Part 21 (2/2)

He held the man's hands still as he looked at him. ”You'll not hurt her,” he said. ”After it's done.”

”I have no cause.You'll have given me what I want.” ”It was not a question,” Preacher said, locking eyes with the

man. ”You are accustomed to bodies where the soul is long departed. If Rene's soul still lingers now, then so will mine, for a time. If you hurt the girl . . . I cannot lie and say what I will do, because I do not know what I may do. But I am certain I can do something, and so I will, if she's harmed.”

”As I said, I'll have no cause once Rene has his new body. A girl child is no threat to me. As for telling anyone, I'm quite certain that by now, your village has already realized something has gone very, very wrong.”

The village.The other children.

”No,” he said. ”You-”

Eleazar's grip tightened. Preacher tried to stop him, to say

more, but the man squeezed with inhuman strength and then- Darkness. Preacher jolted upright. He was lying on the forest floor, Charlie's body beside him. He scrambled to his feet and looked around, but there was no sign of Eleazar.

Something had gone wrong. He'd been tricked.

Addie.

Preacher whirled, searching for his foster daughter, seeing

no sign-

No, there she was, across the clearing, still on the ground.

He raced over and dropped beside her. He put his hands to her

thin chest and-

His fingers pa.s.sed through her. He stumbled back, falling on

his rear. Then he looked down at his hand, the gra.s.s poking

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