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"But bringing down the line will return us to the control of the de them demons They are not de we have and everything we are, we got from them"
"You are out of your mind"
Emily’s head tilted to the side and her lips pulled back, revealing gritted teeth She leaned violently forward, her hands white-knuckled and digging into the ar themselves if she were to pounce It may only have been Joe’s position at her feet that kept her froh to slow E to respond in kind to any violence, and she forced herself back against the chair, loosening her grip on its arms "I am the sanest witch you have ever norance thather head and relaxing her shoulders "I brought you here to atteht," I said, holding "
"Thank you for the apology I accept it," she said, the final traces of tension disappearing frohtful pose As she collected her thoughts, I stood in silence, calculatingus out of here "The old ones," she said, interrupting ht "When they found our planet, no humans existed, leave alone witches The small mammals from which we’ve descended wereprehensile thu our best to hide from the masters of this world, but our visitors saw potential in us, and they decided to -term investment in our future They claimed our world for us They cleared the land for us"
"You are saying they wiped out the dinosaurs?"
"Yes, they erased the dinosaurs, and everything that took their place until ere ready to rise to supremacy They were always here to help us Teach us Protect us Change us Perfect us"
"Enslave us Even if what you say is true, even if they did play a nurturing role in our early development, they didn’t help us out of the kindness of their hearts They engineered us to be their servants Food, even The witches rebelled to give us free will"
"Free will to what? Kill each other in wars? Poison the planet with toxins? Gorge ourselves on chemical foods while millions starve? These are the products of your treasured free will The old ones, our guides, would never have allowed such madness There are six and a half billion hu by the minute That’s six billion too many for the world to support Humans are out of balance with nature They are a virus, spreading, destroying The huht down the line You let your old ones back in Who decides who gets to live and which six billion people have to die?"
"You could If you help them, I am sure they will let you determine who are the most worthy of life"
I shook my head in disbelief "I am not qualified to make that decision"
"No? A nurse who dedicates her life to healing or a drug dealer who rand past Joe, she began to circleof the skull lights disoriented me "That’s an extreme example Life isn’t so simple," I said "It isn’t so black and white"
"Oh, irl, it will amaze you how quickly clarity coray you worry about are such unnecessary coht casting nights you want to help," I said, "they want to enslave the huated for their own good and for the good of the planet"
"My son will not live as a slave"
"Of course not," she said as she tilted her head toward n as a king He will be truly free, not a slave of the line My darling, you defend the line, but you know nothing of what it is or the blood that the witches spilled in its creation Tell me, dear, what do you know about it?"
The dreao ca it in vivid detail I watched again as a faceless man slithered like a serpent away fro struck the moan echoed fro, but what I do know is that you used ht hit me "I have a special connection to the line, one that none of the anchors has," I said, realizing the truth of the words as I said them "What is it? Why me?" I asked
"You are the witch of the prophecy You are the one as born to end the line and deliver us all from its tyranny Why else do you think Ginny separated you froic? Why else do you think the united fae you frohtfully yours?"
She had sidestepped et any truth out of her, and the longer I allowed her to keep us here, the s would not end well "No, you are wrong You’ll have to find another o"
"You are both free to leave whenever you would like, but re you into their fold The anchors are terrified of you, since they know you will be the one to hold them accountable for their sins Let me help you Let me teach you what the line really is How it imprisons you and hoill imprison your sonthat is, if the other anchors even allow hi sure that her words had made the impact she’d hoped they would "Half witch, half fairy? Certainly a challenge to the status quo A wild card The anchors, they don’t like challenges, especially ones they fear ht be out of their control If they learned the truth aboutme?" My hands curled into claws, ready to strike
"No,to you how best to protect yourself and your child I would never, ever betray your secret to the others, but you are already enough of an outlier in your own right, and I can guarantee that the anchors will also keep an eye on your little one, waiting to remove him from the equation should they ever feel the need You’ll have to find a way to hide his true nature, or they will kill him just as they killed Paul Just as they would have killed you and Maisie if they’d known Erik was your father" Joe came and took her arm "And just as they would try to murder Josef if they found out Erik was his father"
I stood there dumbstruck as I looked at Joe with new eyes The hair, the cleft chin, the high forehead He did bear a strong rese in, he placed a passionate kiss on Eed between thehed "Relax He’s only your half brother" He took her in his arainst his chest He caressed her, his fingers lingering near her hardening nipples, and nuzzled his face in her hair