Spellbinder (10 page)
"Well, she is tired. And she's sick. Do something."
"Kid, I don't know what to do yet. Hang on." He bent closer to the little animal, muttering to himself. "She's not coughing ... so it's not strep. Her lymph nodes are okay ... but her joints seem swollen. Now, that's weird."
Rosamund was watching him, her green eyes full of fierce trust. Eyes like Eric's, Thea realized.
She reached out gently and just touched the guinea pig's soft fur with her fingers. Her mind reached gently, too.
Frightened-little-animal thoughts.
The guinea pig didn't like being here, wanted the sawdust of her cage
,
wanted
safety.
She didn't
like
the
clinical
smells
, didn't like huge, strange fingers descending from the sky.
Home-place, nest-place, she was thinking.
And then, something odd.
A concept-more smell and taste than picture.
Madame Curie was imagining eating something . . . something crunchy and slightly sharp. Eating and eating and eating.
"Is there some treat she really likes?" Thea asked doubtfully. "Something like cabbage?"
Eric blinked,
then
straightened up as if he'd gotten an electric shock. His green eyes stared straight into hers. "That's it! You're brilliant!" "What's it?"
"What you said. She's got scurvy!" He dashed out of the office and came back with a thick book full of small print. "Yeah-here it is. Anorexia, lethargy, enlarged limb joints . . . she's got all the symptoms." He turned pages feverishly and then said triumphantly, "All we have to do is give her some of those veggies, or maybe some ascorbic acid in her water." Scurvy-wasn't that a disease sailors used to get? When they were on long trips with no fresh fruits or vegetables? And ascorbic acid was . . . "Vitamin C!"
"Yeah!
It's been hot and we've got hard water at our house-all that could deplete the vitamin C in her diet. But it's easy to fix." Then Eric looked at Thea and shook his head wonderingly. "I've been studying for years, besides working here, and you just look at the animal and you know. How do you do that?"
"She asked Madame Curie," Rosamund said flatly. Thea gave her a wary glance. How come this whole
family
was so observant? "Ha ha," she said, her voice light.
"I like you," Rosamund said, just as flatly as before. "Now where can I get some cabbage?"
"Go look in the vaccine fridge in back," Eric said. "If there isn't any, we can always use vitamin drops."
Rosamund trotted off. Eric watched her, openly fond.
"She's an interesting kid," Thea said.
"She's sort of a genius. Also the world's smallest militant feminist. She's suing the local Boy Trekkers, you know. They won't let her in, and the Girl Trekkers don't trek. They do macrame."
Thea looked at him. "And what do you think of
that
?"
"Me? I drive her to the lawyer's office whenever Mom can't make it. I figure it stops her griping. Besides, she's right."
Simple as that, Thea thought. She watched Eric as he folded the blue blanket, and heard a voice in her mind like the voice of an announcer describing a game-show prize.
Now.
Look at this guy. He's tender but intense. Brave.
Profoundly insightful.
Shy but with a wicked sense of humor.
He's smart, he's honest,
he's
an animal lover. . . .
He's human.
I don't care.
She was feeling-well, strange. As if she'd been breathing too much yemonja root. The air seemed sweet and heavy and tingly somehow, as if laced with tropical electricity.
"Eric . . ."
And she found herself touching the back of his hand.
He let go of the blanket instantly and turned his hand to close on hers. He wasn't looking at her, though. He was still staring at the office desk. His chest heaved.
"Eric?"
"Sometimes I think if I blink, you'll disappear."
Oh, Eileithyia, Thea thought. Oh, Aphrodite. I'm in terrible trouble.
The thing was
,
it was terrible and wonderful. She felt awkward and tremendously safe at once, scared to death and not scared of anything. And what she wanted was so simple. If he only felt the same, everything would be all right.
"I just can't even imagine life without you anymore, but I'm so afraid you'll go away," Eric said, still looking fatalistically at the computer on the desk. Then he turned to her. "Are you mad?"
Thea shook her head. Her heart was threatening to leave her body. When she met his eyes it was as if some circuit had closed. They were connected, now, and being pulled together as if Aphrodite herself was gathering them into her arms.
And then everything was warm and wonderful.
Better than holding the puppy, because Eric could hold her, too.
And the thrills of fear that had been shooting through her seemed somehow to burst like fireworks and turn into exhilaration.
Her cheek was against Eric's. And she'd never felt anything so blissful before. Eric's cheek was smooth
and
firm-and she was safe here, loved here. She could rest like this forever. Peace filled her like cool water. They were two birds enfolding each other with their wings.
