Night World : Spellbinder Chapter 13

You know, he probably only sockd you because of the yemonja, Blaise said.Thea looked up from her seat in the empty chemistry lab. It was morning dispel, and this was the nigh esoteric place they could find at school. Thanks, Blaise. I needed that.But maybe it was true. Shed almost forgotten that shed used a spell to loaf him in the basic place.That should make a difference, she told herself. If it was in all artificial, I shouldnt even miss it.She s work on felt 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, thusly pret set a slopeed I dropped it in the bushes. Shes still taboo there searching.Thea pulled the binding spell erupt of her endurepack.Two anatomically correct dolls, both made with the blue wax Blaise used for her jewelry. Beautiful little creatures-Blaise was an artist. The male one contained the Kleenex with Erics blood and a star sandy hair Thea had found clinging to her shoulder.T hea put Pilars turquoise ring around the feet of the female doll and tied it with a red thread to keep it on. She held forbidden a hand.From her backpack, Blaise produced a corked hexagonal bottle. The liquid inside was made up of all sorts of disgusting things, including ground bezoar stone. Thea held her breath as she poured it over the 2 figures, which immediately began to smoke.Now bind them together, Blaise said, coughing and waving a hand to clear a space to breathe.I know. Thea took a thin scarlet medal seven feet long and patiently began winding it around the two figures. It wrapped them wish mummies. She tucked the loose end into a loop.And there they ar, Blaise said. Bound till death. Congratulations. Lets see, its ten fifteen now, so he should drive home forgotten your existence by about say, ten sixteen. She reached up and her hair ran like black piss through her hands as she stretched.Thea tried to smile.The pain was bad. It was as if some part of Theas physical body had been cut off. She felt raw and bleeding and non at all able to deal with things like French or trigonometry.There must be more to life. Ill go somewhere and do something for another(prenominal) people Ill work in third world countries or try to save an endangered species.But appreciateing about future good whole caboodle didnt help the raw ache. Or the pure tone that if the ache stopped she would middling be numb and never be happy again.And all this for a homoIt didnt work anymore. She couldnt go back to her old way of thinking. Humans might be alien, but they were still people. They were as good as witches. Just different.She managed to get through the schoolday without running into Eric-which mainly meant scuttling around corridors after bells rang and being tardy for classes. She was scuttling after the last bell toward Danis U.S. government class when she almost collided with Pilar.TheaThe articulate was surprised. Thea looked up. bass amber-brown look, frame d by spiky black lashes. Pilar was looking at her very strangely.Wondering at your good luck? Thea thought. Has Eric proposed to you yet? What? she said.Pilar hesitated, then equitable shook her head and notched 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 arrive at realized. Blaise was wrong-hes not just dismissal to forget about me andwalk away. Hes a gentleman hes going to tell me hes walking away.Can 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 eye. Eric in reality wants to find you but whats wrong? she whispered. Is it something about Suzanne? The old gyms still closed, isnt it?Its nothing to do with that. She was about to suggest they get moving when a tall figure walked in the door. Eric.He walked straight to Thea. The kids hanging around the teachers desk were looking. The teach er was looking. Thea felt like a freak show.We strike to talk, 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 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 put up do that.Somewhere private, Thea said.They left Dani and walked through the campus, past the old gym with its scandalmongering ribbon of police tape hanging limp and still. Through the football field.Thea didnt know where they were going, and suspected Eric didnt either-they just kept moving until they were out of sight of people.The kB of the tended grass gave way to yellow-green, and then brown, and then desert. 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 going to talk about it, she thought as Eric stop ped. Okay. I dont have to think, just say the right words. She oblige herself to look at him.He false the haggard, haunted face on her and said, I want you to stop it.Funny choice 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, but I want it stopped. Now.His green eye were level. Not apologetic, more like demanding. His voice 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 upset right now because Im acting crazy. But I dont want to bewith her. Its you I love. And if yo u want to get rid of me, then tell me, but dont try and foist me off on somebody else.Thea listened to the whole speech 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 music, 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. Then she thought, dont just stand there. You bluffed him before. You talked him out of knowing hed been bitten by a snake. For Earths sake, you can talk him out of whatever hes thinking now.Eric-I jibe 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 deep breath and spoke deliberately. You charm snakes and read guinea pigs minds. You cure rattler bites with a touch. You tap into peoples brains. You make up magical potpourri bags and your insane cousin is the goddess Aphrodite. He looked at her. Did I miss anything?Thea found another 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 look, that you guys are in point 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 take note together. Could only gabble.He paused and grinned, a wry 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, deprive 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 bridge of her nose.She was going to do something that all her ancestors would condemn her for, something that nix 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 ever so 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 grogginess of horror. Stricken. Eric-you cant talk about this with Roz. You dont understand. Theyll kill her.He didnt look as shocked as she might have expected. I knew you were scared of something. I thought it was just that peo ple might hurt you-and your grandma.They will theyll kill me. But theyll kill you and Roz, too-and your mom and any other human they think may have well-read 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 secret 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. H e looked at Thea, his gaze sharpening. Look, if all you people have supernatural powers, why dont you just take over?Not enough of us, Thea said. And too many 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 law is so severe 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 bit of rock nettle between her feet. I didnt want you dead. 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 warmth 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 w e 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 separate ways. And for you to try as hard as you can to forget me and everything Ive told you.She was trembling 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 loving 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 wet cheeks with his thumb.She whacked his hand away. learn 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 put down 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 gently, 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 beautiful 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 nothing to do with it. Anyway, love spells just seemed to bounce 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 dazed again.So it couldnt have been an accident, and no human could have done it. And no witch could have done it either.mayhapMaybe 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 he r.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 while 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 said calmly, his breath against her hair. You have to tell me everything now.Its magic stuff and its grievous- A second 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 yours elfHe wore her down. He was good at that-even give way 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 approaching 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 assailable it to have the Halloween partyItll be full of humans, all visiting 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 sunshine was dipping toward the cliffs and long afternoon shadows had fallen across the desert.Youve got a be after, Eric said matter-of-factly.Not you, Thea thought. I promised myself I wou ldnt 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?