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Without y streaeway between universes is opened Tapping into that instinctively, I throw up a barrier between us and the guards The bullets ainst it and drop harmlessly to the floor As then the barrier and start thinking about ways to make it a one-way shield, so that we can fire at them

Before I can do that, Juni barks a short command Thepulses, then snaps out of existence The flow ofresidue is left in the air, I now have to work off a dwindling supply Altering the shield would take a lot out ofcan you hold that?" Shark yells

"A couple of uess

"Pip!" he roars

"On it," she ht There&039;s a corridor on the other side which bypasses the section of the building we ca it in reserve in case we needed an escape route

As Meera frees Prae Athiuards on the other side of the shield part to allow Juni Swan and a s Antoine Horwitzer to advance They come to within a couple of centimetres of the barrier Juni smiles crookedly at the shield, then at les, her voice a hoarse mockery of what it once was "But what y?"

"As much as you," I snarl

"Possibly," she chuckles "But I don&039;t have to do anything Not with so many finely armed humans to depend on"

"Did you pay them much?" Shark sneers

"Antoine recruited them on my behalf," she says

"Most humans have a price," Antoine chuckles "I&039;ve always been adept at calculating such sums"

"I&039;ll have your head for this, Horwitzer!" Prae Athi a finger at Antoine "You&039;re finished!"

"Don&039;t be silly," he coos "You can&039;t do anything to n has come to its natural end I run the Lambs now"

"Why this way?" she snarls "You were always power-hungry, but you&039;d have squeezed me out eventually Why betray us to rowls "You don&039;t want to hurt e," smiles Antoine "Our associates can provide us with the cure for lycanthropy, but that&039;s only the tip of the iceberg I was never much interested in that side of the business While you astingit in other fields We&039;re already a y, we&039;ll be in a class of our own"

"I&039;m ready," Pip calls

"Give us a minute," Shark says, then squares up to Juni "I never liked you When you were Beranabus&039;s assistant, all you ever did was corace to the Disciples"

Juni stares impassively at Shark "Insult me all you like You&039;ll be dead soon We&039;ll see who&039;s laughing then" She looks around and spots Meera Her sain "You had a lucky escape in Carcery Vale You won&039;t get away this time"

"You were in the Vale?" Meera frowns

"Of course," Juni says "I was outside I was sorely tempted to break into the cellar I could smell the three of you and I knew Dervish was incapacitated But my master warned me to be wary of Bec of the Kah-Gash"

"So that&039;s what this is about," I snarl, our suspicions-that the attacks were the work of Lord Loss and the Shadow-confirmed "You want the Kah-Gash"

"Obviously," Juni sniffs "Did you think my master would stand by and let you wield the most powerful weapon ever known? That he&039;d wait for you to learn how to use it, so you could destroy our universe?"

"But why try to kill us?" I frown "The olves could have ripped Bec to pieces Surely you need her and me-alive"

"Not at all," Juni sneers "Our new master deals in death I&039; the living again I&039;m here to harvest your spirit, just as I would have harvested Bec&039;s if she&039;d been killed It&039;s simpler to let others do our dirty work, then steal your parts of the Kah-Gash as you perish We weren&039;t sure hoerful you asps, clutches her chest and bends over Takes several breaths, then stands again

"You don&039;t look too healthy," I laugh wickedly

"This body won&039;t last long," she says "A shell for my soul to inhabit I&039;ll return to death soon, and return gladly But rest assured, your uncle&039;s in far worse shape I saw him just before I ca"

"No," she says "He was on a pleasure cruiser, although he didn&039;t see much pleasure out of it My new master decided to deal with Bec personally, and since Dervish and Beranabus ith her, they&039;re dead now, or will be soon Just like you when your barrier crumbles"

I start to press her for rips et out of here"