The End of Magic (The Witches of Echo Park #3)(43)

Arrabelle had been thinking the same thing. It was an idea that she'd been kicking around in her head for a while: how to find The Flood and dispatch them on their own turf?

"They're elusive," Lyse continued. "They cleared out of their underground lair and left nothing for us to use to find them."

"I think . . . if you're amenable," Arrabelle said, choosing her words carefully, "that I might have a way to find them. But we'd need the whole coven to do it."

"Go on," Lyse said, as she retrieved a rubber band from her jeans pocket and caught her dark hair into a ponytail.

"We can do what they're terrified of us doing: We can use our magic and cast a spell."

"Do you think we have the kind of power to do that?" Lyse asked-and Arrabelle kicked herself for forgetting how new Lyse was to the whole "witch" thing.

"Um, you transported four people to another dimension," Arrabelle said. "I think we can manage a location spell."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Lyse said, shaking her head. "You should be the coven master, not me."

"Well, I'm not and you are," Arrabelle said. "So suck it up and stop beating yourself up. We're a coven and we'll figure this out together. We're not monsters, we're not evil, we use our powers for good. That's all you need to know."

Lyse leaned against the countertop and gave Arrabelle a sheepish grin.

"Can I admit something else to you?"

"Of course."

"I don't even believe magic is real," Lyse said. "I watched you guys perform your 'rites' and I wanted to laugh. It all looked so silly and didn't seem to accomplish much of anything."

She paused, gauging Arrabelle's response-but Arrabelle kept her expression neutral, waiting to hear Lyse out.

"And then all this stuff happened . . . we went into the dreamlands, we saw what The Flood did to all those women and girls," Lyse continued. "And I'm not forgetting about the ghosts-sorry, Dream Walkers, you call them . . . it all scares the shit out of me. 

"It's a lot," Arrabelle agreed. "And I'm sorry that it's hard for you to believe-"

"No, that's not what I'm saying," Lyse said, interrupting Arrabelle. "I'm saying that it's taken me a while, but I believe in it. All of it. I accept that what I know can't rationally be true . . . is true."

"Eleanora was trying to protect you," Arrabelle said, pulling herself up onto the countertop to sit. "But she did you a disservice."

"I know she did," Lyse agreed.

"It wasn't because she was trying to screw you over," Arrabelle said. "It was because she loved you and wanted you to be 'normal' for as long as possible. She knew what was coming and knew it would be bad, so she gave you the gift of time. Time to live a real, nonmagical life."

Lyse nodded.

"Yeah, I know. I know she loved me, too."

"Hessika dreamed it all," Arrabelle added. "Eleanora knew you would be involved somehow."

"Yeah, she did," Lyse said. "Why did no one believe them?"

"That's the million-dollar question," Arrabelle replied. "I think because we like the status quo . . . no one wants to believe anything bad can happen-and then the bad things happen and we're blindsided."

"We're all so stupid," Lyse said.

"There's definitely a balance in life. Between good and evil, stupidity and intelligence, awareness and denial . . ."

Arrabelle leaned back against the sink counter and sighed.

"I feel like I've had a healthy dose of the stupidity and the denial," Lyse said.

Arrabelle saw that Lyse was being self-deprecating.

"You're learning not to see things in terms of being black and white. To be cognizant of the gradations," Arrabelle said. "Just remember that we are working to make things better, to tip the scales in the other direction a little, so that the scales stay balanced. That's it. That's our job."

"The Flood wants to tip it all the way over," Lyse said, her voice rising in anger. "I hate them and everything they stand for."

"They think they're right," Arrabelle said. "They think they're on the side of good. They want humanity to change, and they think the only way to do it is to wipe the slate clean-"

"Which is messed up," Lyse said.

Arrabelle shrugged.

"Without change, the world is stagnant-"

"Without good change, you mean," Lyse said.

"No. Change is neither bad nor good. It sides with no one. It just is."

Lyse began to pace, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.

"This conversation is giving me a headache."

Arrabelle didn't disagree.