"Are you kidding? I'm going to have him," Blaise said. "He's mine. Unless," she added, eyes glittering, "you've already staked a claim."
Thea floundered, shocked. "I... well no..."
"Then he's mine. I like a challenge." Blaise ran a hand through her hair, disordering the black waves. "Isn't it nice that Gran has so many love charms in the shop," she mused.
"Blaise..." Thea had a hard time collecting her thoughts. "Don't you remember what Gran said? If there's any more trouble..."
"There isn't going to be any trouble for us," Blaise said, her voice flat and positive. "Only for him."
Thea walked to her next class feeling oddly empty.
Ignore it, she thought. There's nothing you can do.
She didn't see many Night People along the way to class. A young kid, probably a freshman, who looked like a shapeshifter; a teacher who had the hunting light of the lamia-the born vampires-in his eyes. No made vampires, no werewolves. No other witches.
Of course, she couldn't be certain. All the people of the Night World were masters of secrecy, of blending in, of passing unseen. They had to be. It was what allowed them to survive in a world where there were so many more humans... and where humans loved to kill anything different.
But when she was sitting in the world literature classroom, Thea noticed a girl in the next row.
The girl was small-boned and pretty, with thick eyelashes and hair as black and soft as soot. She had a heart-shaped face-and dimples. But what caught Thea's eye was the girl's hand, which was playing with a pin on the girl's blue-and-white-striped vest. A pin in the shape of a black flower.
A dahlia.
Thea immediately turned to a blank page in her notebook. While the teacher read a passage from the story Rashomon, Thea began drawing a black dahlia, tracing it over and over until it was large enough for the girl to see distinctly. When she raised her head, she saw the girl was looking at her.
The girl's lashes swept down as she looked at the drawing, then up again. She smiled at Thea and nodded slightly.
Thea smiled and nodded back.
After class, without any need to discuss it, Thea followed the girl to the front of the school. The girl looked around to make sure no one was in earshot, then turned to Thea with something like resigned wistfulness.
"Circle Midnight?" she said.
Thea shook her head. "Circle Twilight. Aren't you?"
The girl's face lit up with shy delight. Her eyes were dark and velvety. "Yes!" she said and rushed on, "But there are only two more of us-two seniors, I mean-and they're both Circle Midnight, and I was afraid to hope!" She thrust out her hand, dimpling. "I'm Dani Abforth."
Thea felt her heart lighten. The girl's laughter was infectious. "Thea Harman. Unity." It was the age-old greeting of the witches, the symbol of their harmony, their oneness.
"Unity," Dani murmured. Then her eyes widened. "Harman? You're a Hearth-Woman? A daughter of Hellewise? Really?"
Thea laughed. "We're all daughters of Hellewise."
"Yes, but-you know what I mean. You're a direct descendent. I'm honored."
"Well, I'm honored, too. Abforth is 'All-bringing-forth,' isn't it? That's a pretty impressive line itself." Dani was still looking awed, so Thea said quickly, "My cousin's here, too-Blaise Harman. We're both new-but you must be, too. I've never seen you around Vegas before."
"We moved in last month, just in time to start school," Dani said. Her brow puckered. "But it you're new, what do you mean you haven't seen me around?"
Thea sighed. "Well, it's kind of complicated...."
A bell rang. Both she and Dani looked at the school building in frustration, then at each other.
"Meet me here at lunch?" Dani asked.
Thea nodded, asked which way her French class was, and then flew off toward the other side of the building.
She sat through her next two classes trying to actually listen to the teachers. She didn't know what else to do. She had to concentrate to keep the image of gray-flecked green eyes out of her mind.
At lunch, she found Dani sitting on the steps out front. Thea settled beside her and opened a bottle of Evian water and a chocolate yogurt she'd bought at the snack bar.
"You were going to explain how you know Vegas," Dani said. She spoke softly because there were kids everywhere in the front courtyard, sprawled in the sun with paper bags.
Thea eyed a row of sago palms and felt herself sighing again. "Blaise and I-our mothers died when we were born. They were twin sisters. And then both our dads died. So we grew up sort of moving around from relative to relative. We usually spend the summers with Grandma Harman, and we live with somebody else during the school year. But these last couple of years... well, we've been in five high schools since we were sophomores."
"Five?"
"Five. I think five. Isis knows, it could be six."
"But why?"
"We keep getting expelled," Thea said succinctly.
"But-"
"It's Blaise's fault," Thea said. She was mad at Blaise. "She does-things-to boys. Human boys. And somehow it always ends up getting us kicked out of school. Both of us, because I'm always too stupid to tell them she's the one responsible."
"Not stupid, I bet. Loyal," Dani said warmly, and put her hand on Thea's. Thea squeezed it, taking some comfort in the sympathy.
"Anyway, this year we were in New Hampshire living with our Uncle Galen-and Blaise did it again. To the captain of the football team. His name was Randy Marik...."
When Thea stopped, Dani said, "What happened to him?"