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Grace waited in the car She glanced at ht&039;s the bonfire," she said

I nodded Grace kneell as I did the schedule for the festival It hadn&039;t changed in the last forty years; I doubted it would change in the next forty Unless Lake Bluff grew too poor to have the festival

"I n an&039;s death under wraps for the tiree to that?"

"Threatened to feed the olden boy Works every tih he was dead, they didn&039;t want it touted on the national news that Josh Logan had been a rapist

"We can still go public once this is over," Grace said "But right now I&039;d like to keep thea few journalists to the olf does have its appeal No offense"

"None taken," I said A lot of people held the sa me, about certain reporters "I&039;d rather let this drop Josh can&039;t hurt anyone anyly, her brow creased orry "You don&039;t have to decide now"

"I have decided That part of my life is as dead as Josh" I hoped

While I should be happy that I didn&039;t have to tell the world e to feel happy about anything

"I also talked to Doc Bill," Grace continued "The fur found on Josh&039;s body tested positive for wolf"

"We figured that"

"It&039;s always good to have data to back up a theory" Grace bit her lip "I&039;m not sure what to do about Balthazar"

"What is there to do?" I asked "Sweep up what&039;s left of hiht be a little hard to explain"

"What isn&039;t lately?"

"He&039;s listed as a ht be best to allow everyone to continue to think that I&039;m not sure how to account for the explosion, let alone the tail I&039;ve got the sah no one&039;s actually seen hione"

"And if he&039;s a olf - "

"We know he is"

"Yeah" Grace sighed "So if he&039;s hightailed it to theto be a lot more olves soon"

"I wish I knehat to do about that, too Would be nice if there were some sort of army you could call to take care of this"

"Wouldn&039;t it, though?"

"I&039;o after him"

"I know"

Silence fell, broken only by the huainst the pave things I already knew "Picnic at noon, followed by fireworks just after sundown Then the eclipse and we&039;re ho as the olf, or wolves, followed Malachi&039;s wagons out of town

"Make sure everyone&039;s got silver bullets," I blurted

Grace turned in to her driveway "It&039;s one little olf Maybe two What could happen?"

I hated it when people said things like that

I&039;d left my dad&039;s car at Grace&039;s, so I drove directly to work, where I discovered an empty office Since Balthazar had disappeared, and his editorial diatribes, too, the nulanced at my watch Joyce should be here, but she wasn&039;t

A quick perusal of her desk revealed she had been here, not too long ago Where was she now?

The ladies&039; roo, asking anyone whoJoyce like Grace tracked wolves, through a building instead of the forest I found Joyce forty-five minutes later in the bowels of the baseood reason

Once I&039;d co I&039;d crept down the dark, dank ce chills wind upto my hair

When I was ten, I hadn&039;t lasted round level before I&039;d thundered back up and burst through the door, slas in that bases - mice, no doubt I didn&039;t like theh to makedown here I figured that all the ti, this here she&039;d been Considering as going on in Lake Bluff, I needed to knohat she was up to

The lighting was dim - several bulbs were burnt out My shadow trailed ahead ofme jump every time that I saw it

The corridors twisted and turned The basee andcabinets, brooms, mops, and fuse boxes abounded

In the distance I heard a lol, and I paused Maybe I shouldn&039;t be down here after all

So to the outside Town hall was the tornado shelter for et in from the street if need be, or out if they beca down That alsohere

I reached for et Grace to come and hold my hand

"No service," Inoise increased, soundingwas about to blow up

I continued on, one hand trailing along the damp, cool wall of the basement I turned a corner and there she was, hunched over a desk like a crone

"Joyce?" Ioff the close ce my hair stand on end

She whirled, the stark bulb overhead flaring across her face, hostly white, even as her eyes appeared co froht and the sound of her, if not the sharp, shiny knife in her fist

"Claire! You scared the crap out of ht, and she was just Joyce again, though she still had the knife

"Wh-what are you doing with that?"

"This?" She frowned at her hand, then reached back to the desk and held up an envelope, slitting it "Opening ?"

For an instant I&039;d thought she&039;d been perforht beneath my nose, but the desk was merely covered with letters Nevertheless, I checked to see if she had a swastika-bearing rune anywhere close She didn&039;t

Joyce glanced at the paper she&039;d withdrawn from the envelope, scowled, and fed both of therowled, low, deep, and al this upstairs?" I asked

She didn&039;t answer, just kept opening envelopes and feeding the junk to theon that I should know about?"

More than there already was, that is I didn&039;t think Joyce are of the olf proble her She&039;d think I was crazy, or she&039;d want to do so about Grace andto hunt the woods as her father had done and winding up wolf bait like Balthazar