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Nadia shook her head and took Mateo’s hands in hers A lock of her shining, black hair fell across her cheek, only eentled as she said, "I’m not as worried about what it would do to her I worry about what killing her would do to you"

How did she do that? Look into his eyes, say a feords, and so that stopped him cold, spoke to his soul? Mateo didn’t know, but Nadia always seehtly, and when she smiled at him, unsure but hopeful, he decided they could try to think of so else" could possibly be, he didn’t know, and he was pretty sure they’d have to come back to this conversation sooner rather than later But maybe Nadia needed more time; maybe he did, too For now, it was okay to just hear her out "What other options are there?"

"Well There’s one possibility" She paused, as though she didn’t want to say the rest "I could tell Elizabeth I’ to join her"

He jerked back It was like she’d slapped him "You didn’t--you wouldn’t, ever"

"Not for real I mean, of course not But if I just told her that I’d learn from her, ith her, I’d be able to find out what Elizabeth’s really up to"

"We know that now She’s trying to bring the One Beneath to our world, which is apparently a thousand different kinds of bad"

Mateo’s voice had risen more than he meant it to, but before he could feel bad about it, Nadia started yelling, too "I can’t stop her fro the One Beneath here if I don’t learnthis" She tossed her own Book of Shadows a couple of feet away, like it was useless instead of this priceless, secret thing "Mo her whole fa like this, ever She wasn’t able to teach ic this dark" Finally, almost as a whisper, Nadia said, "Mom wasn’t this bad No h Mateo couldn’t hear how badly Nadia was hurting Or that he thought she wasn’t as scared as he was for Verlaine’s dad Instead it was like those words--ith her--were pounding a dru else

Elizabeth had taken hisaccepted, ever, in this stupid, small town She had blood on her hands and a de to ith her?

Elizabeth was going to take Nadia, too

"You say that now," Mateo said "You think you can learn soet out But there’s no way it’s that easy, Nadia You think Elizabeth started out this dark? I bet she didn’t I bet she believed it would just be a couple of spells, a littleyou know, she’s not even huaped at hio dark? That I’d serve the One Beneath? How could you ever, ever say so like that?"