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What?" Thea said This was so she could speak out about "Blaise, are you out of youryou don’t want to do spells," Blaise said dangerously "That’s part of it, you know"

"I’h blood to fill this without the to tell them? ’I just want a little to reenuity," Vivienne said ers

"In a pinch we could always use the Cup of Lethe," Blaise added calmly "Then no matter e do, they won’t remegesting was like using a nuclear bomb to swat a fly "You are crazy," she said quietly "You know that maidens

aren’t allowed to use that kind of spell, and we probably won’t even be able to use it e’re mothers, and probably not even e’re crones That’s stuff for the elders" She stared at Blaise until the gray eyes dropped

"I don’t believe in classifying some spells as forbidden," Blaise said loftily, but she didn’t look back at Thea and she didn’t pursue the subject

As she and Dani left the patio, Thea noticed that Dani had taken one of the s to the dance?"

"I guess so" Dani shrugged lithe shoulders "John Finkelstein froo I’ve never been to one of their dances before-but maybe this is the time to start"

Nohat did thatto put a spell on him?"

"You ers "I don’t know I figured I’d take it just in case" She looked up at Thea defensively "You took one for Eric"

Thea hesitated She hadn’t talked to Dani about Eric yet Part of her wanted to and part of her was scared What did Dani really think of Outsiders, anyway?

"After all," Dani said, her sweet face tranquil, "they’re only huht Thea took a dress out of the closet It was pale green-so pale that it al Grecian lines Witch clothes had to feel good as well as look good, and this dress was soft and lightweight, swirling beautifully when she turned

Blaise wasn’t wearing a dress She earing a tuxedo It had a red silk bow tie and cummerbund and it looked fantastic on her

This is probably going to be the only dance in history where the ht

Eric arrived right on time He knocked at the front door of the shop, the door that only Outsiders used Night People came around back, to a door that was unraffiti-a spray-painted black dahlia

Okay, Thea thought She took a deep breath before she unlocked the door and let him in

This is business, business, business

But the first moment wasn’t as aard as she’d feared He se of white orchids She smiled and took it Then she said, "You look nice"

His suit was pale fatigue brown, loose and co "Me? You look nice I mean-you look wonderful That color lanced down at hio to many dances, I’irls talking about hiet close to him

"No, I’ sports" He added s to say around girls"

Funny, you never seeht She saw hirands here, from all around the world" She watched him closely This was an important test If he-a hueek or dangerously close to the truth

"It’s cool," he said, and she was happy to see that he was lying "Ito find a polite way to praise the voodoo dolls and wand crystals, "I think people can really affect their bodies by changing their state of ht you are, Thea thought

There was a clack of high heels on wood, and Blaise came down the stairs Her shoes appeared first, then her fitted trouser legs, then all the curves, emphasized here and there with brilliant red silk Finally caht hair half up and half down, fralanced sideways at Eric

He was s-sheep way other guys srin

"Hi, Blaise," he said "Going to the dance? We can take you if you need a lift"

Blaise stopped dead Then she gave hilare "Thank you, I haveto pick him up now"

On the way to the door, she looked hard at Thea "You do have everything you need for tonight- don’t you?"

The vial was in Thea’s pale green clutch purse Thea still didn’t kno she could possibly get it filled, but she nodded tightly

"Good" Blaise swept out and got into a silver-gray Porsche that was parked at the curb Kevin’s car But, as Thea knew, she wasn’t going to pick up Kevin

"I think I made her mad," Eric said

"Don’t worry Blaise likes being o now?"

Business, business, business, Thea chanted to herself as they walked into the school cafeteria It had been cohts andand the whirl of color out on the dance floor was strangely inviting

I’ain But her blood seelance at her conspiratorially and she could al-as if they were two kids standing hand in hand at the edge of some incredible carnival

"Uh, I should tell you," Eric said "I can’t really dance-except for slow ones"

Oh, great But of course this hat she was here to do To put on a show of ro that ned herself to fate-which didn’t seem all that awful as she and Eric stepped out onto the floor

Terpsichore, Muse of the Dance, help me not make a fool of myself She’d never been so close to a human boy, and she’d never tried to dance to human music But Eric didn’t seem to notice her lack of experience

"You know, I can’t believe this," he said His arhtly, almost reverently As if he were afraid she’d break if he held her too hard

"What can’t you believe?"

"Well" He shook his head "Everything, I guess That I’m here with you And that it all feels so easy And that you always shed in spite of herself "I didn’t use any yeue Adrenaline washed over her in a wave of painful tingles

Was she crazy? She was blurting out spell ingredients, for Earth’s sake He was too easy to talk to, that was the probleet he wasn’t a witch

"You okay?" he said as her silence stretched on His voice was concerned

No, I aot Blaise on one side and the laws of the Night World on the other, and they’re both out to get me And I don’t even know if you’re worth it

"Can I ask you so?" she said abruptly "Why did you knock me out of the way of that snake?"

"Huh? It was in a striking coil You could have got bit"

"But so could you" So did you

He frowned as if stricken by one of those unsolvable mysteries of life "Yeah but that didn’t seem so bad somehow I suppose that sounds stupid"

Thea didn’t kno to answer And she was suddenly in terrible conflict about what to do Her body seeainst Eric’s shoulder, but her ht

At that e of the dance floor

"Get out of the way," a guy in a blue jacket was saying "She s over there"

"It was ray jacket snapped back "So just back off and let o"

Expletives "It was et out of the way" More expletives "It was ht started Chaperones ca

Guess who’s here? Thea asked herself She had no trouble at all locating Blaise The red-triuys, which was surrounded by a ring of abandoned and angry girls

"Maybe we should go over and say hi," Thea said She wanted to warn Blaise about starting a riot

"Okay She sure is popular, isn’t she?"

Theycrowd Blaise was in her ele in the adulation and confusion

"I waited for an hour and a half, but you never showed up," a very pale Kevin was saying to her He earing an immaculate white silk shirt and exquisitely tailored black pants His eyes were hollow