Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison Page A

wouldn’t want it to become public any more than Mom did. But how did I feel about him having magic and me not having it? Did it change anything?
    Not really. It just made it more obvious that I belonged with Mark, and I had to get rid of any feelings from the philtre that I had for Tristan.
    â€œAnd now I have a confession to make, Izzie,” said Mom.
    I blinked up at her. “Good, because I have a confession to make, too.” More than one.
    Mom’s eyebrows went up.
    I figured I would start with the easy one, to see how it went. “About the protection potion you gave me to carry around—I used it up, and I didn’t tell you. That’s why I didn’t have it when the slurg attacked.”
    â€œYou must have used it on something pretty important,” said Mom. “What was it?”
    I felt a little silly that I’d thought Mel Melot was the worst thing I had to worry about. I shrugged. “There’s this boy at school, Mel Melot, and he was bragging about having magic. He had this wine bottle that never went empty, and he was manipulating people with his magic. You always say that’s wrong.”
    â€œSo you used the protection potion on him?” asked Mom.
    â€œYeah,” I sighed. “I thought he was reaching for some-thing in his pocket, and it was just a spur-of-the-moment reaction. But it didn’t work.”
    â€œWhat makes you think that?” asked Mom.
    â€œI thought— You said it was to protect me. In case of danger. But it didn’t hurt him at all.”
    â€œThat potion wasn’t supposed to hurt any humans,” said Mom. “It was supposed to neutralize magic. And I suspect it did that. Any magic on or near that boy was instantly neutralized.”
    The magic wine bottle? So maybe breaking it hadn’t mattered at all. Or maybe we had been able to break it because of the potion!
    â€œYou never told me the protection was just against magic,” I said.
    Mom sighed. “I wanted you to have a normal life, Izzie. I didn’t want you to spend your childhood worried about slurgs coming after you.”
    I hadn’t even known that slurgs existed.
    â€œThat’s why we came here after your dad died. To get you away from things like that,” Mom said.
    â€œI thought we came here because you didn’t want me to grow up around people who had magic, because I didn’t have any,” I said.
    Mom went very still.
    My mind leaped ahead. “Mom? If I had saved that protection potion for the slurg, would Tristan have needed to help me?”
    â€œI don’t know,” said Mom. “If I’d taught you properly about slurgs and how to use the potion properly—Izzie, I lied to you. About you not having magic. That’s my confession.”
    â€œBut the test,” I said. “The one I failed.”
    Mom shook her head. “Izzie, you never failed a test. I made that up. I was trying to protect you, but it may be that I put you in even more danger—” She cut herself off.
    I didn’t fail the magic test? All this time, I’d thought I would grow up normally, graduate high school, go to college, maybe get married someday. Be Mark’s girlfriend, because what else was there for me to do if I didn’t have magic?
    And now—
    The slurg had said it smelled magic on me. I’d thought it was the love philtre. But why had I healed so quickly? Was that because of my own magic?
    â€œYou lied to me,” I said.
    â€œHow much do you remember about your dad dying, Izzie?” Mom asked.
    â€œI remember being sick, and Dad was sick, too. And you gave me a potion, but Dad died before you could give it to him, too.”
    Mom stared at me. “What do you really remember?” she asked.
    I hesitated for a long moment. “A dream,” I said. “A huge serpent with scales who devoured people and other creatures, fairies and mermaids and such, just for their