I couldn’t have this conversation right now. Not when there were about a million other things going on that were way more important than feelings.

“Please don’t tell me he’s only been writing horrible articles about me because of a secret crush,” I said, getting out of my chair and going to stand by the window. A cardinal flew into the birdbath, a bright splash of red against all the green. Something about that bright red bothered me, reminding me of . . . something. Something in David’s visions. There had been red in that, a wave of it. Blood? The thought made me shudder.

Saylor came up behind me, watching the bird, too, and I suddenly remembered the other thing she’d said. “What do you mean that you’d be happy if we liked each other were it not for our ‘respective positions’? Is Paladin-Oracle romance frowned upon or something?”

She sighed. “There’s nothing expressly in the rules about it, but it’s generally acknowledged not to be the best idea. The relationship between Paladin, Oracle, and Mage is complicated enough without dragging the heart into it. And there’s always the chance that personal feelings can interfere with duty.”

The late-afternoon sun shone on her silver hair as I looked over at her. Saylor was still staring into the backyard, but her eyes were far away.

“Miss Saylor,” I said slowly. “The spell. What if . . . what if Blythe’s right and it just powers him up? No crazy times or power twisting his brain or any of that?”

Saylor kept staring in the backyard. In the fading light, I could see some of her fuchsia lipstick had bled into the tiny wrinkles around her mouth. “If that’s the case, it would be a miracle. The Ephors believed—I believed—there was a reason Oracles were almost never male. They’re . . .” She sighed. “It’s an ugly word, but they’re aberrations. And if Blythe does this spell on David, he’ll be every bit as lost to us, do you understand me? That much power, it will burn him up and eat him alive until he’s not David anymore, but a powerful, dangerous creature that absolutely must be put down.”

David’s dream. Both of us crying, something in my hand, him dying because of me . . .

Goose bumps had broken out over my whole body, and they had nothing to do with the cold. “I understand.”

Chapter 36

ACROSS TOWN, my friends were all at Bee’s house, putting on their dresses together, laughing and doing each other’s makeup. I imagined them stepping into their white shoes, slipping on gloves, while I got ready by myself. I’d told Bee that Mom wanted it to be just us, a kind of mother-daughter bonding thing. Really, I just wanted to be alone.