Swans mate for life . . . and when they see their mate, they know, she thought. That's what happened in the desert. We knew each other; it was as if we each could see the other one's soul. Once you see into someone's soul, you're attached forever.
Yeah,
and there's a word for it in the Night World, part of her mind said, trying to shatter her peace.
The soulmate principle.
You're trying to say that your one and only is a human?
But Thea couldn't be frightened, not now. She felt insulated from the Night World and the human world both. She and Eric formed their own reality; and it was enough just to stand here and breathe and to feel his breathing, without worrying about the future. ...
A door creaked and a blast of cool air blew in.
Thea's eyes were startled open. And then her heart gave a terrible lurch and started thudding painfully.
It wasn't the door that Rosamund had gone through. It was the front door, which Eric must have left unlocked. And Blaise was standing there in the waiting room.
I've been looking everywhere for you," Blaise said. "I had to call Mrs. Ross to find out you were here."
Her black hair was wild and windblown, tumbling over her shoulders. She had taken off her red bow tie and unbuttoned the top button of her dress shirt. There was color in her cheeks and dark light in her gray eyes. She looked extremely beautiful and very, very witchy.
Thea and Eric had moved apart and Thea had the feeling they were both blushing.
"We were just . . ." Eric said.
"Um.
Heh."
While Blaise scrutinized him, he picked up the blue blanket and started refolding it. "Uh, can I show you around?"
"I don't care much for animals unless they've been shish-kebabed." Blaise surveyed the room with one hand on her hip.
Oh, she's in a terrific mood.
Thea's palms were getting damp. She wasn't sure what Blaise thought of the embrace she'd walked in on ... but Thea was supposed to be leading Eric on, wasn't she?
Her eye fell on the Kleenex daubed with Eric's blood. Unobtrusively, she reached for it and crumpled it in her hand.
"So you left the dance," she said to Blaise. "Where's . . ." Who'd actually been Blaise's date tonight? Sergio? Kevin?
Someone else?
"There is no dance," Blaise said. "They shut it down. Leave it to Randy-he was always a royal pain." Then her face changed; she blinked and put on a sweet smile. "And who are you, darling?"
In the doorway to the corridor, Rosamund backed up, Madame Curie clutched to her chest. She didn't say a word, but her hostile green eyes never left Blaise.
"Uh, sorry," Eric said. "That's my sister. She's- shy."
"So this is a family affair," Blaise said.
"How nice."
Thea said, "I think it's time to be going home." She needed to talk to Eric, but alone, not with a disgruntled munchkin and a suspicious witch looking on.
She glanced at Eric, feeling a little shy herself. He looked the same.
"Well-see you at school."
"Yeah."
Suddenly he smiled. "You know, that's something else I was going to mention. If you're even
thinking
about going to
"Um-we'll see." She was aware of Blaise watching her.
But outside, all Blaise said was, "Sorry if I was rude. But I've been looking all over for you, so I could tell you what a great time I wasn't having. And"-she shook her midnight hair out with a charming smile;-"it's so much fun to be a bitch when you want to be."
Thea sighed,
then
stopped in her tracks.
"Blaise, the car!"
Kevin's silver-gray Porsche looked as if it had been through a war. The front bumper was caved in, the passenger door was mangled, and the windshield was cracked.
"I had a little trouble," Blaise said coolly. "It's all right, though; I met a guy tonight named Luke Price, who's got a Maserati." She looked at Thea,
then
added, "You don't disapprove, do you?
Of treating humans that way?"
"No-of course not.
I just don't want to get expelled again."
"It's not illegal to have an accident. Here, you have to get in through the driver's side now."
She drove, not seeming to choose any particular direction. Thea sat
quietly,
acutely aware of the probing glances cast her way every so often.
"So," Blaise said at last in her silkiest voice, "did you get it?"
"What?"
"Don't be funny."
Thea held out her hand with the crumpled Kleenex on her palm. "I didn't fill the vial; that was ridiculous. But I used my ingenuity and got enough."
"Hmm."
Blaise's tapering fingers, tipped with blood-red nails, dosed delicately on the tissue. Startled, Thea snatched it back and the Kleenex tore. She ended up with only a corner.
"Hey-"
"What's the problem? I just want it for safekeeping," Blaise said smoothly. "And so how did everything else go?"
"Fine," Thea said. Her palms were getting damp, but she managed to keep her voice airy. "I think he's hooked," she added, trying to imitate Blaise's most languid and arrogant tones.
"Oh, really?"
They had ended up on the strip, which meant the car was now crawling through traffic. Neon highlighted the curious half-smile on Blaise's lips. "And what was that about