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"Once upon a tiirl and boy"

She was immediately interrupted "What were their names?""Were they slaves?""Where did they live?""Were they vahed "Their names wereJack andJilThey were kitsune, and they lived way up north in the kitsune sector around the Great Crossings"And she proceeded, albeit with otten from the star bal

"So,"Bonnie concluded nervously, as she opened her eyes and realized that she’d attracted quite a croith her story,

"that’s the tale of the Seven Treasures, and - and I suppose the reedy, or you won’t end up with anything"

There was a lot of laughter, the nervous giggling of the girls and the "Ha!"kind of laughter from the crowd behind them Which Bonnie now noticed was entirely o into flirt mode Another part i for a dance; these were ogres and vampires and kitsune and even men with mustaches - and they wanted to buy her in her little black bubble dress, and as nice as the dress , jeweled gowns that Lady Ul a fortune’s worth of jewels at their throats and wrists and hair - and besides, they had had fierce protection with the that felt a lot like a baby-dol nightgown and delicate little shoes with silvery bows And she wasn’t protected because this society said you had to have men to be protected, and, worst of al she was a slave

"I wonder,"said a golden-haired irls around her, al of whom hurried out of his way except Mouse and Eren, "I wonder if you would go upstairs with me and perhaps tel asp Now she was the one hanging on to Mouse and Eren

"Al such requests irl out of the rooth dress, with a sympathetic, almost Madonna-like face "That wil be treated as theft of my mistress’s property

And I’m sure we don’t al want to be arrested as if we’d been caught carrying off the silverware,"she said and laughed lightly

There was equal y light laughter auests as Well, and movement toward the woood stories,"Mouse said in her soft voice

"It’s ht,"Eren said, grinning "You do tel good stories I wonder if that place real y exists"

"Well, I got it out of a star bal ,"Bonnie said "One that the girl - uet out of that tower? How did she knohat happened to Jack? And I read a story about a giant dragon and that felt real too How do they do it?"

"Oh, they trick you,"Eren said, waving a diso sore probably, because of the weather"

Bonnie nodded She’d res before

They only differed from demons in their level of stupidity At this level, they tended to be stupid in society, and she’d heard Damon say with a curled lip that the ones that were out of society were hired s

"And the rest they just fake soht about it"Eren looked up at Bonnie "You’re an odd one, aren’t you, Bonny?"

"Airls had revolved, without letting go of hands This meant that there was some space behind Bonnie She didn’t like that But, then, she didn’t like anything about being a slave She was starting to hyperventilate She wanted Meredith She wanted Elena She wanted out of here

"Uuys probably don’t want to associate with me anymore,"she said uncomfortably

"Huh?"said Eren

"Why?"asked Mouse

"Because I’et out I have to"

"Kid, cal"

"No, you don’t understand"Bonnie put her head down, to shade out sooing crazy"

"Sh, Bonny, they’re - "

"I can’t stay here,"Bonnie burst out

"Well, that’s probably al to the good,"a terrible voice, right in front of her, said

No! Oh, God No, no, no, no, no!

"When we’re in a new business ork hard,"the Madonna-like woman’s voice said "We look up at prospective customers We don’t h her voice eet as pecan pie, Bonnie so at them to find a pal et and stay on it, had been this sa hand under her chin and Bonnie couldn’t keep it fro her mouth when she screamed

In front of her, with the delicate pointed ears of a fox, and the long sweeping black tail of a fox but otherwise looking hu jeans and a sweater, was Shinichi And in his golden eyes she could see, twisting and turning, a little scarlet flame that just matched the red on the tip of his tail and the hair that fel across his forehead

Shinichi He was here Of course he could travel through the dimensions; he Stillhad a ful star bal that none of Elena’s group had ever found as well as those ical keys Elena had told Bonnie about Bonnie reht when trees, actual trees, had turned into so that could understand and obey his and pul ed, as if they were planning to pul her apart She could feel tears leaking out behind her shut eyelids

And the Old Wood He’d control ed every aspect of it, every creeper to trip you, every tree to fal in front of your car Until Elena had blasted al but that one thicket of the Old Wood, it had been ful of terrifying insect-like creatures Stefan cal ed malach

But now Bonnie’s hands were behind her back and she heard so click

Nooh, please no

But her hands were definitely fixed in place And then sore or a vaave Shinichi a s ful of identical keys Shinichi handed this to a big ogre whose fingers were so large that they eclipsed it And then Bonnie, as screahts of stairs and a heavy door thunked shut behind her The ogre carrying her fol owed Shinichi, whose sleek scarlet-tipped tail swung jauntily from a hole in his jeans, back and forth, back and forth Bonnie thought: That’s satisfaction He thinks he’s won this already

But unless Daotten her completely, he would hurt Shinichi for this Maybe he would kil hiht It was even ro -

No, it’s not roet out of this mess! Death is not romantic, it’s horrible!

They had reached the final doors at the end of the hal

Shinichi turned right and walked al the way down a long corridor There the ogre used the key to open a door

The rooht It was dim but Shinichi said, "Can we have a little il ure hurried and turned the light up to interrogation-lamp-in-your-face level

The rooet at a decent hotel It had a couch and some chairs on the upper level There was a , closed, on the left side of the rooht side of the room, where al the other rooms should be in a line

Thishad no curtains or blinds that could be drawn and it reflected Bonnie’s pale face back at her She knew at once what it was, a tay mirror, so that people in the room behind it could see into this room but not be seen The couch and chairs were positioned to face it