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Vanessa frowns. “Are you sure? Why would that be?”
“If the ball is enchanted so that it only attacks demonblood,” I mutter, “then it makes sense. Their levels of demonblood are currently in the gutter, after the spelled arrow attacks. So what happens if the ball doesn’t attack Jason and Emrys at all?”
“I bet most people will take it as a stroke of luck for them,” she says, kind of absently. “Wait, spelled arrows? What spelled arrows?”
“Oh.” I drag my attention back to her for a sec. “You didn’t know that Ophelia sent a shooter to fire arrows into the boys with a spell designed to decrease the potency of their demonblood? Almost killed them. Emrys took an arrow to the chest. It’s a miracle it didn’t pierce his heart.”
She stares at me. “You serious?”
“Ophelia admitted to it.”
Vanessa seems to ponder this. “And have you thought about what it means?”
“What?”
“That maybe the boys are nicer now because their demonblood is low. Demonblood is notorious for its power but also for its demonic properties. That means evil and wickedness, Mia. When the spell wears off… they’ll be back to their bullying, wicked ways.”
I freeze. “No way.”
“It’s how demonblood works.”
“The demonblood is part of who they are. It has been in the blood of their Houses for hundreds of years. You’re saying that you are born evil and can’t escape the curse on your blood? That you can’t grow up to be kind?”
“Mia—”
“No way were they evil before. All I’ve seen from them is kindness, before and after the attacks. Some arrogance, sure. But not wickedness. Have you seen them bully anyone?”
“Of course. I…” Her mouth hangs open for a long moment, but then she shakes her head. “I’m sure I did.”
“Or did you hear rumors?”
“It’s not like that. I told you about my mom. About the four houses visiting the jailhouse that day. And all four boys with them. About the marks, the symbols of the four Houses.”
“And about the boys having to pass a rite of passage and ascend.” I nod. “I know. About them being used by the Houses to do their dirty work. But them being used is what I’ve been talking about. Used and then accused of all the dirty acts the Houses don’t want to be tried for. Imagine, Van, imagine having evil in your blood and having to fight against it every single day to be good. Doesn’t that make them even better than the average person?”
“I don’t know, Mia, it sounds too—”
“Touchdown!” everyone on the bleachers hollers, rising to their feet, doing the wave. “Go Red. Go Rys. Go Red. Go Rys!”
I’m on my feet, too, yelling. Emrys has managed to wrangle the ball all the way to the Red Team’s net and thrown it inside. The referee is whistling his head off, waving a red flag which I suppose means a point for the Red Team.
Jason shouts for his team to regroup, marshaling them together, yelling strategy. The crowd is still on their feet, watching with bated breath as the referee plants the red flag into a panel, then turns and opens the net, allowing the scale-ball to escape.
The crowd chants—I can’t make out the words, not sure whether they’re rooting for the Red or Blue Team. They’re probably evenly divided.
Understandable. With Jason and Emrys as captains of the Blue and Red Team, it’s really impossible to choose.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier,” Vanessa says as the Blue Team races after the ball, “and I’m not sure trying to access Ophelia’s magic is such a good idea.”
That distracts me from the game. “Why not?”
“She could draw you into the enchantment. Too dangerous.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just my witchy opinion. You asked for it.”
I swallow a sigh. She’s the expert here, not me. “If you say so. There goes that idea. Oh crap, Jason’s got the ball!”
