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Don’t fight," he panted into her face "It’ll be easier if you just relax"

Hannah was frightened-and furious "In your drearoin

She hadn’t survived Maya and come thousands of miles to be killed by so to do so to her mind-it reminded her of the way Maya had captured

Ha-nahkt’s eyes Soh of hypnosis in the last

week She fought it

And she fought with her body, unskillfully maybe, but with utter conviction She head-butted hiet close to her neck

"Ow!" The Artful Dodger jerked back Then he got a better grip on her arm He pulled the wrist toward

hi There were nice accessible veins there He was going to draw blood froasped She had no idea ould happen if she lost any more blood to a

va as she kept away from them for the next week, so

she presuer And she was already noticing little changes

in herself: her ability to see better in the dark, for instance

She tried to wrench her arasp Suddenly she realized that

he wasn’t holding her as tightly, and he wasn’t trying to pull her wrist to hi

The expression on his facewith adrenaline He

looked shocked, dis, and embarrassed all at once

"Who-ho are you?" he spluttered

Hannah looked at the ring, and then at him Of course How could she have been so stupid? She should

have ht World, maybe everybody knew hiether

"I told you I was looking for so"

The Artful Dodger gave a kind of s "I didn’t

hurt you, did I?" he said It wasn’t a question, it was a de to

you"

"You didn’t get the chance," Hannah said But she was afraid the boy , so she

added, "I don’t want to get you in trouble I just want to find Thierry Can you helphelp-" He hesitated, then said, "It’s kind of a long walk"

A walk? Thierry was here? Hannah’s heart leaped so high that her whole body felt light

"I’m not tired," she said, and it was true "I can walk anywhere"

The house was enor

The Artful Dodger abandoned Hannah at the beginning of the long pal, "That’s

it," and then sca off into the darkness Hannah looked after hiri that it was it She was so tired that she eaving and her feet felt as if

they’d been pounded with stones

As she walked up to the front door, though, her doubts disappeared There were black roses

everywhere

There was an arch-shaped stained-glassabove the double doors, showing a black rose that had

the sa The san had been worked into the

crowns over the s It was used like a fa all those rosesthe doorbell, she told herself And stop feeling like so the prince

She pushed the doorbell button, then held her breath as chimes echoed distantly

Please Please answer

She heard footsteps approaching and her heart really started to pound

I can’t believe it’s all been this easy

But when the door opened, it wasn’t Thierry It was a college-age guy with a suit, brown hair pulled

back into a short ponytail, and dark glasses He looked vaguely like a young CIA agent, Hannah thought

He and Hannah stared at each other

"Uh, I’ for Thierry Des-couedres," Hannah said finally, trying to sound confident

The CIA guy didn’t change expression When he spoke, it wasn’t unkindly, but Hannah’s heart

pluain in a few days And it’s better to call one of his secretaries before showing up"

He started to shut the door

A wave of desperation broke over Hannah "Wait!" she said, and she actually stuck her foot in the

doorway She was auy looked down at her foot, then up at her face "Yes?"

Oh, God, he thinks I’m a nuisance visitor Hannah suddenly had a vision of swarms of petitioners lined

up at Thierry’s house, all wanting hi for an audience

with the king

And ILevis and a shirt that eaty and

wrinkled after tra around the Strip all day Her boots were dusty Her hair was li over her face

"Yes?" the CIA guy said again, politely urgent

"Inothing" Hannah felt tears spring to her eyes and was furious with herself She hid the, which by now felt as if it were loaded with rocks

She had never been so tired Herto cramp

She had no idea where to find a safe place to sleep

But it wasn’t the CIA guy’s problem

"Thank you," Hannah said She took a deep breath and started to turn away

It was the deep breath that did it Souy

and the breath delayed Hannah long enough that they saw each other

"Nilsson, wait!" the soirl, thin and tanned, with odd silvery-brown hair and dark a bruises on her face

But it was her expression that startled Hannah Her anition, herher ar to Hannah "It’s her! It’s her" When he stared at her,

she hit him in the shoulder "Her!"

They both turned to stare at Hannah The CIA guy had an expression now He looked stunned

Hannah stared back at theuy very slowly

opened the door "My name is Nilsson, miss," he said "Please coht Al hair off her left cheek,

away from her birthmark I should have told them who I was But how could I know they would

understand?

Nilsson was talking again as he gently took her bag "I’m very sorry, miss-I didn’t realizeI hope you

won’t hold this-"

"Nobody knew you were co bluntness "And the worst thing is that

Thierry’s gone off somewhere I don’t think anybody knohere or when he’ll be back But meanwhile

you’d better stay put I don’t want to think about what he’d do to us if we lost you" She smiled at

Hannah and added, "I’irl winked "We met before, but I couldn’t exactly introduce myself Don’t you

remember?"

Hannah started to shake her head-and then she blinked Blinked again That silvery-brown coloring

those ahted "That was ot it worse, though I ripped hi to drink?" Nilsson interrupted hastily "Or to eat? Why don’t you coirl is a olf, she thought A olf The last ti ears and a bushy tail Werewolves are real

And this one protected me

She said dizzily, "Ithank you I ed "Part of the job Want a Coke?"

Hannah blinked, then laughed "I’d kill for one"

"I’ll take care of it," Nilsson said "I’ll take care of everything Lupe, why don’t you show her upstairs?"

He hurried off and opened a cellular phone A uys dressed like hi was that they were all very young-all in their late teens Hannah caught

snatches of frantic-sounding conversation

"Well, try that nue with-"

"Co With that same cheerful bluntness she

added, "You look like you could use a bath"

She led Hannah past a giant white sculpture toward a wide curving staircase Hannah gli roo as a football field, decorated hite

couches, geo roorand piano

Hannah felt more like Cinderella than ever Nobody in Medicine Rock had a grand piano

I didn’t knoas so rich I don’t know if I can deal with this

But when she was installed in a sort of Moorish fantasy bathrooreen plants

and exotic tiles and brass globe lights with cut-out star shapes, she decided that she could probably

adjust to living this way If forced

It was heaven just to relax in the Jacuzzi tub, drinking a Coke and breathing in the delicious scent

of bath salts And it was even better to sit up in bed afterward, eating finger sandwiches sent up by

"Chef" and telling Lupe how she caas

When she was done, Lupe said, "Nilsson and everybody are trying to find Thierry It h See, he just stopped off for a few ain

But meanwhile, this house is pretty well protected And all of us will fight for you-I ht to the