"He's dead."
"And you thought I did it? Thanks a lot, but it's not him I want to kill." Blaise narrowed her eyes and Thea felt cold. Then she tilted her head. "So how did he die?"
"He was strangled. Somebody murdered him."
Blaise just raised her eyebrows and murmured, "Hm. I wonder where Randy is?" She held a shirt up, considered it, and added, "Do you want to come stay at Viv's with me? It's better than staying here by yourself."
"I don't know. Do I have to watch you to make sure Eric doesn't end up like Kevin?"
Blaise gave her a scorching look. "When I go after a boy, I get him first. I don't strangle him before the fun begins."
She slammed her suitcase closed and stalked out.
Thea sat on the bed.
In spite of her sharp words, Thea now knew Blaise hadn't done it. Her cousin had been genuinely surprised.
And Randy? I suppose it could have been, if he somehow got out of wherever they've taken him. He had a reason to hate Kevin. But...
The alternate explanation slid into place so quickly that Thea realized it must have been in her mind all along.
The spirit.
She sat there for an endless time, trying to think. It was like trying to find her way through a thick fog.
Gran's gone... and if she's sick I can't bother her anyway... of course, Blaise won't help... but I need to trust somebody....
Dani gently pushed the door open. "Can I come in?" When Thea nodded, she walked in and sat down on Blaise's bed.
"They left. I told Tobias to go too-he had a girlfriend he wanted to see. I'll stay here tonight, if you want."
Thea took a shaky breath. "Thanks, Dani."
"Look, Thea, I don't want to pry, but... are you okay? I mean, you're as pale as a corpse-" Dani bit her lip. "Sorry, bad choice of words. But I am your friend, and if there's anything I can do, I'd like to help."
Another breath. Then Thea made her decision.
"I worked a forbidden spell."
Dani looked shocked, but not appalled. "Which one?"
"Calling back the spirits."
When Dani didn't scream or faint, Thea told the whole story. All about her summoning-everything except why she'd been doing it. "And now I'm scared," she finished. "I let something out yesterday, and today Kevin gets murdered. Blaise didn't kill him. She thinks Randy may be involved, but..." Thea shook her head.
"But, Thea, be logical. Why should it have anything to do with your spell?" Dani's rational voice was soothing. "You let someone out, not something. The elders summon the ancestors all the time without anything bad happening. You just feel guilty because you know you weren't supposed to be doing it."
"No. Dani, I can't explain it, but the thing I let out-it wasn't friendly. It knocked Blaise and me down. None of the spirits I saw the elders summon ever did that."
"Well..." Dani looked doubtful. "But why would one of the ancestors went to murder a human?"
"I don't know." Somehow talking about it had cleared Thea's mind. She said slowly, "But... maybe the book would tell us."
Ten minutes later, they were sitting side by side on Thea's bed, with the iron chest on the floor and the book between them.
"First, could you tell anything about the amulet that fell in the fire?" Dani asked in scientific tones. "Like, if the hair was gray, it could mean-"
"The witch was old." Thea caught on immediately. "No, it wasn't gray or white. It was dark-sort of like mahogany." She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
"It all happened so fast-but I think it was long. It was doubled up lots of times in the clay."
"So maybe a woman."
"Yes." Thea read for several minutes. "Wait a minute. Look at this."
" 'Suzanne Blanchet,' " Dani read with difficulty. " 'Bom sixteen thirty-four in Esgavans on the day that they made bonfires for the peace between France and Spain. Tried sixteen fifty-three at Ron-chain, prisoner at the court of Rieux.' "
"And listen to the charges," Thea said grimly. " 'Bewitching men's corn, killing cattle, bringing hunger into the country, and strangling babies at night with her long hair.' "
"Strangling," Dani breathed.
"She denied it, so they tortured her. Listen: 'Being a little stretched on the rack, she screamed ceaselessly that she was not a witch, but being more tightly stretched, said that it was true.' "
"And then they tortured her family," Dani said, her finger skimming the lines. "Oh, Isis, look at this. She had a ten-year-old brother named Clement and a six-year-old sister named Lucienne. They tortured them both."
"And burned them." Thea had begun to tremble involuntarily. The room wasn't cold, but she had a feeling like ice deep inside her. "Look. 'The children having been promised the mercy of being strangled before burning, but the executioner not having been paid, they were committed alive to the flames...'." She couldn't finish.
" '... before the eyes of their sister,' " Dani whispered. She was shaking, too, and huddling close to Thea. "How could they do that?"
"I don't know," Thea said flatly.
"I mean, no wonder Night World laws are so strict. No wonder we have to keep ourselves a secret-look at what they do to us when they find out." | Thea swallowed-she didn't want to think about Night World rules. "And then they burned Suzanne," she said quietly, keeping her eyes on the book. " 'Being consigned to the fire, she uttered several exclamations, crying out upon revenge.' "
"I would too," Dani said, her soft voice threaded with steel. "I'd come back and kill them."
She stopped and she and Thea looked at each other.
"And maybe that's just what she did," Thea said slowly. "Only she couldn't get to her torturers. But she found something that looked similar-a reproduction torture chamber. And there was Kevin, doing something to a witch dummy-hanging it, maybe. Maybe treating it in some way that reminded her of..." Thea nodded toward the book. "Anyway, doing something that made her lose it."
"And kill him. By strangling him-what she'd been accused of doing. Thea?" Dani grimaced, then went on. "When you saw Kevin's body-was there anything around his neck?"