"Until humans started burning us," Belfana said, her freckled face grave under its coil of deep red hair.
"Well, this one isn't likely to burn anybody," Aunt Ursula said acidly. At that moment, Thea loved her.
"Nobody is arguing that the laws should be changed," Mother Cybele said, putting her plump fingers together. "We can't go back to those days, and we all know the danger from humans now. The question is, is there any way to make an exception in this one case?"
"I don't see how," Rhys said slowly. "Not without all of us ending up accused of treason."
"It'll be the Night Wars all over again," Nana Bur-uku added. "Each race of Night People against the others."
"I don't wish them harm," Creon said from his wheelchair, his cracked voice barely audible. "But they can't live in our world, and they can't live in the human world."
And that, Thea thought, sums it up perfectly. There is no place for us. Not while one of us is witch and the other is human....
The idea came in a single flash, like the lightning from the balefire.
So simple. And yet so terrifying.
It might work....
But if it did, could I stand it?
Would you give up everything?
Everything-including Gran and Blaise. Dani and Lawai'a and Cousin Celestyn. Uncle Galen, Aunt Ger-deth. Aunt Ursula... Selene and Vivienne, everybody at Circle Twilight.
The smell of herbs, lavender mixed with rose petals. The kiss of cool stones in her palm. Every chant, every invocation... all the spells she'd learned. The feel of magic flowing through her fingertips. Even the memory of Hellewise...
Hellewise in her white shift, in the dark forest...
Would you give up everything... for peace?
For Eric?
This time the inner voice was her own. She found herself looking at Eric and knowing she already had her answer.
He was so good, so dear. Tender but intense. Smart and brave and honest and insightful... and loving.
He loves me. He was willing to die for me.
He'd give up everything.
Eric was watching her, his gray-flecked eyes concerned. He could tell that something was going on with her.
Thea smiled at him. And was so proud to see that even now, surrounded by people who must seem like
figures from some horrible legend to him, he could give her a wry half-smile back.
"I have an idea," she said to Gran and the Inner Circle. "The Cup of Lethe."
There was a silence. People looked at each other. Gran was startled.
"Not just for him," Thea said. "For me."
Long breaths quietly drawn in the silence.
Gran shut her eyes.
"If I drank enough, I'd forget everything," Thea forged on, talking to all the grave faces. "Everything about the Night World. I wouldn't be a witch anymore, because I wouldn't remember who I am."
"You'd become a lost witch," Aradia said. Her lovely face was calm, not appalled. "Like the psychics who don't know their heritage. And lost witches can live with humans."
"And neither of us would remember about the Night World," Thea said. "So how could we be breaking any laws?"
"The law would be satisfied," Aradia said.
Eric's hand tightened on Thea's. "But-"
She looked at him. "It's the only way for us to be together."
He shut his mouth.
This silence was very long.
Then Blaise, who had been standing with crossed arms, watching, said, "She told me they were soulmates."
For an instant, Thea thought she was saying it spitefully, to harm.
But Gran was turning in surprise. "Soulmates. That's a notion I haven't heard in a while."
"An archaic myth," Rhys said, shifting in his lab coat.
"Maybe not," Mother Cybele said softly. "Maybe the old powers are waking up again. Maybe they're trying to tell us something."
Gran looked down at the floor. When she looked back at Thea, there were tears in her fierce dark eyes. And for the first time since Thea had known her, those eyes looked truly old.
"If we did let you do this," she said, "if we let you renounce your heritage and walk away from us... where would you go?"
It was Eric who answered. "With me," he said simply. "My mom and my sister already love her. And my mom knows she's an orphan. If I tell her Thea can't stay here anymore-well, she'd take her in, no questions."
"I see," Gran said. Eric hadn't mentioned that his mom already thought Thea was living in an unstable home with an unbalanced old lady, but Thea had the feeling Gran knew.
Another pause, as Gran looked around the Circle. Finally, she nodded and let out a breath. "I think the girl's given us a way out," she said. "Does anybody disagree?"
No one spoke. Most of the faces were pitying. They think it's a fate worse than death, Thea realized.
Blaise said suddenly, "I'll get the Cup."
She clashed through the bead curtain.
Good. It's good to get it over with, Thea thought. Her heart was pounding wildly. She and Eric were holding hands so tightly that her burned fingers stung.
"It won't hurt," she whispered to him. "We'll be sort of confused... but it should come back to us... except anything about magic."
"You can transfer into zoology," he said. "And go to Davis." He was smiling, but his eyes were full.
Dani stepped forward. "Can I... I'd just like to say good-bye." She got through that much steadily. Then she choked and threw herself into Thea's arms.
Thea hugged back. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble," she whispered.
"You didn't-you told them it wasn't my fault. They're not going to do anything to me. But it's going to be so lonely at school without you..." Dani stepped away, shaking her head, trying not to cry. "Blessed be."