Luke looked as if he were having a tremendous internal struggle. His breathing was uneven. He swallowed. A muscle in his jaw twitched.
Then, very slowly, he reached for the collar. Blaise held it down low.
Luke's eyes followed the collar. Jerkily, as if his muscles were fighting each other, he knelt down at Blaise's side. He stayed there, stone-faced, as Blaise fastened the dog collar around his neck.
When it was secure, Blaise laughed. She glanced at the other girls, then jingled the metal loop for the dog tag. "Good boy," she said, and patted his head.
Luke's face lit up with an excitement that bordered on ecstasy. He stared into Blaise's eyes.
"I love you," he said huskily, still squatting.
Blaise wrinkled her nose and laughed again. Then she zipped up the bronze jacket.
The change on Luke's face was much quicker this time than his first transformation. For an instant he looked completely blank, then he glanced around as if he'd suddenly woken up in a classroom.
His fingers went to the dog collar. His face contracted in anger and horror and he jumped up.
"What's going on? What am I doing?"
Blaise just gazed at him serenely. Luke tore the collar off and kicked it. Although he was glaring at Blaise, he didn't seem to remember the last few minutes. "You-are you gonna tell me what you want or not?" he snapped, his upper lip trembling. "Because I'm not going to wait all day." Then, when nobody said anything, he walked huffily off. His buddies across the courtyard were roaring with laughter.
"Oops," Blaise said. "I forgot about the car keys." She turned to the other girls. "But I'd say it works." "I'd say it's scary," Dani whispered. "I'd say it's incredible," Selene murmured. "I'd say it's unbelievable," Vivienne added. And I'd say it's the Armageddon of accessories, Thea thought. And, incidentally, so much for Selene and Vivienne changing their ways. They may have been shocked at what happened to Randy and Kevin, but it sure didn't last.
"Blaise," she said tightly, "if you walk around school showing that, you are going to cause a riot." "But I'm not going to walk around school showing it," Blaise said. "There's only one guy I'm interested in right now. And this"-she touched her throat- "has his blood in it. If it works like that on other people, I wonder what it will do to him?"
Thea took a few deep breaths to relax her stomach. She had never gone one-on-one with Blaise in a matter of witchcraft. And no one had ever challenged Blaise for a boy.
But she didn't have a choice-and putting this off wouldn't help.
"I suppose you're planning to find some time to ambush him," she said. "Some time when I'm not around."
It worked. Blaise stood, tall and regal in her bronze silk jacket, hands in her pockets, hair like a waterfall behind her. She gave Thea a slow smile.
"I don't need to ambush anybody," she said with dreadful confidence. "In fact... why don't we set up a meeting after school? Just the three of us. You, me, and Eric-a showdown. And may the best witch win."
Chapter 11
I don't understand," Eric said pitifully as Thea towed him toward the bleachers.
"Well, that's reasonable."
"Blaise wants to talk to me alone and you want me to do it."
"That's right." Thea hadn't realized it was possible to sound bright and bleak at the same time. "I told you she'd probably go after you-"
"And you told me to be careful of her. You made the point very strongly."
"I know. It's just..." Thea searched for an explanation that wouldn't be too much of a lie and clutched her bottle of Evian water. She didn't need to ask him if he had the protective charm with him- she could smell New Hampshire pine needles.
"It's just that I think it's better to get things settled," she said finally. "One way or the other. So maybe if you talk to her face-to-face... well, you can decide what you want, and we can get this over with."
"Thea..." Eric stopped, forcing Thea to stop, too. He looked completely bewildered. "Thea-I don't know what you're thinking, but I don't need to talk to Blaise to know what I want." He put his hands gently on her upper arms. "Nothing she can say could make any difference."
Thea looked at him, at his clean, good features and his expressive eyes. He thought things were so simple.
"Then you can just tell her that," she said, trying to sound optimistic. "And the whole thing will be resolved."
Eric shook his head, but allowed her to guide him onward.
Blaise was leaning against a concrete dugout by the baseball diamond. When they were about ten feet away, Thea stopped and nodded at Eric to keep going.
He walked to Blaise, who slowly straightened with the leisurely grace of a snake uncoiling.
Thea put her thumb into the Evian bottle and jiggled it gently.
"Thea said you wanted to talk to me." Eric's voice was polite, but not encouraging. He looked back at Thea after he said it.
"I did," Blaise said in her liquid, persuasive voice. But to Thea's surprise, she addressed the ground, as if she felt awkward. "But now... well, I feel so embarrassed. I know what you probably think of me-trying to say something like this while your girlfriend is standing there."
"Well..." Eric glanced back at Thea again. "It's okay," he added, his voice softer. "I mean, it's better to say whatever it is in front of her than behind her back."
"Yes. Yes, that's true." Blaise took a deep breath as if steeling herself and then lifted her head to meet Eric's eyes.
What on earth is she doing? Thea stared at her cousin. Where did this scene come from?