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Huge brown eyes met mine "I never have visions," she whispered "Well, al important It’s why I’m still a senior initiate and not an acolyte I help--I helped--to train the children, the new initiates"

"But this ti off into the distance "Towering over a field in front of a stor our forces And ere losingbadly"

"Was anyone else with hiods?"

She shook her head "I only saw hi upstairs with some cold medicine One of the children had arrived with the sniffles and had given a nasty head cold to half the dorm, and it justhitthese terrible things, and there was lightning and thunder, and people were screaround and the sky flooded red andand I dropped the tray"

"I probably would have, too," I told her, because she hite and shaking again, her voice barely above a whisper

"Yes, but the stairs areat ot it; I wasn’t the only one feeling responsible for tonight "And I was so upsetthe adepts made me tell them, and at the time I didn’t realizeI couldn’t see any reason not tountil I saw They were happy They were pleased about it Then they saw ed their expressions But I knew, I’d seen--"

"And so you came to tell me"

She sed "No I should have done, but there were such ruIt wasn’t until the coronation that I realized--you couldn’t be what they said The power had gone to you, the Circle had accepted you, and then at the coronation, you killed the Spartoi You killed him!"

And suddenly, I knehy she looked faain "I saw you, but I--it was obvious you were trying to be inconspicuous and I didn’t--"

"But you kneho I was"

She looked surprised "Of course"

"Even though soain, like I wasn’tmuch sense "Yes, but I knew that wasn’t you There was no power, no aura, no--" She waved it away "It was obvious"

So uise

"But the others didn’t see you, and by the tiot away froain--" She gave another graceful little hand flutter,"you were battling a Spartoi in your birthday suit and al fried" "But then the vampires took you away, and I didn’t kno to reach you--"

"So you went to the covens"

"Yes My cousin--"

"And the covens brought you to me"

"Yes"

"So you could tell ?"

She shook her head "I don’t know, I don’t know! I tried following the adepts around, to let the to find out moreBut I’ht They didn’t believe me!"

I didn’t tell her it was okay, because it wouldn’t have helped She didn’t look like a girl who needed platitudes She looked like a girl who needed soo back," I told Rosier "I’ll stop the spell froently "That is why it was done here, to preclude such a possibility"

"Then give o back in time, I’ll find his soul--" He just looked at ! If you have to hurt someone, hurt me!"

"They won’t hurt you They need you," Rosier choked "But ree, but he didn’t refute it, either And the worst part was, there was no hate in his eyes, nomore A threat had been identified; a threat had been removed But to me

It felt like the end of the world

"How many acolytes are there at present?" Jonas asked

"It varies," Rhea said, looking at me "Most of the court is coht in--young girls who have been identified with unusual promise And senior initiates, that’sbut carry none of the power The adepts are only a sifted of the senior initiates After Myra’s death, there were only five"

I just looked at her for awith ain?"

"Did I--was so to look worried