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Every week passed h better She didn’t seeht came earlier, and everyone at school talked about parties and costuot colder and there was an announceym would be opened for Halloween
Thea heard that Randy Marik had been moved to a psychiatric hospital and was in intensive therapy He was ress
Thea and Eric worked every day on their plan
The only real exciteht when Thea walked in, sat on Blaise’s bed, and said, "Bullets won’t stop hi her elbows
"I mean, spells won’t stop hi you this because you’re going to notice that he’s not with Mar"
Blaise snapped the tube of cream shut She stared at Thea for a full ?"
Thea’s hu we’re soulmates," she said quietly "And that I can’t help it There is really, truly, nothing I can do about it" "I can’t believe, after all that-" "Right After all that work And afterto stop, because I’ht it, Blaise That’s what I’ot to find some way to try to live with it" She looked at her cousin "Okay?"
"You know it’s not okay You know it’s couess what I mean is, okay, will you please not kill hi in another fight with you And I can’t stop breaking the law"
Blaise tossed the creaht?" she said, seriously "Because you’re acting very"
"Fatalistic?"
"Fatalistic and generally scary"
"I’ to happen, but I aoing to do his best And beyond that, nothing’s guaranteed"
Blaise stared for anotherThea’s face Then she shook her head "I won’t turn you in You knoould never turn you in We’re sisters And as for trying to kill hiriuy is impossible"
"Thank you, Blaise" Thea touched her cousin’s arhtly
Blaise covered Thea’s hand with her own red-nailed fingers, just for a htened her pilloith a little jerk
"Just don’t tell ht? I wash oing on Besides, I’ve got worries of my own I have to decide between a Maserati and a Karmann Ghia"
Halloween
Thea looked out theat the darkened world There weren’t any kids in the alley, but she knew they were flitting around the city Goblins and ghosts and witches and va inside at fireplaces, or
And real witches were getting dressed for their Samhain Circles
Thea put on a white shift, sleeveless, made out of one piece of material She pulled a soft white belt around her waist andup with one side of the tie, then wrapped the other end around the base of the loop three times A thet knot Witches had used them for four thousand years
She took a breath and looked outside again
Enjoy the peace while you can, she told herself It’s going to be a busy night
Eric’s jeep pulled into the alley The horn honked once
Thea grabbed the backpack, which had been stuffed under her bed It was full of materials Oak, ash, quassia chips, blessed thistle, mandrake root The hardened residue froly scraped off with one of Blaise’s art knives A wooden seal, also carved with Blaise’s tools And an ounce vial with three precious drops of su potion stolen from the malachite bottle She started for the stairs
"Hey, are you leaving already?" Blaise said, eot-what?-an hour and a half before Circle"
Blaise looked gorgeous, and more herself than at any other time of year Her shift was black, also sleeveless, alsoloose to her hips, woven with little bells Her arainst the darkness of hair and shift, and she was barefoot, wearing one ankle bracelet
"I’ before Circle," Thea said "Don’t ask me what"
Blaise of course didn’t knohat Thea and Eric were planning Not even Dani knew It was better that way
"Thea" Blaise stood at the top of the stairs and looked down as Thea dashed out "You be careful!"
Thea waved at her cousin
The back of the jeep was full of wood
"I thought I’d better bring so her backpack in
Then he added in a different voice, "You look- a-like that"
She smiled at him "Thanks It’s traditional You look nice, too"
He earing the costume of a seventeenth-century French soldier at Ronchain-or as close as they could get fro at woodcuts in old books
They drove into the desert, past the huge bare cliffs, off thethe Joshua trees, until they found the place It was tiny, just a dip in the ground almost enclosed in red sandstone pillars The pillars didn’t look like the e-they were knobby and squished sideways, like towers of Play-doh that some kid had smashed-but they served the same purpose
They’d found this place all by themselves, and Thea was very proud of it
"The fire’s still going," she said "That’s good"
It had been burning for the last three days inside the circle Thea’s hope had been that it would keep Suzanne interested-and away froym And it seemed to have worked
Not just the fire, of course The three duround tied to stakes were supposed to be interesting, too
"These guys all look okay," Eric said He picked up the s like a scarecrohen he thrust the stick into a hole in the ground, standing it up
A scarecrow dressed in a black shift tied with a thet knot With a sign hanging around the neck: lucienne
The other s dun said suzannb
"Okay," Thea said when they had unloaded the wood, leaving her backpack in the jeep "Now, reht? Not anything And if I’m a few"The Halloween party starts at nine If you’re not here at nine exactly, I , don’t do anything"
"Thea, we ’s happening here, so she o to the party-"
"I won’t be late," Thea said flatly It seeument "But do not burn those witches before I’m here to cast the cirde Okay?"
"Good luck," he said
He looked handsome and mysterious in his exotic clothes Not like himself They kissed under the half-fullherself let go of him
"Come back safe," he whispered "I love you"
She drove the jeep back to the city, to the
It was being held this year at a Night World dub on the southern edge of town There was no sign on the door, but the door jack-o’-lanterns, had been painted with a black dahlia
Thea knocked and the door opened
"Dani You look great"
"So do you," Dani said She was dressed in white, in a pleated sheer gown that hung to her ankles and looked Egyptian Black braids clasped with silver cascaded fro over her shoulders and back and arms She made a beautiful Queen Isis "You didn’t wear a costu it a question
"Blaise and I are sort of going as Maya and Hell-wise," Thea said The truth was that she was most comfortable in her ordinary Circle clothes, and that Blaise knew she looked best in hers
"Well, co Thea’s hand
They went down a flight of stairs to an underground rooether look, with crates to sit on, and white fairy lights strung between concrete pillars Metal chairs had been pushed to the periphery
"Thea! Hey, there! Merryand getting hugs
"Good Sa "Unity"
For those few ht It was so good to see theain, all her friends from summer Circles
Kishi Hirata, dressed as Ae Alaric Breedlove- the sophoh-as Taoddess Ishtar Claire Blessingway as the Navajo goddess Changing Woman, in a dress decorated with red flower petals and turquoise Nathaniel Long as Herne, Celtic god of the hunt, in forest green, with stag’s antlers
Huht Witches put on costumes to try to reflect their inner selves-what they were inside, what they wanted to be
"Here, taste," Claire said, handing Thea a paper cup It was full of a thick red herb drink spiced with cinnamon and cloves "It’s hibiscus- around shortbread cakes in the shape of crescent ht, so warht was enjoy it Have a nor out there in the dark and cold of the desert And Thea was counting the minutes until she could leave
"Okay, people, it’s tiirl with hair like black nylon, was standing in the center of the roo a red shift and lei-Pele, the Hawaiian fire goddess, Thea guessed
"Let’s get our circle, here That’s good, coest now"
A little girl with big al of people Thea hadn’t seen her before- she must have turned seven since the last sureen as Kuan Yin, the Chinese goddess of co of broo "Thea, you do the salt"