She had no idea where that came from. But the next instant Eric fell. The wraith had dropped him.
It shot toward Thea-but then it stopped as if it had slammed into an invisible brick wall. It was directly over the fire.
Caught.
The blue flames were belching smoke-but sideways. Thea could see the wraith dearly above them. And for the first time, it didn't look like a cloud shape. It looked like a woman.
A girl. Older than Thea, but still in her teens. With long dark hair that floated around her and a pale face and huge sad eyes. Her lips were parted as if she were trying to speak.
Thea stared. She heard herself whisper, "Suzanne..."
The girl held out a pale hand toward her. But at the same moment the fire flared up again. It seemed to turn the girl's hair to fire, too. Dark fire was burning all around her and there was an expression of infinite sadness on her face. Thea reached out a hand instinctively-
The fire roared-
And there was a flash like lightning.
Suzanne had been drawn to the heart of the flame. And now the lightning formed a cone: the narrow path.
Plastic bags and other debris whipped around the circle as if caught in a whirlwind.
Suzanne and the cone of white lightning disappeared into each other.
To the airy void. Through the mist of years.
The fire flared up above Thea's head, and then sank down. The blue seemed to fall to the bottom. The flames turned yellow, like ordinary fire.
It was as if a curtain had been drawn.
To beyond the veil.
That was where Suzanne was now.
At the edge of the bonfire, where the residue had been, there was a lump of soft clay. Thea knelt and picked it up. She looked into the center of the flames-and saw a coil of long hair, the color of mahogany. The ends were starting to blacken and shrink
in the fire.
Thea reached in to grab it. She folded the hair over and quickly pressed the clay around it. It was a clumsy job, Blaise would have done much better, but the hair was enclosed. She groped on the ground for the wooden seal, found it, punched it into the clay. Suzanne's symbol, the cabalistic sign for her name, was printed.
It was done.
The amulet was restored, Suzanne was trapped again. She'd stay where she belonged unless somebody else was stupid enough to summon her.
Thea dropped the amulet without looking at it, got up, and staggered around the fire to where Eric was lying. Her vision was strangely gray.
After all this... he has to be all right... oh, please, let him be...
He moved when she reached him.
"Eric, we did it. She's gone. We did it."
He grinned faintly. Said in a scratchy voice, "You don't have to cry."
She hadn't realized she was.
Eric sat up. He was terminally mussed, his hair wild, his face dirty. He looked wonderful to her.
"We did it," she whispered again. She reached out to smooth his hair, and her hand stayed there.
He glanced at the fire, then back at her. "I kind of hated to say those things to her. I mean, no matter how bad she was..." He touched Thea's neck, stroking gently. "Are you okay? I think you've got a bruise."
"Me? You're the one who really got it." She put her free hand to his throat, fingers just barely touching. "But I know what you mean," she whispered. "I felt-sorry-for her at the end."
"Don't cry again. Please. I really hate that," he whispered, and he put his free arm around her.
And then they were just kissing madly. Deliriously. Laughing and kissing and holding each other. She could taste her own tears on his lips, warming with his warmth, and she was trembling like a bird in a thicket.
A few moments later a noise broke in. Thea didn't want to move, but Eric looked, and then he stiffened.
"Uh, we've got company."
Thea looked up.
There were cars just outside the sandstone pillars. Parked cars. They must have driven up sometime during the fight with Suzanne, while the roar of the fire blocked out the sound of their engines, while Thea's attention was focused on the wraith trying to Ml her.
Because the people were already out of the cars. Grandma Harman, supported by Aunt Ursula. Rhys in his lab coat. Dumpling-shaped Mother Cybele, with her hand on Aradia's arm. Old Bob, Nans Buruku.
Most of the Inner Circle was here.
Chapter 16
Thea started to let go of Eric. She could still try to save him.
But he wouldn't let go. And her own instincts told her to hold on to him.
They stood up together, holding each other, facing the Inner Circle as a unit.
"Well," Mother Cybele said, blinking rapidly. "Aradia brought us here thinking you might need help. But you've taken care of things yourselves. We saw the end, very impressive."
"I saw it, too," Aradia said. Her face was turned toward Thea, the faintest trace of a smile on her lips. "You did a good job, Thea Harman. You're a true Hearth-Woman."
"Yes, and where did that last invocation come from?" Gran said, shifting her weight to the cane Rhys gave her. "I've never in my life heard of anybody calling on their own power as a daughter of Hellewise." She said it in a grumbling way, but Thea had the strange feeling that she was almost pleased.
Thea faced them all. Maiden, Mother, and Crone of the Inner Circle. She was still holding Eric. "I don't know where it came from," she said, and was glad to hear that her voice wasn't shaking too badly. "It just... came."
"And what about you? What's your name, young man?" Gran said.
"Eric Ross." Thea was proud of the way he said it, quiet and respectful, but not cowed.
Gran looked from him to Thea. And back again.
"You're in this with my granddaughter?"