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Felix nodded at her and then stepped out of the rest room into the hall Annabelle and Kirk and so concerned

"Where’s Cat?"

"He’s in the chapel already," whispered Annabelle worriedly

"What about Adam?"

"They’re all in there, Felix," Davette said "It’s just Jack"

"Okay," he said, thinking He started walking down the hallway but paused when he realized they were all following hier hopeful faces and

And he wanted to scream at them: What do you want from me?

But instead he said, "We’ll meet you in the chapel"

And then he just stood there waiting until they reluctantly dispersed

When they were gone he thought a second, decided he knehere Croould be He continued down the hallalking on so that felt rich and expensive, with paintings on either side of hi on the richly paneled walls that were probably more so The hallway took hi, sixty-foot-long place called, for some reason, the Common Room

Felix hadn’t expected to find Jack there, but it was on his way He paused for athis room that looked like the lobby of the world’s et it

But he knehere Jack was and it wasn’t in these nificent rooh the forrand oak-paneled entry hall, and opened the front door

The night was still cool for su out Felix stepped through the door and closed it behind hi his eyes adjust to the dark Ten feet away, a figure sat on the edge of the wide front porch, his great back a dim softness in the shadows

"Jack?" he called softly, al

"Here," was the tired reply

Felix hesitated, then walked down the broad steps and sat down The rain-drenched steps began iht back up again

He looked down at Jack, sitting forward - hunched forward - with his elbows on his knees

"Kinda wet, isn’t it?"

The diht motion in the dark

Get up, you sonuvabitch! Felix wanted to screa fro out here and he wanted to grab hi unfair

But dammit! Jack was supposed to be the leader of this deal and there were people in there waiting on hi on him

He tried to calm himself before he spoke, but he knew his tone cao, man Time to do it"

At first Crow didn’t move Then he stood up slowly and put his hands on his hips and stared out into the night

"Got a cigarette?" he whispered harshly

Felix nodded "Sure" He fished out a shter

Jesus, Jack! he thought when the flaht and drawn and weak and and beaten

But he didn’t say anything And Crow didn’t say anything He just puffed two or three tiht Then Felix felt hi deep breath and let it out Then he tossed the cigarette away into sparks, pulled up his belt, and beaded for the door

"Coruffly

So off they went to do the deed and as they walked, Jack leading, Felix trailing behind, a transformation took place At first Jack looked pitiful and sorry, with his wrinkled shirttail out and his baggy pants wet on the seat from the damp step The asn’t much better, more like a reluctant lope But steadily, the pace quickened and those great shoulders thrust up and those powerful hands reached back and thuh on his neck and

And Felix felt hi in austed and now he thought: Look at this guy! Look at hih

By the time the reached the hallway outside the chapel Jack was strutting like a drillmaster He stopped, abruptly, outside the chapel door and took another deep breath and turned and looked at Felix

Felix looked back into those same sunken eyes and he saw the pain was still there and the weariness was still there and decided that was probably ly at Felix

Felix nodded back

And they went in and did it

They had Carl’s body wrapped up in some heavy white fabric and laid out on a table up in front by the altar The bishop was there, surrounded by his robed attendants and that s they used and dozens of candles The women sat in a pew in the back row The men, Kirk and Cat and a robed Ada was, Felix had to ad stuff

Jack walked up to the table and Felix took the eht Carl’s body looked aard lying there And that’s when he noticed the saw

The saas not a saw at all, but a sharp stone fashioned to slip inside a grooved harness that supported the head and neck of the body "Cutting" consisted of rapping the blunt end of the stone sharply with a heavy wooden ht hand Beside the mallet was the stake, an intricately carved piece of wood about half the size of a baseball bat and proportionately thinner In the light fro hi on the other side of the rounded wood but couldn’t read it

First were the prayers, not too different froer soet it over with, he thought

And then he thought, Could I do this if I had to?

Can I stand here nohile Jack does it?

Then the ti stone in place and then he grabbed up theFelix couldn’t hear and then the mallet came down and there was an awful "snick" noise and the fabric around the throat separated cleanly and then heavy fluid began to stain the edges

Jack didn’t pause to tamp the floith the towel there at his other hand Instead he grasped the stake, placed it over the heart of one of his dearest cohtily home with one solid rap

There were more prayers but Felix didn’t hear the of his own heart and wondered if that was fear or hatred of the beasts that made this necessary

After a while, Felix realized he was the only one still standing there except for the bishop’s men ready to take away the body He nodded self-consciously and stepped back to give them room But just before he did he craned his neck around to see the writing on the other side of the stake

It read: "Not one daret"