“Overfeeding, by accident.” That was as much as I cared to elaborate, so I rushed on. “And not making excuses, because what we did was super uncool, but honestly, I’ve seen other vampires get away with much worse, so I think this whole thing is just a big smoke screen for the truth, which is that the Elders are trying to weed out all the underage immortals. It’s been total discrimination town ever since—”

Lina held up a hand to silence my blabbering. “The Treaty of Annis.”

“Yes,” I said. “They think we’re too young to know who we are and what we want, but I don’t care that my brain got stuck at age sixteen or seventeen or whatever. I’ve been around for a century, and I know exactly what I want.”

“And you’ve appealed?” Lina asked.

“We can’t get a sponsor. We asked every clan, and they all turned us down. But you . . .” I took a deep breath—such a human thing and so natural now, it scared me. “If you sponsor us, the Elders will be forced to hear our appeal.”

“And what does the slayer say?”

“Sal? What do you expect? He thinks we should be throwing him a parade for making us human.”

Though it looked like she was fighting it, the corner of her mouth turned up. “Yes, that sounds like him.”

“So?”

She sat back in her chair and folded her hands on the table. “It’s true I can get you an audience with the Elder Seat, but I hesitate to cross Sal. You are his responsibility.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but she was already moving on.

“On the other hand, I also believe we all have the right to choose our destinies for ourselves . . . for better or worse. For ages, I argued that we should not turn humans immortal against their will, and the same goes for turning them human again. It’s not right either way. And that goes double for kids. You ought to have a choice.”

“So . . . you’ll do it?”

“I’ll do it.”

Speechless, I yelped with delight instead.

“You’ll have to make your own case, mind you,” Lina cautioned. “I’ve only known you for a minute, and it’s not for me to testify about what’s best for you.”

I leaned forward, nodding so hard, I thought my head might wobble right off my neck. “Yes, yes, we’ll speak for ourselves. We just need to get in the door. I can convince them.”

Lina reached across the table to squeeze my hand, deliberately gentle so as not to crush my delicate human bones. “I have no doubt about that.”

“You know, we could skip all this messy council business, and you could just . . .” I lowered my voice to a conspiratorial hush. “Change us yourself.”