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"Zack and I have talked about it We could confront her All of us, at one time"
"What, like an intervention? Coehammer I wish I didn&039;t like that about her"
"I had another idea I thought that between the two of us, we couldwell, if ere linked, we could get through this shield she&039;s thrown up and see what she&039;s thinking"
"You&039;re talking about prying into her private thoughts, against her express wishes?"
"Yes Forget I said it It&039;s rude and intrusive and sneaky"
"Yeah, that&039;s why I like it Great idea I can take an hour" She checked her watch "Right now Your place is closer"
Twenty minutes later, Ripley lay back on the floor of Nell&039;s living roo "God!
She is such a bitch You&039;ve got to adh concrete with a toothpick" Nell swiped her forearured we ood And she&039;s got so to hide"
Ripley wiped her damp palms on her slacks "Now I&039;m seriously worried Let&039;s tap Sa probably has to do with hiht Ripley, she loves hiers over her stomach "If that&039;s her choice - "
"She hasn&039;ton She loves hi her happy"
"She never could be sio for it during the banishment spell A double whammy She&039;s alreadyspur of the moment"
"Ripley, she said our babies would be safe"
"That&039;s right"
"She never said she would be"
Sam loosened his tie as he watched Mac circle the outside of the cottage with one of his handheld gadgets Every so often, Mac would detour, crouch, mutter
"He puts on a real show, doesn&039;t he?" At Sam&039;s side, Ripley rocked back on her heels "Since Mac&039;s big production, he&039;s been doing this check at our place, and at Lulu&039;s, twice a day"
"What&039;s all this about, Rip?" Sa into what appeared to be another Zack and Nell were due anyto be doing without Mia?"
"This is Mac&039;s deal I&039;ve only got pieces of it" She cocked her head as Mac started back toward them
"Okay, Dr Booke, what&039;s the story?"
"You keep this place tight," he said to Sam "Good job"
"Thanks, Doc Nohat the hell is this about?"
"Let&039;s wait for the others I&039;ve got to get so you anyti the easy humor that passed between his friends at the statement, Sam set his teeth "Look, she&039;ll be on her way home shortly Lulu, who h osmosis, hasalone for long"
"We&039;ll get you off to play house," Ripley began, then saw the icy temper on Sam&039;s face "Hey, hey Easy, Sam We&039;re on the same team, remember?"
"It&039;s hot out here" With that, Say," Ripley said as he passed
"Who isn&039;t? Here coet started"
Within ten e taken over Nell, obviously anticipating the state of his supplies, had brought cookies and a cooler of iced tea She ed to set it all up like a party even as Mac spread his notes and books over the table
"Nell, would you sit down?" Zack tugged her toward a chair "Get the kid off his feet for five ot double" Ripley boosted herself onto the kitchen counter, snagged a cookie "So, I&039;ll start Nell and I decided to do a little spying yesterday - "
"It wasn&039;t spying"
"It would&039;ve been," Ripley said, "if we&039;d pulled it off But we couldn&039;t Mia&039;s totally blocked She&039;s got herself locked up like a vault"
"And you think this is news?" Sa on in that prissy brain of hers that she doesn&039;t want anyone to know," Ripley continued "It&039;s irritating, but ot us worried"
"She&039;s worked out what she&039;s going to do"
"I think you&039;re right about that," Mac said to Sa about knowing all the aspects, the interpretations It gotOn the surface, it&039;s pretty cut and dried Her task, let&039;s call it, deals with love Love without boundaries We can take that to o, freely, of an attachment that restricted her Sorry," he added
"We&039;ve been through this before"
"Yeah, but what seems cut and dried rarely is The first sister, her counterpart, trapped the man she loved You take a silkie&039;s pelt, you bind hiether, a faic, not free will When he found his pelt, he reverted, left her"
"He couldn&039;t stay," Saument Now, a possible interpretation is that Mia is required to find a love without boundaries One that coic That just is what it is"
"I&039;m in love with her I&039;ve told her"
"She has to believe you" Zack laid a hand on Sao"
"But that&039;s not the only interpretation You need to follow along here" Mac picked up one of the old books, opened it to a section he had marked
"This is a history of the island, written in the early seventeen hundreds, that used documents I&039;ve never seen If Mia has those docuet them from the library"
"She wouldn&039;t keep theaze "She&039;d probably have them in her tower"
"I&039;d like to see theend in sohts"
He adjusted his glasses, skiic it was foric it will thrive or perish So the choices of the circle deem life or death, one times three Blood of their blood, hand of their hand The three who live must face the dark, each to her own
" &039;And Air e To turn froainst it&039; You did both," Mac said to Nell " &039;When she will see herself, give herself for what she loves, the circle is unbroken So Earth will seek her justice, without blade or lance To shed no blood but her own in defense of what she is, and all she loves&039; "
Ripley turned her hand paluess we pulled that
one off"
"You had a choice" Mac turned to her "More of a choice than we&039;d realized &039;And when her justice is meted with compassion, the circle is unbroken Thus Fire must look into her heart, open it and leave it bare To see love with no boundaries and offer for what she holds dear, life When her heart is free, the circle is unbroken The power of the Three will join, will hold Four elements rise and end the Dark&039; "
"Sacrifice? Her life ?" Sa on" Zack clamped his hands on Sa this, Mac?"
