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But Andy, the most powerful resurrection witch who’d ever existed, had simply refused to leave that last time And still he stayed, because ofo, and I did It was as sio of her hands The bond severed itself in ourlike a thin silk thread, and her body sighed and sagged and Andy and I eased it back to the steel table Empty once more, and still

"I’ll see to her later," Andy said That, too, was soic, not ments of skin that had created the shell In the hands of some witches that was a clinical, cold process, but not when Andy did it; he would see her put to rest gently and with respect "We ain’t got et the case," I said My potions case--a square leather bag with holders for vials, each one filled and labeled--contained all the secrets the two of us knew, and that was considerable Was it enough? It was hard to tell

First, though, we had to get out of the house

Lyons had dispatched new e with ugly energy They crowded the sidewalk and overflowed onto our lawn Andy, without being asked, loaded the shotgun and extra shells, and strapped on his gunfighter’s rig, with two six-guns He also put on his leather duster, and a cowboy hat he particularly liked

Loaded for war

I just settled for a good pair of sturdy lace-up boots, a leather jacket, and a bad attitude

"Ready?" he asked e door opener It rattled up, and I already had the car in gear, e closed again before anybody thought to rush the opening, at least, but that left us pinned, with the protesters swarry wasps as we crept slowly down the slanted driveway

They were cli at the doors and ha metal hit the windshield and left a mark

"Go," Andy said

"I can’t!"

"Do it"

We didn’t have ed the accelerator It was even odds someone would tumble under the tires, but somehow, miraculously, nobody did

The car broke free

As I accelerated, the croled after us; those who’d crawled on lost their grip and tumbled off One man raced faster than the others and threw a brick that bounced off the trunk and onto the back windshield, leaving an ugly crack

But erebreath, and Andy squeezed et comfortable," he said

I didn’t

--

The old train station was one of those places constantly under discussion around Austin--quaintly decrepit, decidedly in need of upkeep, and unused for fifty years, since the thunder of the road had killed the romance of the train Amtrak now ran out of a sance of a cheap strip mall, as the older structure sat in limbo

It had always struckthe side, in its shadow, I felt it again, only stronger--that vile sensation of snakes and decay I shuddered, zipped up hter lover on the station’s porch as he pulled off a stubborn piece of plywood to reveal an open, blackened rectangle of doorway

The potions case dragged on my shoulder, but at least that left ht I shone a beam ahead, and it lit up a streak of dirtymain terminal hall, streith trash and the rat-chewed res had stood the test of ti that looked surprisingly rich; the concrete arches, with an elegance that echoed a hundred years past

But the whole place stank of rot and corruption, and I heard the hiss and rustle of disturbed animals This place would house worse than rats and blackspiders, though

Portia was never wrong

"One thing you ought to know about deun in both hands, steady and controlled, and his attention stayed riveted on as around hi a human body has to let it cool off, or it overheats and burns up If he’s been using Pete Lyons as long as I think, he’ll have to let ol’ Pete rest a spell"