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"At least it’s original" Dad laughed, though he was clearly distracted; Nadia could tell she’d have to reain

"We’ll be upstairs, okay, Dad?" Nadia hurried Verlaine out as smoothly as she could For his part, Dad settled back into work; when he got his head into legal questions, he usually didn’t resurface for hours Cole,enough to wave

Verlaine followed her up to the attic, obviously wary, but when she got there, her reaction was alht this would be all, you know, spooky and mysterious"

"Sorry to disappoint you" Nadia stowed her school stuff in a corner Already she’d set up a couple of card tables; soo Du sturdier to replace theredients were stored in test tubes and flasks she’d ordered fro with a few apothecary jars that had been in her fa time, left behind by Moht get to look ained power, apparently, they could change appearance and practically take on lives of their own--but right now it looked like an ordinary leather-bound journal propped on a sill

But it wasn’t all science She had so like a cloudless sky overhead, and a secret stash of chocolate Soredients had the power to conduct and focus ic, and weirdly, wonderfully, chocolate was one of the best

As she tossed Verlaine one of the mini candy bars, Nadia said, "So, you need to really listen to this, okay? Think long and hard before you say you want to stay It’s serious"

"What’s serious?" Verlaine said around a mouthful of chocolate

"If you’re here when I cast a prophetic spell--which I’ht now I’ve never done before--there’s a chance you’ll do e you Change us It could make you my Steadfast"

Verlaine scooted closer "What’s a Steadfast? It sounds ih it all, so there would at least be so into "A Steadfast is a woman who isn’t a witch herself, but who has the ability to enhance a witch’s powers through her presence A Steadfast doesn’t have ic By that, I really mean everyone--any witch who’s near the Steadfast, whether they know about her or not--but the effect is infinitely more powerful for the witch she’s bound to"

"Whoa" Verlaine’s face lit up, which told Nadia she wasn’t explaining this well enough "That’s fantastic Beyond fantastic Do you have, like, dozens of Steadfasts?"

"What? No Never You can only have one, and it’s a serious thing A sacred thing A witch and a Steadfast are truly bound together in the most profound way Lots of tiift, or a daughter So to be there, noa chance like this with someone she’d known only a couple of days Of course, it wasn’t much of a chance Some witches cast prophetic spells dozens of ti to be bound as Steadfasts, without it ever occurring

But Mom had always said, You never know When you open yourself to prophetic ic, you open yourself to the prierous, and your soul reaches out, like casting anchor in a storh She didn’t need Verlaine, didn’t need anyone Well, Dad and Cole--but really that was more like they needed her

"What does that rabbed another couple of chocolate bars

"It means if I cast a spell when er More effective It will last longer That person’s presence ht otherwise be beyond me at this point I’d probably advance faster, too, if we spent enough tiether" Nadia took a deep breath "So for me, it’s all positive For the Steadfast, it’s not Steadfasts can see ic in ways I can’t--in ways no one else can Apparently that can be, well, disturbing" Nadia sighed "It’s probably not going to happen with you Seriously We just met"

"You never know I have really crappy luck, so if this is actually dangerous and bad, I bet I get it on the first try" Although Verlaine had been joking, Nadia could see her expression shift as she considered the possibilitiesa Steadfast"

"Until the witch and her Steadfast end it, or die So hopefully a really long tiest when it’s newest; it would be really hard to break in less than a couple of years" It ht be hard even after ten Or s Mom hadn’t reviewed in full

The one part about a Steadfast that Mom had stressed most was that person should ave to a witch was in direct proportion to the capacity for love and loyalty between the as that between parents and children--