And now were liberation to talk about it, she thought as Eric stopped. Okay. I dont have to think, just say the right words. She forced herself to look at him.He turned the haggard, haunt face on her and said, I want you to stop it.Funny filling of words. You mean end it, break it off, put it quietly out of its misery.She couldnt get all that out, so she just said, What?I dont know what youre doing, he said, provided I want it stopped. Now.His green eyes were level. not apologetic, more like demanding. His component was flat.Thea had a sudden sense of shifting realities. All the hairs on her arms were standing up.Caught without a working brain, she said, I- what are you talking about?You know what Im talking about. He was still looking at her steadily.Thea shook her head no.He shrugged. It was a you -asked-for-it shrug. Whatever youre doing, he said with terrible distinctness, to try and make me like Pilar, it has got to stop. Because its not fair to her. Shes trouble oneself right now because Im acting crazy. But I dont want to bewith her. Its you I love. And if you want to get rid of me, then tell me, but dont try and foist me off on somebody else.Thea listened to the whole public lecture feeling as if she were floating several feet above the ground. The sky and desert seemed too bright, not warm, just very shiny. While her brain ran around frantically like Madame Curie in a new cage, she managed to get out, What could I possibly have to do-with you liking Pilar?Eric looked around, found a rock, and sat on it. He stared down at his hands for a minute or so. Finally he looked up, his expression helpless.Give me a break, Thea, he said. How stupid do you think I am? Oh.Oh. because she thought, dont just stand there. You bluffed him before. You talked him out of knowing hed be en bitten by a snake. For Earths sake, you stop talk him out of whatever hes thinking now.Eric-I guess weve all been under a lot of stress.Oh, please dont give me that. He seemed to be talking to a clump of silver cholla, eyeing the halos of awful spines as if he might jump into them. Please dont give me that.He took a latterly breath and spoke deliberately. You charm snakes and read guinea pigs minds. You cure rattlesnake bites with a touch. You tap into peoples brains. You make up magical potpourri bags and your disturbed cousin is the goddess Aphrodite. He looked at her. Did I miss anything?Thea found other rock and backed up to it blindly. She sat. Of everything in the universe, right then what she was most aware of was her own breathing.I have this feeling, Eric said, watching her with his green eyes, that you guys are in fact the descendants of good old Hecate Witch-Queen. Am I dose?You think you win a prize? Thea still couldnt think, couldnt put a meaningful remark toget her. Could only gabble.He paused and grinned, a dry and painful grin, but the first one shed seen today. Then the smile faded. Its true, isnt it? he said simply.Thea looked out over the desert, toward the huge, bare cliffs of rock in the distance. She let her eyes unfocus, soaking in the expanse of brown-green. Then she put her ringers to the tie of her nose.She was going to do something that all her ancestors would condemn her for, something that nobody shed grown up with would understand.Its true, she whispered.He breathed out, a lonely human figure in that vastness of the desert.How long have you known? she asked.I dont know. I mean, I think I constantly sort of knew. But it wasnt possible-and you didnt want me to know. So I didnt know. A kind of excitement was creeping into his haggardness. Its really true, then. You can do magic.Say it, Thea told herself. Youve done everything else. Say the words to a human. Im a witch.A Hearth-Woman, I thought you called it. Thats what Roz was telling me. At that, Thea was horrified out of her daze of horror. Stricken. Eric-you cant talk about this with Roz. You dont understand. Theyll charge her.He didnt look as shocked as she might have beted. I knew you were scared of something. I thought it was just that people might hurt you-and your grandma.They will theyll defeat me. But theyll kill you and Roz, too-and your mom and any other human they think may have learned about them-Who will?She looked at him, floundered a moment, and then made the ultimate betrayal of her upbringing.Its called the Night World.Okay, he said slowly, half an hour later. They were sitting side by side on his rock. Thea wasnt touching him, although her whole side was aware of his presence.Okay, so basically, the descendants of Maya are lamia and the descendants of Hellewise are witches. And together theyre all this big individual(a) organization, the Night World.Yes. Thea had to fight the instinct to whisper. Its not just lamia and witches, though. Its shape-shifters and made vampires and werewolves and other things. All the races that the human race couldnt deal with.Vampires, Eric muttered to the cholla, his eyes going glassy again. Thats what really gets me, realvampires. I dont know wherefore, it follows logically. He looked at Thea, his gaze sharpening. Look, if all you people have supernatural powers, wherefore dont you just take over?Not enough of us, Thea said. And too more of you. It doesnt matter how supernatural we are.But, look-You breed much faster, have more children-and you kill us whenever you find us. The witches were on the verge of extinction before they got together with the other races and formed the Night World. And thats why Night World jurisprudence is so strict about keeping our secrets from humans.And thats why you tried to hand me over to Pilar, Eric said.Thea could feel his eyes on her like a physical sensation. She stared at a patch of rock nettle between her feet. I didnt want you dr ained. I didnt want me dead, either.And theyd really