Spellbinder (17 page)

Blaise took the zipper between two fingers and slid it down.

The necklace fit like a collar, lying against the pale skin of her throat and the matte black of her simple blouse. And it was everything Thea had known it would be.

It was delicate, exquisite,
magical
.
Swirls of stars and moons in enchanted patterns.
Gems of all kinds tucked into the mysterious curves.
Green garnet, imperial topaz, sunstone, cinnabar.
Violet sapphire, African emerald, smokestone.

It seemed to move as you looked at it, the lines changing and flowing.
Pulling you into the center of its mystery, winding around you like strands of softly burnished hair.
Holding you fast . . .

Thea pulled herself away with a physical jerk. She had to shut her eyes and put up a hand to do it.

And if it does that to me . . .

Luke was staring. Thea could actually see the change in his face as the necklace worked its spell. Like some Oscar-winning actor transforming from bad boy to vulnerable kid right there on screen. His jaw softened, his tight lips relaxed. The muscles around his eyes shifted and he lost his tense squint. He looked surprised, then defenseless. Open. Those electric blue eyes seemed dazzled, pupils widening. He sucked in a breath

as
if he couldn't get enough air. Now he looked awed; now hypnotized; now yearning . . .

Spellbound.

Luke had been transformed. His whole body seemed smaller. His lips were parted. His eyes were huge and full of light. He looked as if at any second he might fall down and start worshiping Blaise.

Blaise sat like a queen, with her midnight hair tumbling around the necklace, her chest moving slightly as she
breathed,
her eyes as brilliant as jewels.

"Put the disgusting cigarette down," she said.

Luke dropped the cigarette and stamped on it as if it were a spider.

Then he looked back at Blaise. "You . . . you're beautiful." He reached a hand toward her.

"Wait," Blaise said. Her face assumed a tragic, wistful expression. "First, I'm going to tell you a sad story. I used to have a little dog that I loved, a cocker spaniel, and we would take long walks together around dusk."

Thea gave her cousin a narrow sideways look. She'd never heard such a lie. And what was Blaise talking about dogs for?

"But he was run over by an eighteen-wheel Piggiy Wiggly truck," Blaise murmured. "And ever since, I've been so lonely. ... I miss him so much." She fixed her eyes on the boy in front of her. "
Luke .
..
will
you be my little dog?" Luke looked confused.

"You see," Blaise went on, slipping a hand in her pocket, "if I could just have somebody to remind me

of
him, I'd feel so much better. So if you'd wear this for me . . ."

She was holding a blue dog collar.

Luke looked even more confused. Redness was creeping up his neck and jaw. His eyes filled.

"For me?"
Blaise coaxed, jingling the collar- which was way too big for a spaniel, Thea noticed. "I'd be so grateful."

Luke looked as if he were having a tremendous internal struggle. His breathing was uneven. He swallowed. A muscle in his jaw twitched.

Then, very slowly, he reached for the collar. Blaise held it down low.

Luke's eyes followed the collar. Jerkily, as if his muscles were fighting each other, he knelt down at Blaise's side. He stayed there, stone-faced, as Blaise fastened the dog collar around his neck.

When it was secure, Blaise laughed. She glanced at the other girls,
then
jingled the metal loop for the dog tag. "Good boy," she said, and patted his head.

Luke's face lit up with an excitement that bordered on ecstasy. He stared into Blaise's eyes.

"I love you," he said huskily, still squatting.

Blaise wrinkled her nose and laughed again. Then she zipped up the bronze jacket.

The change on Luke's face was much quicker this time than his first transformation. For an instant he looked completely blank,
then
he glanced around as if he'd suddenly woken up in a classroom.

His fingers went to the dog collar. His face contracted in anger and horror and he jumped up.

"What's going on? What am I doing?"

Blaise just gazed at him serenely. Luke tore the collar off and kicked it. Although he was glaring at Blaise, he didn't seem to remember the last few minutes. "You-are you gonna tell me what you want or not?" he snapped, his upper lip trembling.
"Because I'm not going to wait all day."
Then
,
 
when
nobody said anything,
 
he walked huffily off. His buddies across the courtyard were roaring with laughter.

"Oops," Blaise said. "I forgot about the car keys." She turned to the other girls. "But I'd say it works." "I'd say it's scary," Dani whispered. "I'd say it's incredible," Selene murmured. "I'd say it's unbelievable," Vivienne added. And I'd say it's the Armageddon of accessories, Thea thought.
And, incidentally, so much for Selene and Vivienne changing their ways.
They may have been shocked at what happened to Randy and Kevin, but it sure didn't last.

"Blaise," she said tightly, "if you walk around school showing that, you are going to cause a riot." "But I'm not going to walk around school showing it," Blaise said. "There's only one guy I'm interested in right now. And this"-she touched her throat- "has his blood in it. If it works like that on other people, I wonder what it will do to
him?
"

Thea took a few deep breaths to relax her stomach. She had never gone one-on-one with Blaise in a matter of witchcraft. And no one had ever challenged Blaise for a boy.

