It was the first time I had said it aloud, and my stomach tightened. “But you’re alive,” he offered.

I turned away and measured six cups of springwater. The tinkling as it ran into my largest copper spell pot sounded loud. “What if it got out?” I asked, unable to look at him. “They’d pack me up and put me away on some frozen island like I was a leper, afraid whatever he did to me might mutate into something and start another plague.”

“Oh, Rachel …” Nick slipped from his stool. Anxious, I busied myself needlessly drying the measuring cup. He came up behind me, giving me a backward hug before turning me around to face him. “You’re not a plague waiting to happen,” he cajoled, meeting my eyes. “If Trent’s father cured your blood disease, then he did. But it was just that. He fixed it. Nothing’s going to happen. See? I’m still here.” He smiled. “Alive and everything.”

I sniffed, not liking that it bothered me so much. “I don’t want to owe him anything.”

“You don’t. This was between your father and Trent’s, and that’s assuming it even happened.” His hands were warm around my waist. My feet were between his, and I laced my fingers behind his back and balanced my weight against his own. “Just because your dad and Trent’s father knew each other, it doesn’t mean anything,” he said.

Right, I thought sarcastically. We let go of each other at the same time, stepping reluctantly away. While Nick stuck his head in the pantry, I checked over my recipe for the transfer medium. The text I had for binding a familiar was in Latin, but I knew the scientific names of the plants enough to follow it. I was hoping Nick would help with the incantation.

“Thanks for keeping me company,” I said, knowing that he had a half-day shift at the university tomorrow and a night shift at the museum. If he didn’t leave soon, he wouldn’t get any sleep before he had to go to work.

Nick glanced at the black hallway as he sat down on his stool with a bag of chips. “I was hoping to be here when Ivy came back. Why don’t you spend the night at my house?”

My lips curled in a smile. “I’ll be fine. She won’t come home until she’s calmed down. But if you’re going stay for a while, how about sketching some pentagrams for me?”

The crackle of plastic stopped. Nick looked at my black paper and silver chalk stacked suspiciously on the counter, then to me. Amusement lit his eyes, and he finished rolling down the edges of the bag. “I’m not going to do your homework, Ray-ray.”

“I know what they look like,” I protested, putting the clippings of my hair into the spell pot and pushing them down with my ceramic spoon until they sank. “I promise I’ll copy them myself later. But if I don’t hand them in tomorrow, she’ll flunk me and Edden will deduct the cost of tuition from my fee. It’s not fair, Nick. The woman has it in for me!”