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Outside the castle At the point where we entered this world Beranabus claps roans Dervish looks at Beranabus as if he has two heads Even Shark fidgets as though a terrible curse had been uttered "What?" Beranabus snaps, frowning at his Disciples "We have to capture him, squeeze out whatever he knows about the Kah-Gash That&039;s e ca about the Kah-Gash Or we already canise it Either way, Cadaver&039;s real purpose was to bring Kernel into this universe, so he could learn the truth about the theft Now it is time for him to return to his parents and - "

"No!" Beranabus shouts "His brother never mattered This is about the Kah-Gash and always has been"

"To you, perhaps," Dervish says softly "But not to Kernel And not, I think, to the rest of us Sharlares at us An angry red flush creeps up his neck He starts to say so him "I&039;ll serve if you wantweapon, I&039;m yours for life But I doubt I&039;ll ree with Dervish - this was about Kernel and his search That&039;s what brought us here It doesn&039;t seem like much, and it&039;s crazy that Raz and Nadia had to die because of it - but that&039;s life"

Beranabus growls "Think you&039;re smarter than me, do you?"

"No But I can see the truth when it&039;s sitting beforeabout the Kah-Gash Maybe you&039;ll find it later, maybe you won&039;t Maybe Cadaver can lead you to it, o He doesn&039;t belong here He&039;s not part of this Not anymore"

It&039;s the most I&039;ve ever heard Shark say I want to thank hiled by Cadaver&039;s hairs

Beranabus scowls at his three Disciples, lets his gaze linger on ives a disinterested sniff "So be it I&039; to think it was a fool&039;s errand I&039;ll look for Cadaver anyway, just in case, but there&039;s no reason for you to co&039;s over And the deaths"

He turns away, takes a deep breath, startsthe words of a spell

Sharlances

"That&039;s it?" Dervish asks "We can go?"

"Aye Get the boy to open afor you Return to your normal duties I&039;ll be in touch later If I need you"

Dervish laughs Sharmila and Shark so?" I ask them

"Drop us off at your place," Shark says "We&039;ll make our oay froht They surroundin the air around er, half afraid, I think about Paskinston

It doesn&039;t take long I slot the patches of pulsing lights together Theopens Clean blue light The doorway out of all this craziness I take one last look back at the castle, the demon-laced sky, Beranabus

"Thank you," I mutter "I know you only helped me because you wanted to find the Kah-Gash But I couldn&039;t have discovered the truth without you"

"Much good it did you," Beranabus grunts He looks at rey-blue eyes Cocks his head "Hoe, as life changes If you ever need me, you knohere to find me"

"He won&039;t," Dervish says shortly, then pushes ht, out of the universe of deht We&039;re in a field outside Paskinston Where Mrs Egin exploded and Cadaver crossed The four of us standing beneath a halfin the delicious shs, nodding at our torn clothes, ripped flesh and bare feet

"At least we&039;re not a stench," Shark says He sniffs a sleeve and his face turns green at the ory pool

"Thank you," I whisper, eyes lowered, suddenly shy, feeling like a child again, the way I did before I crossed universes I was their equal over there Here, I&039;m just a boy

"No need for thanks," Dervish smiles "We had the adventure of a lifetihtfully "More a nightain"