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Downstairs, I lit the gas logs to warm the shop, and opened the safe By the tiering in the air, display cases were filled with our wares, coffee was brewing, and water for tea was siht with denial I knehat it meant He was always like this when it was tiuether

Audric was a dead-ar Grove He had been in Mineral City, in the Appalachian Mountains, to sell his latest finds, visit ao back to work In late February, in athree- or four-day journey to his claih snow-covered old, silver, junkyards, china and crystal, and other treasures that had survived the town&039;s destruction and abandonment

Unless he sold the clai co, it would be months before he returned There had been offers for the clai even more bittersweet I wanted to addAudric to stay When he left, I&039;d be the only supernat for a hundred ive up his claim Few dead-miners ever located an entire town Audric was fa half-breed had pride: pride in his find, pride in his clai abilities If he stuck around, he&039;d be less independent, and Audric could never countenance that He had to ued, covering ground they had scoured clean a hundred times before, I laid out a selection of emerald pieces, the stones extracted from the nearby hills Mineral City was known all over the US for the quartz and feldspar dug from cliffs and scraped from strip mines The two common e to the speculator and the individual prospector, and the latest claiemstones The emeralds had been sold to Thorn&039;s Gereen of the stones was spectacular I had rade portions, and added a faceted focal stone The necklace was too pricey to interest the locals, but I&039;d listed it on the store&039;s Web site I was hoping for a quick sale at the asking price Two comparable pieces had been sent to retail stores that showcased our jewelry in Atlanta and Mobile Stores all over the country hoped to carry our designs, and we had to decide if anted to expand the line to satisfy the current de meant we needed to hire help or take in a new partner Like Audric, who could buy in if he really wanted to Which u I worked with raw stone, turning it into unique jewelry, statues, vases, and, now that I had been revealed as a e, into amulets and charms for the customers anted them Not all did The sale of conjured items was a sore spot with some orthodox practitioners, both locally and out of state

I set our pricey iteed,it hard to see some of the merchandise, but the blemished site was probably the only reason Thorn&039;s Gems hadn&039;t been broken into, vandalized, and ransacked by a mob of the local extremists Even in a town as small as Mineral City, there were plenty of those around The flaas a four-inch circle, created when a seraph, an angel of punisheit on the display case The antique, Pre-Ap glass had crazed and heated al the top per and its firelike lettering of the word Adonai I polished the defect with a cloth

If I had been taken away that day by the seraph, whose name was still unknown to us, there probably wouldn&039;t have been two bricks still standing for ured only the burned, cracked, partially lass kept us safe It was a reh Host to be here Lucky uised as a human, for ten years, a blatant violation of the edicts set up by the High Host of the Seraphie would have been carted back to Enclave in disgrace or turned over to hument For h the human execution would have been iven pered sword The townspeople treated ,next door

I arranged the emeralds as my friends bickered and the townspeople strolled back fro into the shop in curiosity, ht contae I kept my skin blanked to hu my amulets or weapons With the exception of a fe scars, I didn&039;t look any different from before the seraph had outed me, but now I sometimes felt like I had the words "Whore witchy-woman" tattooed on my forehead

An elderly woman dressed in unrelieved orthodox black, from her dress to her boots and heavy overcoat, paused at the frontand deliberately turned to stare into the shop When she caughtturquoise necklace with silver beads that dangled The woman lifted her hands and ers pointed up, the others folded under The syn of evil My friends fell silent Outside, the passersby see It was the most blatant reaction to me since the day the seraph had come Up the street, two others dressed in orthodox black paused and gaped, their eyes glea, faces arrested in midconversation My face flamed The beads in my hands clattered

A little farther, an elder also watched, his brown robes blowing in the frozen wind Elder Jasper halted, his Bible in one hand, his crucifix dangling Jasper, who had once been my friend The elder looked censorious, not of me, but of the old woman

The hateful wo the frozen snow Sleet wisped against the building and onto my porch over the front walk The townspeople leeful The hatred was now out in the open On soe now And they wouldn&039;t be getting better

Jacey,cheerfully Stor stick into the umbrella stand and her cape over the coatrack all in onestick clattered The coatrack wobbled "Did you see her? The old bat You just let Old Lady Vestis coain on a Monday e&039;re closed, needing a favor, a last-ift That&039;s the last ti behind the counter, still holding the turquoise necklace, and stopped speaking She pointed a finger at me

"You will not let that old harpy e a s it on the countertop with a clank Then she bent and huggedmy face to her shoulder, before she pushed ht one of her many children and stepchildren "You will not feel bad about her She&039;s only one of a few - a very feho feel that way Most people are excited at the thought of having a neoain "How many people have come to the shop for a charm? Or a special a around, ashamed People I&039;ve known since I came here, went to school with; people I liked" I reht of the old woman A sudden realization hit me "Or they&039;re afraid of me" I looked up at Jacey&039;s brown eyes and led by the wind "That&039;s it, isn&039;t it? They&039;re all afraid"

"Not of you," Rupert said softly fro on?" I asked I tried to jerk away, but Jacey helde swiftness "You pro"

"There&039;s been talk A little," Jacey said "But you knoe&039;re standing up for you"

"Talk? About what? Strangulation? Drawing and quartering? Hot pincers and knives? Stones and blood I&039;ve put all of you in danger, haven&039;t I?"

To the left of the shop s, the front door opened again, bells jaunty A cold wind skittered across the floor We all turned Elder Jasper stood in the opening, his face harsh, the crucifix dangling against his robes of office His Bible was tight in his hands, his knuckles white against the dark leather I knew he hadn&039;t heard me curse - he&039;d still been outside - but I clamped my mouth shut in fear Slowly, deliberately, he stepped inside

Just as deliberately, Rupert, Audric, and Jacey flanked me Audric slid one hand into his sleeve Jasper&039;s eyes tracked the as flary rhyth off the rest of the world Audric pivoted, clearing his target line Violence wavered in the air between the elder and us Tension constricted my throat Faster than their eyes could track, I slipped to the side, around the display case, and up to Jasper

"Thorn&039;s Ge myself between Audric and Jasper

Jasper&039;s eyes widened, then tightened at azein their taut postures, the locations of Audric&039;s hands, the anger on the faces of my friends Gently, he closed the door, so carefully that the bells didn&039;t chi on your house," he said, the for But then he added, "And iveness in the countenance of the Most High" Not casual words, but words of ment, when one has been called to trial for a cri called before the kirk

Jasper o years my senior, one of the few Cherokee to stay with the kirk rather than to withdraw his religious practices to the hills He had dark eyes and black hair worn long and braided in a single thick plait His hawklike eyes were black and piercing, his nose a co but hawklike, his face creased with coainst this - I want you to know that"

"But?" Rupert said, black eyes belligerent He elbowed his way between the elder and me, as if he would protect ht wares, but notthrough the storefront s as two crowds gathered in the street, orthodox in one sressives and refor "I was able to help some, but Elders Perkins and Culpepper have a lot ed" He pulled a sheaf froes sealed with the red wax of a kirk summons "I want you to know I&039;ripped his Bible across his chest, and said, "Thorn St Croix, you are officially served" He handed me the papers So much for compassion, friendship, and the loyalty of old friends