Eric stared at her. Then he swallowed and shut his eyes. With his eyes still shut, he said in a muted voice, "I don't think you know how much I care." Then he looked at her.
That connection again. It seemed to be drawing them together-an almost physical feeling of attraction. It was exciting, but scary.
Eric got up very slowly and crossed the room. He sat by Thea. Neither of them looked away.
And then things just seemed to happen by themselves. Their fingers were intertwined. Thea was looking up and he was looking down. They were so close that their breath mingled. Thea shivered with the electricity.
Everything seemed wrapped in a golden haze.
Crash.
Something hit the other side of the wall.
"Ignore it; it's poltergeists," Eric murmured. His lips were an inch from hers.
"It's Rosamund," Thea murmured back. "She feels bad-and it's not really fair. We should try and make her feel better." She was so happy that she wanted everyone else to be happy, too.
Eric groaned. "Thea..."
"Let me just go see if I can cheer her up. I'll come back."
Eric shut his eyes, opened them, and turned on the lamp. He gave her a pained smile. "Okay. I have to water Mom's outside plants and feed the rabbits and stuff, anyway. Let me know when she's cheered up enough. I'll be waiting."
Thea knocked and ducked as she entered Rosamund's room. "Roz? Can I just talk to you for a minute?"
"Don't call me that. I want you to call me Fred."
"Uh, how come Fred?" Thea sat cautiously on the edge of the bed-or not the bed, actually, the box springs. The mattress was across the room, standing on its side in a corner. The entire room looked as if it had been hit simultaneously by a hurricane and an earthquake, and it smelled strongly of guinea pig.
Slowly, part of a sandy head appeared above the mattress. One green eye regarded Thea directly.
"Because," Rosamund said with terrible maturity, "I'm not a girl anymore. Things have always been this way for girls and they will always be this way and they are never going to change. And don't give me any of that B.S. about how females hear better and do better in submarines and have better fine motor skills, because I don't care. I'm going to be a boy now."
"You're a smart kid," Thea said. She was surprised at how smart Roz was, and at how much she wanted to comfort her. "But you need to study your history. Things haven't always been this way. There were times when women and men were equals."
Rosamund just said, "When?"
"Well-in ancient Crete, for one thing. They were all children of Eileithyia, the Great Goddess, and boys and girls both did dangerous stuff, like acrobatics on wild bulls. Of course..." Thea paused, struck by a thought. "The Greeks did come and conquer them."
"Uh-huh."
"But, um"-Thea wracked her brain for human history-"Well, the ancient Celts were okay-until the Romans came and conquered them. And... and..."
Human history was a problem.
"I told you," Rosamund said bitterly. "It always turns out the same. Now go away."
"Well..." Thea hesitated.
It was the excitement that did it. The giddy feeling of everything being right with the world. It made her overconfident, made her feel as if Night World law were a little thing that could be dispensed with if necessary.
Don't, a part of her mind whispered. Don't or you'll be sorry.
But Rosamund was so miserable. And the golden glow was still around Thea, making her feel protected. Invulnerable.
"Look," she said. "This may not help much, but I'll tell you a story, a story that always made me feel better when I was a little girl. Only you have to keep it a secret."
There was a flicker of interest in Rosamund's green eyes. "A true story?"
"Well-I can't really say it's true." And that's true-I can't. "But it's a good story, and it's about a time when women were leaders. About a girl called Hellewise."
Chapter 12
Fhea settled on the box springs, not the most comfortable seat. "Now, this all happened back in the days when there was still magic, okay? And Helle-wise could do magic, and so could most of the people in her tribe. She was the daughter of Hecate Witch-Queen-"
"She was a witch?" Roz sounded intrigued.
"Well-they didn't call it that then. They called her a Hearth-Woman. And she didn't look like a Halloween witch. She was beautiful: tall, with long yellow hair-"
"Like you."
"Huh? Oh." Thea grinned. "Thanks, but, no. Helle-wise was really beautiful-and she was smart and strong, too. And when Hecate died, Hellewise became co-leader of the tribe. The other leader was her sister, Maya."
Rosamund's whole head was above the mattress now. She was listening with fierce, if skeptical, interest.
"Now, Maya." Thea chewed her lip. "Well, Maya was beautiful, too: tall, but with long black hair."
"Like that girl who came to the vet's after you."
Thea was briefly startled. She'd forgotten Rosamund had seen Blaise. "Well-uh, maybe a little. Anyway, Maya was smart and strong, too-but she didn't like having to share the leadership with Hellewise. She wanted to rule alone, and she wanted something else. To live forever."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Rosamund growled.
"Well-yeah, there's nothing wrong with being immortal, I agree. Except, see, that it all depends on how much you're willing to pay to be it. Okay? Following me?"
"Nope."
"Well..." Thea floundered. Any Night Person would know immediately what she was talking about, even if by some outrageous chance they hadn't already heard the story. But of course humans were different. "Well, you see, it was a matter of what she had to do. No ordinary spell would make her immortal. She tried all sorts of things, and Hellewise even helped her. And finally they figured out what kind of spell would do it-but then Hellewise refused."