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A sharp, acrid odor assaulted her nostrils She had to blink away tears as she held the bottle over the fire and very carefully tipped it

One drop, two drops, three

The fire flared, burning blue

It was ready The balefire that was the only way to get a spirit fro it back yourself

Thea took Phoebe’s a the clay and breaking the seal Then, holding the broken amulet over the fire, she said the words of power she’d heard the elders speaking last Saiven the Power of the Words of Hecate"

Instantly, she found words coue She heard the

Froh the mist of years I call you back! Froh the narrow path I call you back! To the heart of the flame I call you back! Come speedily, conveniently, and without delay!

She felt a ru vibration like an earthquake rock the floor Above the ordinary fire different flahostly flames that were pale blue and violet and rose to lick at her knuckles

She started to open her hands, to let the aical fla

The door to her bedroo open, and for the second time in twelve hours she found herself horrified to see Blaise

"The whole place is shaking-what are you doing?"

"Blaise-just stay back!"

Blaise stared Her jaw dropped and she lunged forward "What are you doing?"

"It’s alrabbed at the amulet in Thea’s hands, and then, when Thea snatched her hands back, at the silver box

"Leave it alone!" Thea grabbed the other side of the box They were struggling with it, each trying to pull it from the other Fire scorched Thea’s hands

"Let go!" Blaise shouted, trying to twist the box away "I’ers were damp with sweat The box slipped

That hen it happened

The silver box flipped in Blaise’s hands, sending a spray of aray hair, black hair, red hair, all flying Most of them hit the floor-but one landed directly in the balefire

Thea heard a crack as the clay seal broke

For one second she was frozen, then she plunged her hand into the fire But the clay was already burning-not red hot, but white hot She couldn’t close her fingers around it For just an instant she seemed to see a syhtning exploded from the fire It knocked her into Blaise’s bed and Blaise into the wall

The lightning for shot out

Thea didn’t so much see it as sense it A wraith shape that tore around the room like a blast of arctic wind It sent books and articles of clothing flying When it reached the , it see itself, and then it shot through as if the glass didn’t exist

It was gone

"Great Mother of life," Blaise whispered froe luminous eyes-and she was scared Blaise was scared

That hen Thea realized how bad things were

"What have we done?" she whispered

"What have we done-what have you done, that’s the question," Blaise snapped, sitting up and looking ?"

Defensively, Thea gestured at the scattered amulets "What do you think? A witch" ,

"But who?"

"How should I know?" Thea aler "This is the one I was going to call back" She snatched up the "auburn hair and cracked amulet of Phoebe Garner "That one was just whichever one fell out when you grabbed the box"

"Don’t try toforbidden spells You’re the one su ancestors And whatever happens with that one"- Blaise pointed at the -"you’re the one responsible"

She got up and shook out her hair, standing tall "And that’s what you get for trying to sic the spirits on me!" She turned and stalked out the door

"I wasn’t trying to sic the spirits on you!" Thea shouted-but the door had already sla numb, she looked at the overturned silver box, where she had temporarily stored the tissue with Eric’s blood

I was just trying to find a protector for him Somebody who’d help him fend off your spells, who’d understand that he’s a person even though he’s a human

She looked forlornly around the rooled to her feet and startedup the mess

When she dumped the ashes out of the bowl she found so to the bottom She couldn’t wash it off and she couldn’t pry it off

with a steak knife She stashed the entire bowl under her bed

All the while she cleaned, her ot out? No way to know Process of elimination wouldn’t help, not with all those unmarked amulets

What to do now? She didn’t know that either

If I tell anyone-even Gran-they’ll want to knohy I was trying to summon the dead But if they find out the truth, it means death for me and Eric

Around sunset, a limousine pulled up in the back alley Thea saw it from herand rushed downstairs in alar helped out of the car by two politely expressionless vampires Servants of Thierry’s

"Gran, what happened?"

"Nothing happened I had a little weak spell, that’s all!" She whacked at one of the vampires with her cane "I can help myself, son!"

"Ma’aht have been three or four tirandmother fainted-she was pretty sick there for a while"

"And that good-for-nothing apprentice ofher way to the back door

Thea nodded good-bye to the vampires "Gran-it was my fault about Tobias I let him have the day off" Her stomach, which had been clenched like a fist all day, seehter now "Are you really sick?"

"I’ her way up the stairs "Vae"

"What did you go there for?"

Gran stopped to cough "None of your business, but I had to settle soreed to let the Inner Circle use his land on Samhain"

Upstairs, Thea made some herb tea in the tiny kitchenette And then, when Gran was in bed with the tea, she gathered her courage

"Gran, when the elders call up the spirits on Samhain-how do they send them back?"

"Why should you want to know?" Gran said crossly But when Thea just looked at her, she went on "There are certain spells that are used for su-and don’t you ask me what they are-and you say those backwards to send them back The witch who calls a spirit has to be the one to dismiss it"

So only I can do it "And that’s all?" Thea asked

"Oh, of course not It’s a long process of kindling the fire and strewing the herbs-but if you do it all right, you can draw the spirit down fro stones and send it back where it caed on a earlier phrase

"Froot out

"The standing stones that encircle the spirits Well, think, Thea! If you didn’t have a circle of soesture "They’d zip out and hoould you ever find theain? That’s why I went to Thierry today/’ she added, taking a noisy sip of tea "We need a place where the sandstone forms a natural circle and naturally it’s up tosoftly

Thea felt faint

"You have to be-physically close to them-to send them back?"

"Of course You have to be within spitting distance, And don’t think I don’t knohy you’re asking"

Thea stopped breathing