Tris & Izzie Read Online Free Page A

afraid they’ll find out you were the one who sent it?” I asked. “That you have real magic?”
    Mom said no. She thought they would think it was quaint, but not real.
    â€œIs it because you aren’t sure it will work?”
    â€œIt will work,” Mom said.
    â€œThen why? Is it too expensive?”
    â€œThe ingredients aren’t expensive in themselves,” said Mom.
    â€œThen does it take a lot of magic?”
    Mom didn’t answer for a while. Then she said, “It has to do with choice, Izzie. I wouldn’t want to give magic that would take away someone’s choice.”
    â€œWhat about little kids in the ambulance? They can’t choose whether to take one of your healing potions or not. Nor can people who are unconscious.” I was proud of myself for figuring out a loophole to Mom’s argument.
    â€œThey want to live. The human body always wants to live,” said Mom. “Except—”
    â€œWhat?” I asked.
    â€œWell, there have been two times when I didn’t give a potion that I could have given. Because I was asked not to.”
    â€œI thought you said everyone wants to live.”
    â€œI said the body wants to live. But there are times when the mind is ready to move on. When people are old enough to make that choice, Izzie, when they have lived a long life and they are choosing death not out of fear or despair but simply out of peace, then I would not force a potion, even on a dying body,” said Mom.
    â€œOh. But these two want to get married. Don’t they?” We were looking at a photograph of the smiling bride and groom. Mom had been holding it the whole time, as if memorizing the two faces.
    â€œThey want to get married. But do they want to be in love forever?” Mom asked. “That’s the question.”
    â€œOf course they do,” I said. I might have been naive, but I figured anyone who wanted to get married wanted to be in love forever. “Did you and Dad take a love philtre?” I asked.
    Mom hesitated for a long moment, then said, “Yes, we did. But it was after we had been married for a while. Kind of a renewal of vows thing, when you were born.”
    â€œThen it must be the best thing to do. Because you and Dad were perfect for each other.”
    I smiled, but Mom looked away.
    She told me while she cleaned up the kitchen that in the old days, when they still had arranged marriages, the mother of the bride would go to a local witch and ask for a love philtre and give it to her daughter and the groom the night before the wedding. It was considered the best wedding gift, because it made sure the bride and groom would be happy with each other, even if they had never met before or even if they hated each other and the only reason they were getting married was that their families wanted them to.
    â€œBut to be in love with someone forever, even if they are gone, Izzie—that’s a burden. Not everyone can bear it,” Mom said finally.
    â€œYou think one of them is going to die?” I asked, pointing to the photo.
    â€œI don’t think that.” Mom sighed. “I just don’t know the two of them very well. And the philtre takes away any chance to fall out of love. It’s not always a good thing. Sometimes people think they are in love with a person, but he or she turns out to have been hiding something important. Or things change, and it might be easier not to be in love forever.”
    Mom didn’t end up sending the love philtre after all. She decided it was too dangerous, and she couldn’t be sure it was the right thing.
    I never heard what happened to the couple. I guess you can be perfectly happily married without a love philtre. After all, I hadn’t needed one with Mark, and we were fine. But Branna clearly needed something to help her along, and maybe a love potion would be just the thing. With none of the dangers of my mom’s real magic.
    The