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She lifted one hand, and Elodie jerked

"I wondered why it took you so long to figure it out," Alice said, still looking at irl, Sophie, and yet you couldn't tell the difference between a ghost and a demon? Or was it more?"

She turned her hand a little to the left, and Elodie screaraveyard fence She lay still after that, but I didn't know if she'd been knocked out or if Alice was using

"Do you knohat I think, Sophia? I think you knehat I was but you didn't want to face it Because if I'm a demon, then what does thatnoanted to cover ht I'd known there was so off about her, but I hadn't wanted to question it because I'd liked her I'd liked the power she'd given , Sophia," Alice said, and now she looked like she always did--just a girl e "When those pathetic excuses for dark witches did their su spell, I clawed ht forth In the hopes that I could find you"

Blood was rushing inat h chattering teeth

Her sht as a furnace "Because we're fa painfully against a tree, the bark scraping h my shirt I tried to move, but ize for that," she said,toward Elodie, "but I can't have you in the way just now"

She knelt beside Elodie while I sat helpless and paralyzed As gently as a mother with a baby, Alice lifted Elodie's head into her lap Her eyes unfocused and half shut, Elodie rolled her head to one side as Alice stroked her temple Then Alice lifted her hand to Elodie's neck Two thin claws shot froht from the orb

Elodie barely flinched as the claws punctured her neck, but I screamed When Alice lowered her mouth to drink, I shut my eyes

I didn't kno ain--but when I finally stood, Alice was standing in front of ainst the ceates

I ran to her, and Alice didn't try to stopat Elodie's side, I felt the damp earth beneath us Elodie's face was cool under mine, but her eyes were still half open, and I could hear her shallow breathing

The wounds at her neck were red and raw, the rest of her very white

Our eyes

"I'"

She blinked once, and her lipsshe wanted me to hold her hand, I reached down and took her left hand in h, and I felt a low vibration, like a low voltage current

I felt her ic settle over me, just like she'd described It felt soft and cold, like snow Then her hand slipped from h I turned to see her twirling in a circle, her skirt held out to her sides "I iven me, that one was the best"

Slowly, I rose to , but she was still giggling "That night you brought her with you, I was sure you had figured out what I really was It was kind of you to bring her to ht in that horrid school"

The ic Elodie had passed on to me still thrummed in my veins, but I had no idea what to do with it I kneas no match for Alice, even if we did share the sauessed her stint in hell had taught her a few tricks So the only thing I had going for raphs I could ree

Alice was laughing again, ainedwill be out of our reach"

But I wasn't listening to her I was looking at the statue of the angel and the black sword in its hands Black rock

De on about how everyone had a weakness, and I knehat Alice's was

Me

"Break," I murmured, and with a loud crack, the sword split in half

The jagged stone landed in the grass just in front of es sliced ht it would be, and I hoped I'd be able to lift it high enough to do what I had to

Alice turned around and sawthe shard, but she didn't look scared, just confused "What are you doing, Sophia?"

She was standing about ten feet from me I knew that if I ran at her, she'd flick iddy and didn't think I'd hurt her After all, ere fa on iven me A fierce hipped around me, a wind so cold that it took my breath My blood slowed in my veins even as my heart raced I opened my eyes to find myself directly in front of Alice

Her eyes widened, but not with fear or surprise With delight

"You did it!" she said excitedly, like ere at my ballet recital

"Yeah I did"

And then I hefted the shard of delass and sliced her neck

CHAPTER 32

"So it turns out I'm a demon," I told Jenna the next afternoon

We were sitting in our roo I was still in bed, where I'd been pretty ed me back to Hecate Call had been able to repair e done to h the woods, but my hand was another story