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"The place I was in changed It was still dark, but quiet all of a sudden And instead of dead skunk it so ofme away I fell on a hard floor It was cold, concrete I scooted backward, trying to get away from him, but I hit a wall I waited, like this"--she threw both ar pitchfork or whatever they use to welco happened After a few one I was alone"

Pryce had pulled Bonita through the demon plane to deposit her elsewhere I remembered what Butterfly had said about Pryce’s visits to a place in the Ordinary "You said the place s else about it?"

"Pitch-black, like a cave I never saw it, but I explored every inch Concrete floor, like I said Cinder-block walls When I stood up, I couldn’t reach the ceiling, even on h I couldn’t lie down When I slept, it was sitting up, ainst the far wall and ed into a corner"

"Did you try the door?" Daniel asked

"I didn’t even think there was a door at first I screaone because I was sure I was sealed into that place But later, I don’t kno much, the door opened It slid sideways into the wall, and somebody stood there You can bet I found ht the Devil had come back for me But it wasn’t him It wasI don’t knohat it was Even in Deadtown, I never seen nothing like it"

"Please try to describe it, Bonita," Daniel said "We can bring in a sketch artist later if that would help"

Bonita closed her eyes Whether she was trying to remember or to blot the ht in the hall, but it was di stood in front of it And it wore a robe, with the hood pulled up and forward I tried to back away from it, but the cell was so small It stepped inside and set down a tray of food and water on the floor--I don’t ry by then I’m a zombie after all" She ventured a small smile, which turned almost immediately into a frown "But I al straightened, it pushed back its hood and peered at me Its face was like a skull covered with old, dried-out skin And it had fangs Like a vaain The thing srew a mile Then it turned and left There was another one in the hall--I saw it The door slid back into place and I was alone again"

Daniel and I exchanged a look Her jailers were Old Ones,to turn their undeath into true iue had been their test run, released on thousands of innocent people, of a ically enhanced virus that could "cure" death Their leader, Colwyn, a fifteen-hundred-year-old former druid, had recently escaped froether, it was the worst kind of bad news

"Tiht it--two of ’eether I slept I tried not to think about ould happen to me And then the Devil carabbed ain, and we entered that other darkness The noisy, sht It flickered, like it was from fires all around, but I never seen no flames"

"What happened then?"

"The Devil picked ht for sure it was flao of my arms, but he moved around behind led, but it didn’t help The Devil said, ‘Hurry’ It tookto me There was another man--he looked like the Devil, except he was older and had a beard This one was a ghost I could see that weird light flickering right through him" She sed "And there wasthere was"

We waited It was hard, watching Bonita struggle to get past the horror of the meuy was obviously the shade of Myrddin, free to detach hiood idea who--or what--Bonita was about to describe, but I didn’t want to put words into her iant But sodisgusting It had blue skin all covered arts, so like tumors I had to crane my neck back to see its face--and then I wished I hadn’t The firelight was corinned at me More fire was inside itsas steak knives"

Difethwr, as I’d expected

"The giant was a demon, Bonita," I said

"I knew it! I kneas in hell The whole time, from the very first minute I saw the Devil, I prayed and prayed It’s how I kept froot out, I’d never do anything bad ever again" She crossed her heart as she said it, as she’d probably done hundreds of times in her cell But then a look of defeat diain she buried her face in her hands "And then what happened? I did get out, only to do the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life I tried to kill that lady" She dropped her hands and leaned forward "I don’t even knohy I did that I don’t know her I never saw her before tonight But these voices filled , ‘Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill the lady!’ Like a ive me a choice"

Bonita confir zo to the part I really wanted to kno

"When did you hear those voices for the first tihost cut me"

"What happened?"