Part 57 (1/2)

With that thought, I would ue, so be it

It was a wrench leaving the Ga my Diary, which I left strapped under the seat, in preparation for a quick getaway The benandanti wouldn't like it if they kneas leaving theue on one to find the lake The snow had ht drizzle pitter-pattered soleic, then did vampires? Does Lennox? Does he have a Mark like ot an uneasy feelinglike we had been gone too long Now, it was only a ue, and Selwyn if I could

I doubled back, fetched my backpack, and quickly scribbled two notes

To Asher, Laurinaitis and Manon: I came here for a purposeand until I finish it I can't discuss any plans for the future without first seeing Prague for a

Halsey PS Don't worry I' someone

Next I wrote a letter to Lia Iwas in orderthat I had allafter it

Part of rey as after ure certain things out for ardless of what happened to

A recklessness had come over ht call this-

BE RECKLESS OkayI would be

Genevieve was my God St Martley's for war Why?

Coht mechanics

That was code for The Atlantic uess what? Oceans can be traversed! And forests! Wizards and witches can fly!

The Stros were being drawn to the oldest ofme My boots were already caked in mud before I hit upon the path which led to the lake

I figured I'd start there See if I could catch sight of the grey wolf Maybe it was trying to get me on my own There was nobody else around Coht I only had my personal effects The letter to Lia would be dispatched once I got to Prague I didn't even have Ballard's ue was yonder Perhaps the area around Prague was like a siphon It could sift lost souls

What if you wereno one else could do But you had to change who you were, to do it? Could you go through with it? Or would the transfored you enough, would you cease to be you?

I was thinking about the Super bitch, this so-called lupa mannara, my quintessence This ani of fire When the sun was occulted by theof fire, which blotted the other out, like the ring on er, except infla and Lennox was standing there

”What kept you?” he said

The ”Leh” part of the sentence got stuck on the way out Was this what ranted and just happening?

I was sure he wasn't an hallucination

Stepping closer into the clearing, he echoed my footsteps

”I haven't seen you in six months,” I said ”And you think you can just stand there, looking all cool like that?”

”Pretty h his hair, the act a kind of nonchalance

”Besides, you needto Prague You know, that place filled with vaori,” I said, referring to Dallace and Ca branches out of my wayviburnums and so forth

”We need to talk,” he said He wasn't trying to stop me

His violet-colored eyes looked like flaoes to”

”I'ht: I' that,” I said

”I was just trying to help,” he said He let the cluo, and it slapped ued ue Then we'll talk”

”Deal,” he said

I held out my hand for him to shake The contact caused an electrical reaction, such as a storht He put his hood up and I followed suit

The sun was setting by the time we stepped from the trees Finally, after what felt likewith the lights of the city Prague was in the distance The Districts of Magic I had s

Lennox lost no tiainst the places ere headed He didn't seem to need to be filled in, either, which meant either he didn't care or he already knehat ourme? I knew that was in his nature, but still ”Beware eye contactand guard your mind We need a procurerI know the perfect place,” he saidall paranoid and shi+zz

I wanted to see all thefroainst such overt interest in the goings-on within the Districts of Magic

”Wait until we get there,” he said ”You'll see”

We were crossing the Charles Bridge, to a place called Golden Lane, where Cubist houses twisted in the night sky The Velvet Revolution had changed Prague Now Art Nouveau blended with more oyles and gutter spouts, bell towers cupped with bronze tops, Gothic rib vaulting, scraffito; not tomonks and the Sisters from other conventsI almost wrote covenants When they crossed paths with Lennox and I, they crossed themselves It”Just wait”

He tried to engage me in conversation, but I said, ”Later Just wait And stop cheating”