Ignoring the cold coming off the metal bars, I turned sideways on the seat to face her. “There are some big-league spells out there, for things like violence, healing, and protection,” Lily explained. “We call that upper-tier stuff apex magic, and even when you have good intentions, it’s very powerful. Things can go wrong. In Clan Pellar, we stopped teaching it a couple generations ago. My ancestors decided to focus on Wicca, using our magic to do good rather than as a tool for getting what we wanted.” She winced. “But we aren’t the only clan in Colorado. When Maven cut her deal with the witches, she ordered all the clans in the state to bind their abilities. None of us can use apex magic during that twenty-year window.”
I suddenly remembered Simon’s expression, how he seemed to be holding something back from me about the witches. “Why would she do that?” I asked. “What does she care if witches are using witch magic?”
Lily sighed. “Her argument was that if witches were using combat magic, they could use it against her, or each other, and restart the Old World war all over again. My mother thought it was a valid point. More importantly, she didn’t think the other witches should be using magic for violence anyway. That catapult spell she used on you? That’s as violent as we get. Mom hoped that weaning the other clans off apex magic would be a good thing in the long run. But there were plenty of witches who didn’t agree with her.”
She was leading me toward a connection. I tried to push my thoughts ahead to see it. “Was Simon one of those witches?”
Bingo. Lily’s face went stony. “He wasn’t then. At the time, he threw his full support behind Mom. We all did.”
“And now he’s changed his mind,” I summed up. I was struggling to see why this was relevant right now, with everything else going on. I was worried about Simon, too, but unlike the sandworm, his problems didn’t seem all that time-sensitive.
“You were the one who changed his mind, Lex. When you brought him back, it wasn’t just that you used magic to do something that he only expected from science. You also reminded him that there are dangerous things out there, and that our people are no longer equipped to handle them. And we did it to ourselves.”
“Oh,” I said softly.
She nodded. “It’s weighing on him. And creating a lot of tension between him and Tracy, who basically worships the ground my mother walks on.”
I winced, unsure how to react to that. Oops? “Is this why the clan doesn’t like me? Because I represent all the violent magic you guys stopped using?” A new thought occurred to me. “Or because I’m not a clan witch, so I don’t have to abide by Maven’s agreement with you?”
“Yes. To all of the above.” She sighed. “Look, from their perspective, you came along, proved that you have power over life and death, and immediately threw in with our evil overlord.”
She was trying to keep her tone light, but failing miserably, and it was obvious from her expression that she felt the same way. I wanted to ask her why no one had told me any of this, but the answer was too obvious: I was an outsider, a threat, and that put me on a need-to-know basis.
Pressure built in my chest as my temper rose. “Let me show you something,” I said, pulling out my cell phone. I scrolled through the functions until I found what I wanted, a message my mother had sent me that morning while I was napping. I held it up so Lily could see: A picture of my nineteen-month-old niece standing on top of my mom’s kitchen table, holding a giant stack of graham crackers she’d swiped while Mom was in the bathroom. Rather than looking guilty, Charlie’s whole face had erupted into a gleeful, euphoric smile. Everything was right in her world.
Lily looked at it, then at my face, not getting it. She shrugged. “Cute.”
“She is cute,” I said evenly, because, well, she was. “And she’s also the only part of my sister that’s left in this world. I would do anything, anything to protect her, just like you’re trying to protect your brother right now.”
Lily crossed her arms over her chest. “I get that.”
“No, Lily, you don’t. I don’t really give a shit if Clan Pellar feels hamstrung. I want a good relationship with the witches, but you’ve all made it clear that I’m not actually one of you. And I’m sure as hell not one of the vampires, either, boundary blood or not. All the witches in your clan—even you and Simon—act like I happily signed up to be some vampire hench-slave because I’m an evil boundary witch who doesn’t know any better. But it’s not like that. I didn’t pick Hazel’s side or Maven’s side. I picked Charlie’s.”
Her lovely face hardened. “You walked into this situation that has all these years of history, and you can bring people back to life,” she hissed. “And you just signed right up with the big bad; you didn’t even give us a chance—”
I couldn’t help it; I started laughing. I was physically exhausted, and so sick of Old World politics that I could scream. “A chance to what? Have the clan adopt me? Pull me into the fold? We both know that’s never going to happen, Lily. You saw how those witches looked at me last night. I’m never going to be anything to them but a black aura and a bad attitude. An atrocity. You and Simon are my friends, and I’ll help you however I can, but your clan’s subservience to Maven is not my concern. Charlie is.”
Lily’s lips compressed into a single thin line. “I see,” she said curtly. “Good to know where we stand.” She stood up, turned on her heel and strode away without another word.