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"Did we save the people?"Matt asked desperately

Theo turned her face outward toward the center of the town

For nearly aAt last, when Meredith felt that she ht shatter from tension, she turned back and said quietly, "Dear Ma ma, Grandtheuns I sense the parents’rooot there And I sense parents, hiding in closets, aweapons dropped and children fal ing ontoand bewildered"

"We did it, then You did it You held her off,"Matt panted

Stillgentle and sober, Theo said, "Someone else - far away - didBut Grand ree Because of theht, and no parent has kil ed a child

The long nightri rise and swell inside her, bigger and bigger, until, for al her training, she couldn’t contain herself any longer It exploded out of her in a yel of exultation

She found that Matt was shouting too He was as grubby and unkempt as she was, but he seized her by the hands and whirled her around in a barbarian victory dance

And it was fun, whirling around and yel ing like a kid Maybe - rown-up, she had missed out on the essence of fun, which always felt as if it had some childlike quality to it

Matt had no trouble in expressing his feelings, whatever they were: childlike,this, and also thinking that it had been a long time since she’d real y looked at Matt But now she felt a sudden wave of feeling for him And she could see that Matt felt the same way about her As if he’d never real y looked at her properly before

This was the momentwhen they were meant to kiss

Meredith had seen it so often in iven

But this was life, it wasn’t a story And when theMatt’s shoulders while he held hers, and she could see that he was thinking exactly the sa about the kiss

The rin, Matt’s face showed that he knehat to do Meredith did too They both ed each other When they drew back, they were both grinning They kneho they were They were very different, very close friends Meredith hoped that they alould be

They both turned to look at Theo, and Meredith felt a pang in her heart, the first since she had heard they’d saved the town Theo was changing It was the look on her face as she watched the, and while watching youth at its peak, she was once again aging, wrinkling, her hair going white instead ofa raincoat covered with bits of paper

"Mrs Flowers!" This person, it was perfectly safe and right to kiss Meredith flung her ar her off her feet in excitement Matt joined them, and they boosted her above their heads They carried her like this to the Saitous,the fire

There, sobered, they put her down

"Isobel,"Meredith said "God! I’m so sorry - your home"

"Thank you,"Isobel said in her soft, slurred voice Then she turned away

Meredith felt chil ed She was even beginning to regret the celebration, when Mrs Saitou said, "Do you know, this is the greatest moment in the history of our family? For hundreds of years, that ancient kitsune - oh, yes, I’ve always knohat she was - has been forcing herself upon innocent humans

And for the last three centuries it has been my family line of samurai mikos that she has terrorized Now my husband can come home at last"

Meredith looked at her, startled Mrs Saitou nodded

"He tried to defy her and she banished him from the house

Ever since Isobel was born, I have feared for her And now, please forgive her She has trouble expressing what she feels"

"I know about that,"Meredith said quietly "I’l go have a little talk with her, if it’s All right"

If ever in her life she could explain to a fel ow traveler what fun having fun was, she thought, it was now