But she didn't have a choice-and putting this off wouldn't help.

"I suppose you're planning to find some time to ambush him," she said. "Some time when I'm not around."

It worked. Blaise stood, tall and regal in her bronze silk jacket, hands in her pockets, hair like a waterfall behind her. She gave Thea a slow smile.

"I don't need to ambush anybody," she said with dreadful confidence. "In fact . . . why don't we set up a meeting after school?
Just the three of us.
You, me, and Eric-a showdown.
And may the best witch win."

I don't understand," Eric said pitifully as Thea towed him toward the bleachers.

"Well, that's reasonable."

"Blaise wants to talk to me alone and you want me to do it."

"That's right." Thea hadn't realized it was possible to sound bright and bleak at the same time. "I told you she'd probably go after you-"

"And you told me to be careful of her. You made the point very strongly."

"I know. It's just . . ." Thea searched for an explanation that wouldn't be too much of a lie and clutched her bottle of Evian water. She didn't need to ask him if he had the protective charm with him- she could smell
New Hampshire
pine needles.

"It's just that I think it's better to get things settled," she said finally.
"One way or the other.
So maybe if you talk to her face-to-face . . . well, you can decide what you want, and we can get this over with."

"Thea . . ." Eric stopped, forcing Thea to stop, too. He looked completely bewildered. "Thea-I don't know what you're thinking, but I don't need to talk to Blaise to know what I want." He put his hands gently on her upper arms. "Nothing she can say could make any difference."

Thea looked at him, at his clean, good features and his expressive eyes. He thought things were so simple.

"Then you can just tell her that," she said, trying to sound optimistic. "And the whole thing will be resolved."

Eric shook his head, but allowed her to guide him onward.

Blaise was leaning against a concrete dugout by the baseball diamond. When they were about ten feet away, Thea stopped and nodded at Eric to keep going.

He walked to Blaise, who slowly straightened with the leisurely grace of a snake uncoiling.

Thea put her thumb into the Evian bottle and jiggled it gently.

"Thea said you wanted to talk to me." Eric's voice was polite, but not encouraging. He looked back at Thea after he said it.

"I did," Blaise said in her liquid, persuasive voice. But to Thea's surprise, she addressed the ground, as if she felt awkward. "But now . . . well, I feel so embarrassed. I know what you probably think of me-trying to say something like this while your girlfriend is standing there."

"Well . . ." Eric glanced back at Thea again. "It's okay," he added, his voice softer. "I mean, it's better to say whatever it is in front of her than behind her back."

"Yes. Yes, that's true." Blaise took a deep breath as if steeling herself and then lifted her head to meet Eric's eyes.

What on earth is she doing? Thea stared at her cousin. Where did this scene come from?

"Eric ... I don't know how to say this, but ... I care about you. I know how that sounds. You're thinking that I have dozens of guys, and the way I treat them I can't possibly care about any of them. And I don't blame you if you just want to walk away right now, without even listening to any more." Blaise fiddled with the zipper at her throat.

"Oh, look, I'm not going to walk away. I wouldn't do that to you," Eric said, and his voice was even
more gentle
.

"Thank you. You're being so nice-much nicer than I deserve."

Absently, as if it were the most casual of gestures, Blaise reached for the zipper at her throat and pulled it down.

The necklace was revealed.

Don't look directly at it, Thea told
herself
. She stared instead at the back of Eric's sandy head-which suddenly went very still.

"And you know, this is going to sound strange, but most of those boys don't really like me." Blaise's

voice
was soft now-seductive but vulnerable.
"They just-want me.
They look at the surface, and never even try to see any deeper. And that makes me feel... so lonely sometimes."

In Thea's peripheral vision, gold stars and moons were shifting and flowing. Yemonja root and other delicious scents wafted toward her. She hadn't even noticed that the first time; she'd been too deep in the necklace's spell to analyze it. And a faint, high resonance hung in the air-two or three notes that seemed to shimmer almost above the threshold of hearing.

Singing crystals.
Of course.
Blaise was assaulting every sense, weaving an inescapable golden web . . . and the whole thing was tuned to Eric's blood.

"All I've ever wanted is a guy who cares enough about me to look deeper than the surface." Blaise's voice had a slight catch now. "And-well, before I knew Thea liked
you,
I guess I thought you might be that guy. Eric, please tell me-is that completely impossible? Should I just totally give up hope?
Because if you say so, I will."

Eric was standing oddly now, as if he were crippled. Thea could see his breath coming faster. She didn't want to see his face-she knew what it would be like. Like Luke's.
Blank wonder changing into slow adulation for Blaise.

"Just tell me," Blaise said, raising one hand in a gesture full of pathos. "And if you say no, I'll go away forever. But if ... if you think you could care about me ... even just a little . . ." She gazed at him with luminous, yearning eyes.