"Forever."
Now I took a deep breath. "So all three of you did spells that hurt people."
"No," Anna replied. "We did powerful spells befitting our kind.
Humans just . . . got in the way."
That was all I had to hear. I stood up. "All right, well, thanks for the offer, but . . . yeah. I don't think this is gonna work out."
Chaston reached up and grabbed my hand again. "No, don't go," she said. Her eyes were huge and shining in the candlelight.
"Oh, let her," Elodie said in a disgusted voice. "She clearly thinks she's better than us anyway."
"Okay, that's not what I said--"
"But we need a fourth," Chaston broke in.
"Not if that fourth is dead weight," Elodie retorted.
"She's the only other dark witch here. We need her," Anna said in a low voice. "Without four, we won't be strong enough to hold it."
"Hold what?" I asked, but at the same time, Elodie hissed, "Shut up, Anna."
"It didn't work anyway," Chaston said glumly.
"Seriously, are you guys talking in code or something?" I asked.
"No," Elodie said, rising to her feet. "They're talking about things related to the coven. Things that don't concern you."
I don't think anyone has ever looked at me with that much anger. I was kind of baffled by it. I mean, sure I'd turned down the invitation to join their coven, but it wasn't like I'd spit in their faces or anything.
"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings," I said, "but . . . um, it's not you, it's me?"
Oh, that was original, Sophie.
Anna and Chaston were both standing by now. Anna was scowling at me, but Chaston still looked worried.
"You need us too, Sophie," Chaston said. "It won't be easy for you without your sisters to protect you."
"Protect me from what?"
"Do you honestly think people here are going to welcome you with open arms?" Elodie asked. "Between that leech you room with and your father, you're looking at total pariahdom without us."
My stomach dropped. "What about my dad?"
The three of them glanced at each other.
"She doesn't know," Elodie murmured.
"Know what?"
Chaston opened her mouth to reply, but Elodie stopped her. "Let her figure it out on her own." She opened the door. "Good luck surviving
Hecate, Sophie. You'll need it."
If that wasn't a dismissal, I didn't know what was.
I was so distracted thinking about my dad that I walked right into the middle of the circle, kicking over the candle as I did. I hissed as hot wax spilled over my bare foot. I could've sworn I heard Anna giggle.
I limped to the door. Before I left, I turned to Elodie. She was watching me stonily.
"I'm sorry," I said again. "I didn't realize turning down a coven was such a big deal."
For a second I thought she wasn't going to reply. Then she dropped her voice and said, "I spent years in the human world being looked at like I was a monster. No one gets to look at me like that anymore." Her hard, green eyes narrowed. "Certainly not a loser witch like you."
Then she slammed the door in my face.
I stood there in the hall, very aware of the sound of my own breathing.
Had I looked at her like she was a monster? I thought of how I'd felt when she said she'd made some poor girl disappear.
Yeah, I'd probably looked at her like that.
"Okay, that is IT!" someone shouted.
A door flew open across the hall, and Taylor stomped out of her room.
She was wearing an oversize nightshirt, and her hair was tangled around her face. Once again her mouth was full of fangs.
"Get OUT!" she cried, pointing down the hall. Through the open door
I could see Nausicaa and Siobhan, along with a couple of other faeries, sitting cross-legged on the floor. A green light glowed from the center of the circle, but I couldn't tell what it was.
The group stood. "You cannot keep me from performing the rituals of my people," Nausicaa said.
Taylor pushed her hair away from her face. "No, but I can tell Casnoff that you four were trying to communicate with the Seelie Court with that mirror thingie."
Nausicca frowned and bent down to pick up the glowing circle of green glass. "It is not a 'mirror thingie.' It is a pool of dew collected from night-blooming flowers found on the highest hill in--"
"WHAT. EVER," Taylor shouted. "I have to be in Classifications of
Shapeshifters at eight, and I can't sleep with your stupid mirror thingie shining in my face."
Siobhan leaned over, her blue hair obscuring her face, and whispered something in Nausicaa's ear.
Nodding, Nausicaa gestured to the other faeries. "Come. We may continue this somewhere less . . . primitive."