kill us for being in love.In a minute.He touched her shoulder. Thea could feel ardor spread from his hand and she had to work to make sure she didnt tremble. Then well keep it a secret, he said.Eric, its not like that. You dont understand. Theres nowhere we could go, no place we could hide. The Night People are everywhere.And they all follow these same rules. Yes. Its what allows them to survive.He breathed for a moment, then said in a voice that had gone husky, Theres got to be a way.Thats what I let myself think-for a while. Her own voice sounded shaky. But we have to face reality. The only chance we have of even living through this is for us to just go our screen out ways. And for you to try as hard as you can to forget me and everything Ive told you.She was affright now, and her eyes had filled. But her hands were balled into fists and she wouldnt look at him.Thea-The tears spilled. I wont be your deathAnd I cant forget you I cant stop lovely you.Well, and maybe that was just a spell, too, she said, sniffling. Tears were falling straight off her face and onto the rock. Eric looked around for something to give her, then tried to wipe her ludicrous cheeks with his thumb.She whacked his hand away. Listen to me. You did miss something when you were adding up what I did. I also make love spells for me. I put one on you, and thats why you fell in love in the first place.Eric didnt look impressed. When?When did I put the spell on you? The day I asked you to the dance.Eric laughed.You-Thea. He shook his head. Look, he said thinly, I fell in love with you before that. It was when we were out here with that snake. When we just looked at each other and and I saw you surrounded by mist and you were the most splendiferous thing in the world. He shook his head again. And maybe thatwas magic, but I dont think it was any spell you were putting on me.Thea wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Okay, so the yemonja had noth ing to do with it. Anyway, love spells just seemed to leap off Eric-even the dolls hadnt worked.She bent suddenly and picked up her backpack. And I dont know why this didnt work, she muttered. She took out a quilted makeup bag, unzipped it, and reached inside.The dolls came out as a bundle. At first glance they looked all right. Then Thea saw it.The male doll had turned around. Instead of being face-to-face with the female doll, it had its back to her.The scarlet ribbon was still wound tightly around them. There was no way that it could have slipped, that this could have happened by accident. But the dolls had been inside the case, and the case had been inside her backpack all day.Eric was watching. Thats Pilars ring. Hey, is that the spell on me and Pilar? Can I see it?Oh, why not? Thea whispered. She felt logy again.So it couldnt have been an accident, and no human could have done it. And no witch could have done it either.MaybeMaybe there was a magic stronger than spells. Maybe the soulmate principle was responsible, and if two people were meant to be together, nothing could keep them apart.Eric was gingerly unwinding the scarlet ribbon. Ill give the ring back to Pilar, he said. He reduced the binding spell to its constituent parts, put them gently back in the makeup bag.Then he looked at her.Ive always loved you, he said. The only question is He broke off and looked like the shy Eric she knew again. Is, do you love me? he finished at last. His voice was soft, but he was looking at her steadily.Maybe there are some things you just cant fight.She made herself look at him. The image wobbled and split.I love you, she whispered. I dont know whats going to happen, but I do.They fell-slow as a dream, but still falling-into each others arms.Theres a problem, Thea said some time later. Besides all the other problems. Im going to be doing something next week, and I just need you to give me some time.What kind of something?I cant tell you.You have to tell me, he sa id calmly, his breath against her hair. You have to tell me everything now.Its magic stuff and its austere- A minute of arc too late she realized her mistake.What do you mean, dangerous? He straightened up. His voice told her the peaceful interlude was over. If you think Im going to let you do something dangerous by yourselfHe wore her down. He was good at that-even better than his sister-and Thea was no good at refusing him. In the end she told him about Suzanne Blanchet.A dead witch, he said.A spirit. And a very angry one.And you think shes access back, he said.I think shes been here all along. Maybe hanging around the old gym, which hasnt done her any good since nobodys been there assaulting dummies. But if they open it to have the Halloween partyItll be full of humans, all see those booths, all reminding her of what she hates. She can pick them off like ticks off a dog.Something like that. I think it could be bad. So what Ive got to do is quietly lure her somewhere else and then send her back where she came from.And how are you going to do that?I dont know. Thea rubbed her forehead. The sun was dipping toward the cliffs and long afternoon shadows had fallen crosswise the desert.Youve got a plan, Eric said matter-of-factly.Not you, Thea thought. I promised myself I wouldnt use you. Not even to save lives.Youve got a plan you think is dangerous for humans. For me, since Im going to be helping you.I will not use you.Lets make this easy on everybody. You know Im not going to let you do it alone. We might as well take that as given and go on from there.This is the crazy guy who ignores snakebites and attacks people with punch, she reminded herself. Do you really expect to talk him out of helping you?But if something were to happen to himThe voice came back again, and Thea didnt understand it and she didnt like it at all.Would you give up everything?