Page 48 (1/2)

He paused as if he were reconsidering "I’ him to continue

"I can’t read your mind like I used to, you know?" he asked I had suspected as h the stateh, it’s a bit of a struggle not to read them"

"So, what? Tucker, Emily, Ryder There has to be a witch at the bottoriht, and his smooth forehead pinched into an uncharacteristic worry line "We’d have to do it without telling Iris or Ellen Iris would think it unseemly, even if it proved effective And well, Ellen, she couldn’t know"

Great, another secret, I thought "Exactly what is it you are considering?"

"Going to theTucker a visit"

"What?!"

"No, listen If you can channel enough energy into him to fire him back up, even for a few hts"

I shook my head and felt a chill travel down my spine Ellen would be devastated to knoere even considering it "No, even if it were possible, Tucker had a huge hole punched through hiht you are likely to pick up is ‘Ouch’?"

Oliver shrugged "Or we ht just find out who took one more bit of love from your Aunt Ellen Who has sent her back into the doard spiral I thought she’d finally shaken off Who is trying to turn you against the family who loves you"

"You say we should do this for Ellen and me, but we both know Ellen wouldn’t want us to disturb Tucker’s body I’m not sure if I’ to do Meddling with the dead"

"I don’t either, but I do know it’s wrong fora séance It’s more like when you were in school, and the teacher had you touch a severed frog leg with a battery toa little jolt to see if we can trigger a reflex Coet so any fresher" He paused "It could be Peter next, you know" He was hitting me below the belt with that one "Or Adam" There lay his real concern

"Oliver," I said The thought of Tucker’s decaying body made bile rise up inthe nausea would pass "I’ll gladly help you set up charms to protect Adam," and I’d toss in a few for Peter just in case, whether he was already protected by Faewith Tucker’s corpse?" I hated the word corpse--the way it felt on ue, the way it sounded in my own ears

"We both know there are many ways around charms" I had learned that firsthand when Jackson moved me into a nearby dimension, just outside of the reach of the char off non-ical small-timers, but someone with real mojo? Not so much" He scanned my face "What are you really afraid of?" I looked up to find Oliver’s eyes searching hts were an open book to him

"Ma her"