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She opened her equally tightly shut eyes when he pulled back
“As if that’s even i “When you’re—”
“I’m not a murderer!” Seb snarled
“No?” Mae asked “Where d’you think that ain next week?”
“Look,” he said “This isn’t—this isn’t the way you’re thinking it is You’re confused That de to you”
Mae laughed in his face “You idiot! You don’t know anything, do you? Demons can’t lie”
Seb opened his mouth to speak, then checked himself, and visibly faltered even on silence
Mae got in his face, his clear green eyes filling her vision “In April they marked Jamie”
“Jamie?” Seb echoed, the name different on his lips
“Yeah,” said Mae, andit was cruel and not caring “Jamie And the deician Did the Circle ever tell you about that?”
Seb just stared
Mae smiled “I’d tell you his name But I never actually knehat it was”
“Mae, I like you,” Seb said with sudden explosive urgency “That hy—I thought I could—”
Mae sneered “I think we both knohy you picked me And we both knoho you really like”
“No,” Seb said “No This isn’t you, Mae”
“Maybe you don’t knowthe sketchbook at his feet “After all, you don’t know much You think this Circle is an escape for you? You think this is leading anywhere good?”
“There was nowhere else to go,” Seb said softly
Mae took a deep breath “Well, now there is,” she said “Let’s go Both of us We can work so out”
Seb stared at her some more
“I know you lied to me in about a hundred different ways,” Mae told him “No two people in the history of the world have ever been as broken up as we are But that doesn’t et out of here”
Ja habit of wanting to save boys
“Seb!” Laura called out “Get back in here”
Seb gave her an agonized look “Stay there,” he repeated, and left the room
Mae sat on the bed and tried toaround the house like a scared rabbit was going unnoticed So to come in that door, very soon She had to knohat to do
The door opened gradually, and Jessica Walker stood on the threshold
“My, my,” she said “What have we here?”
Mae gave her a bright s about that internship you offered me”
Fivethe house of the Obsidian Circle escorted by a rival ician Seb went pale when he saw her and Gerald looked furious, but they could all see Mae’s ears Hanging fro in circles
Celeste kept her gloved fingers curled at the small of Mae’s back where her T-shirt did not quite ainst Mae’s bare skin
“I trust you’ll reret the little unpleasantness last time,” she said into Mae’s ear before she climbed into the limousine “My offer still stands”
When you’re ready to be your ooman, come find me
“I’ll remember,” Mae said, and looked at Jessica “Do you want these back?”
Jessica sood on you”
Mae had not knohere else to go, so she found herself in the attic again, shadows slipping long fingers through theand across the floor toward her as she read The de her was directly under the , already lost in the spilling darkness
Mae raised her voice and tried to make a dead man’s words come clear
“Isn’t it ti how to use weapons?” Alan said to me today
He’s nine years old Last tiicians came I almost lost an eye, and he had to hit a man with an umbrella stand
If he hadn’t, then it would be just him, Nick, and Olivia They would be helpless
It is tiun with the saht as he holds his pencil when he does crosswords h to keep them all safe
Alan won’t let Nick touch his new gun “It’s not a toy,” he said, gentle and worried
“I know,” Nick answered, not taking his eyes off it “Toys are stupid”
When I asked Nick what he wanted for his birthday, he said a knife I told hiifts He stood silent, staring at me I don’t think he understands the word “appropriate” yet, and I couldn’t think of how to explain it
“When you’re a little older,” I said
“How much older?” he asked
“When you’re seven”
He doesn’t seem to have any kind of powers Sometimes I think that he has them and sees no need to use them, has no desire to protect our family Most of the time I tell myself that it’s the talisman Alana mark on his skin, I told him he could take it off, but Alan,child’s mouth, said no
Not that Nick ever cries
p>
She opened her equally tightly shut eyes when he pulled back
“As if that’s even i “When you’re—”
“I’m not a murderer!” Seb snarled
“No?” Mae asked “Where d’you think that ain next week?”
“Look,” he said “This isn’t—this isn’t the way you’re thinking it is You’re confused That de to you”
Mae laughed in his face “You idiot! You don’t know anything, do you? Demons can’t lie”
Seb opened his mouth to speak, then checked himself, and visibly faltered even on silence
Mae got in his face, his clear green eyes filling her vision “In April they marked Jamie”
“Jamie?” Seb echoed, the name different on his lips
“Yeah,” said Mae, andit was cruel and not caring “Jamie And the deician Did the Circle ever tell you about that?”
Seb just stared
Mae smiled “I’d tell you his name But I never actually knehat it was”
“Mae, I like you,” Seb said with sudden explosive urgency “That hy—I thought I could—”
Mae sneered “I think we both knohy you picked me And we both knoho you really like”
“No,” Seb said “No This isn’t you, Mae”
“Maybe you don’t knowthe sketchbook at his feet “After all, you don’t know much You think this Circle is an escape for you? You think this is leading anywhere good?”
“There was nowhere else to go,” Seb said softly
Mae took a deep breath “Well, now there is,” she said “Let’s go Both of us We can work so out”
Seb stared at her some more
“I know you lied to me in about a hundred different ways,” Mae told him “No two people in the history of the world have ever been as broken up as we are But that doesn’t et out of here”
Ja habit of wanting to save boys
“Seb!” Laura called out “Get back in here”
Seb gave her an agonized look “Stay there,” he repeated, and left the room
Mae sat on the bed and tried toaround the house like a scared rabbit was going unnoticed So to come in that door, very soon She had to knohat to do