"You could interpret this that any one of theiven her life, for the others For us For courage, for justice, for love This book came out of Mia&039;s library, so it&039;s an option she&039;s aware of The question is, is it one she would consider?"
"Yes" Pale now, Nell looked at Ripley "We all would have"
Ripley nodded "If she thinks it&039;s the only way But she wouldn&039;t" Uneasy, she pushed herself off the counter "She would pit her power against anyone or anything"
"It&039;s not enough" Sam fisted his hands as if he could clah I&039; to save a few squareto put a stop to this"
"You know better" As her nerves built, Ripley yanked off her cap "You can&039;t stop what&039;s been in ht over me"
"Your life&039;s not on the line, is it?"
If she&039;d seen only anger, she ht have snapped back at him But she saw fear as well "What do you say we both take it out on Mia after this is done?"
"Deal" He gave her shoulders a squeeze, then dropped his hands "There&039;s no point in confronting her about this: We won&039;t budge her Dragging her bodily off the island won&039;t change anything The last step has to be taken, and it&039;s best that it be taken here It&039;s meant to be taken here With all of us"
"Center of power," Mac agreed "Her center, her circle Her power&039;s the est But that leads ainst her will build its power to match"
"There are more of us now," Nell pointed out She reached out a hand for her husband&039;s, laid the other on her belly "Linked, our energy is formidable"
"There are other sources of power" Sam nodded as the idea formed "We use thehts controlled when he walked into the house on the cliff Mia wasn&039;t the only one who could block
He found her in the garden, callass of hile a butterfly fluttered in the palm of her
outstretched hand
"Now that&039;s a picture," he said as he kissed the top of her head, then sat across fro for a moment, studied his face, sipped her wine What was inside her yearned under the steel of her will "Busy, productive Yours?"
"The sah the iron pickets on one of the balconies He took it pretty well, but his h As there was no way I was da a centuries-old rail, I was about to flick him free with a quick spell The housekeeper beat me to it Slathered his head with baby oil and popped hih to hand him her wine for a sip But her eyes atchful, wary
"I i Sa froer so the butterfly on her palracefully to him, perched "You said I could use the library"
"Where are the books?"
He passed the wine and the butterfly back to her "I spent soht find sole on this whole business"
"Oh" A chill shivered around her heart "And?"
"Never clai "I , and he asked if he could borrow them I didn&039;t think you&039;d mind"
"I&039;d prefer that the books stay in the house"
"Oh Well, I&039;ll get the out here with you like this feelsperfect And every time I look at you, my heart rolls over in my chest That feels perfect, too I love you, Mia"
Her lashes lowered "I should do so about dinner"
When she rose, he took her hand "I&039;ll help you" He kept his fingers linked with hers as he got to his feet "There&039;s no need for you to do all the work"
Don&039;t touch ht Not yet Not now "I&039;m betterin the kitchen, byanywhere"