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WE TOOK to the rooftops There were no helicopters nearby, and the shadows of the glooeneral view, so it seeood ti carefully but quickly, we aimed for areas far beyond the chaos behind us, where we could hole up until night For fifteen minutes we leapt and slid fro further and further away fro us

Finally, we carain was once stored A spiral staircase still ran up the outside, though the lowest section had rotted and cru on to the upper half of the stairs from a roof, we climbed to the top, kicked down the locked door and let ourselves in

Closing the door, we edged further into the silo along a narrow ledge, until we reached a semi-circular platform, where we lay down There were holes and cracks in the roof overhead and the dih for us to see by

"Do you think we’ll be - safe here?" Harkat asked, lowering histhe scars and stitches of his grey face

"Yes," Mr Crepsley said confidently "They will have to organize a complete search They dare leave no stone unturned That will slow the or later before they make it this far across the city" The vaed his eyelids Even doused in suntan lotion, his skin had turned a dark pink colour

"How are you bearing up?" I asked

"Better than I dared hope," he said, still rubbing his eyelids "I have the start of an excruciating headache, but now that I aht, perhaps it will subside" He lowered his fingers, opened his eyes, stretched his right leg out and stared gri from his ankle to his knee He’d taken his shoes off earlier, which was a good thing, as I doubt he’d have been able to pry the right shoe loose now "I only hopethat subsides too," he ly bruise

"Hopefully," he said, rubbing his lower leg gingerly "If not, we may have to bleed it"

"You mean cut into it to let the blood out?" I asked

"Yes," he said "Desperate times call for desperate measures But ait and see - with luck it will i to his ankle, I unwrapped the chains aroundthe locks Mr Crepsley had taught ot the knack of it

"Here," he said after a couple ofanywhere

The vampire made quick work of the locks, and seconds later the cuffs and chains were lying in heaps on the floor I rubbed lanced at Harkat, as using the hereen sweat from his face "How come they didn’t put handcuffs on you?" I asked

"They did," he replied, "but they took them off - once I was inside my cell"

"Why?"

The Little Person’s wide mouth split into a hideous smirk "They didn’t knohat I was or - what to make of me They asked if I was in - pain, so I said I was They asked if the handcuffs - hurt, so I said they did So they took them off"

"Just like that?" I asked

"Yes," he chuckled

"Lucky beggar," I sniffed

"Looking like soes sometimes," Harkat informed me "That’s also why I was - alone I could see they were uneasy - around- me, I told them not to touch me - said I had an - infectious disease You should have seen thehed aloud