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"Horse horse no, no horse LetI put on the suit under this, eh?"

She returned to shore just long enough to strip down to a long swi the same "No spirits around here, are there?"

I looked at the stone dangling from my wrist "None that I see"

"Hell Sofor it but a little swi"

It took them two hours and several trips back to shore, where they stood huddled in blankets guzzling coffee froe thermos Eve produced, before Siobhan called out froh in the air as she swam back to shore

"Got it!" she said rather breathlessly as she stopped in front of us, both she and Eve bright red with cold I handed the blankets at the ready as Siobhan explained, through chattering teeth, how she was just about to give up when she spotted the essence of a horse, and followed that to Ulfur&039;s final resting place "We et pneumonia from this, but by God, it orth it Behold, the essence of one human named Ulfur Hallursson"

I looked at the e? I asked Kristoff

He frowned No

"Um Are you sure it&039;s there?" I asked her

"Oh, yes, it&039;s there Only vespillos can see the essences-otherwise, we&039;d be out of a job He&039;s right here, swirling around like a piece of blue dry ice"

Eve had been peeling off her wet suit under the cover of a blanket She eed now fully clothed, with her head wrapped in a towel, rubbing her hands to get the warmth back "Do ant to do this here?"

"Sure," I answered, glancing around "No one else is here, and I know you guys want nothing more than a hot bath"

Have you ever seen a lich raised before?

Not raised, no, Kristoff answered, his gaze interested as he watched Siobhan gently set her handful of nothing on a flat rock I&039;ve seen liches, of course

What do they look like? Is Ulfur going to be all green sli flesh, and e to brace ht of Ulfur as an undead, albeit corporeal being Or is he going to be nothing but a skeleton, like in those role-playing games?

Liches don&039;t look any different fro black eyes

Soulless, dead eyes that leach the life froed into her clothing as Eve sat cross-legged on her blanket, her eyes closed, her hands held out as she swayed and chanted softly "It shouldn&039;t be long now Eve is pretty quick She doesn&039;t do all the fancy cereave lad when youyou&039;ve read or seen in the et snarky with o, I had no idea liches even existed, let alone what they were

Eve got slowly to her feet, her eyes still closed, her hands held out palms down over the rock Suddenly she froze for a ether with a loud clap that sounded like a shot, causing me to take a step back

"Holy Ulfur!" I juht of the familiar face, even if it was a bit wavery and wispy, as if it had been projected on a curtain of sht I&039;d lost you!"

"Pia?" The s down at his hands for a lad I am to see you Oh, well-done, ladies, well-done Ulfur, I wouldn&039;t bla you to be sucked up by an Ilargi, but I assure you-"

"Dear God, what have you done?" Ulfur asked, his eyes as black as Kristoff had warned they would be, shiny and filled with horror

Before I could say anything, he dissolved, just dissolved into nothing

"No!" I wailed, waving ht that ood"

"Not good? Not good? What happened? Where&039;s Ulfur? Why did he say what he did?" I asked, panicking "Why did he go away?"

"His soul is held by the Ilargi," Eve answered, her thin face pinched She glanced at her friend "I&039;m sorry; I had hoped that you would have a little time with your spirit before he was su"

"But but I don&039;t understand!" I felt like pullingso close to rescuing Ulfur

"Let us discuss the issue in the car," Kristoff said, glancing overhas caused soe"

I turned to see a line of people strea up our things and returning up the rocky path to where we&039;d left the car I crawled into the back next to Kristoff,any et the soul away froi if you want your friend to be free," Siobhan said a short while later, ere heading back to Reykjavik "I&039;m really sorry, Pia As I told you, normally liches are bound to the person who raises them, unless, as in this case, their soul is held by soi wouldn&039;t even know that we raised Ulfur, but evidently he&039;s keeping a close watch on the souls in his possession"

Kristoff&039;s hand arh the touch of his fingers as they stroked the back of my handDo not distress yourself, Beloved You kneould have to do soi in order to free hiet to be with us while we did it Poor Ulfur He looked so horrified, so appalled And it&039;s allsouls on the side, it is not your fault

Do you ever so you like a toilet? I askedwith only half an ear as Siobhan and Eve alternated apologizing

Not frequently, no

Lucky you Honest to God, Kristoff! Like we don&039;t have enough to do trying to find Alec, now I have to take a soul fro reaper? How on earth am I supposed to do that? I almost wailed into his head

You will do it just as you do everything else-one step at a ti calmness

By the time Siobhan and Eve dropped us off at the hotel, I was panicking a bit less, and starting to sort through the advice they offered

"The best I can do is give you this phone number," Eve said as we parted ways in the hotel lobby She pressed a sht to ask the Ilargi his naue They send me out a list of people I&039; on confidentiality The only reason I got the phone nui is because there was some confusion about the location of your friend If it helps, it&039;s a US nu my eyes at the phone number "Good luck with your thesis"

They both waved as I headed for the bar "I need a drink before I call this ass-hat and rea what he&039;s done to poor Ulfur and all the others"

Kristoff grabbedme "You need rest You&039;re exhausted"

"Drink first, then rea hunger within hie of the Ilargi, and after that, bed, so I can molest you as you&039;ve never been molested before"

"You need rest above all else I can feel how tired you are-"

"There you are! We&039;ve been waiting for you forever! Where have you been?" Magda bustled out of the bar as I tried to peel Kristoff&039;s fingers off ? Did you find Ulfur? Did you find Kristjana? Where&039;s your boy puppy? Oh! We saw your brother at the airport in Roave hio now?"

Magda turned around in a full circle before spotting her boyfriend over at the reception desk, where he was unpacking several cartons of fillad to see you," I told Magda, giving her a little hug "Good job on ditching Andreas And yes to both questions, although the bit involving Ulfur is kind of long and well"

A luedfailed Ulfur

"I&039;rip on myself "I don&039;t normally cry"

She eyed me with a critical eyebrow raised "You look like hell, Pia I mean that in the nicest way, of course, but you really do look like you&039;ve been put through the wringer Maybe you need a little break"

"That&039;s exactly what she&039;s going to get," Kristoff said, wrapping his arda grinned "Gotcha I&039;ll see you toht if you come with us," Kristoff said just before the elevator door closed "Blue Lagoon We leave in half an hour"