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She did not fall
Where had the little girl gone?
She looked along the side of the palace The wedge of green grew thin, where the cliff had crumbled away After a few yards, the wall and the cliff becaes There was no way past the building
A stab of guilt thrust into her heart Had she frightened the child? Made her fall?
Kate sat down, feet dangling over the edge There was spray, like waves of fine rain Coolness seeped into herShe liked the saltwater specks on her face
Another cannon went off
This ti up The dark rock face ure was visible
Was sheher arms? Or was she still, aniirl Ragazza&039;
Her voice was lost Waves roared like the blood in her ears
She waited, but the next cannon blast was a long tiirl must have fallen Was it Kate&039;s pursuit, or the shock of the cannon going off? Had she been chasing her ball and overbalanced, only to be caught on an outcrop?
Obviously, there was h Kate&039;s life She&039;d been in Piazza di Trevi when the Crimson Executioner had struck, and now she was here at the Palazzo Otranto for her face-off with the Princess Soel of violence
The ball sailed off the cliff and out to sea
Kate knehat she&039;d have to do She needed to res, and her expensive dress But the party was over for her anyway
She stood on top of the cliff, ar the wind and the spray Not too strong, thank heavens She knelt on the edge and leaned over, bending down below the lip of the cliff, reaching for a handhold a few feet down
Pulling herself over the edge, she clung to the rock, feeling her weight in her shoulders and hips She crawled down like a lizard, worried her glasses would slip off and be lost forever Her elbows and knees grazed rock, but her fingers and toes found holds
She clung like a heavy fly, looking down into the dark If the girl was still there, Kate could not see her
Slowly, sheto her back and bottos and fly Kate Reed had to crawl
Another cannon fired
Kate saw the girl looking up at her The tiny face was shockingly close, still half-le tear stood out fro like the Cheshire Cat
When the flash was gone, the darkness came back
She knehat she had failed to see the first time It was the mouth, the downturned crescent of sorrow She had seen a reflection, upside-down, of a s Kernassy and Malenka, the girl had not been shocked, but possessed with unholy delight
In that innocent face was Evil
Kate reached out for where the girl was, and her hand closed on nothing There&039;d been no cry The child hadn&039;t fallen
She lurched forward, hands free of the cliff, and scrabbled down a few yards Her feet found holds and she dangled There was a hole in the rock Not a cave, but a es of the ingress and clung on tight
Inside the cliff, the little girl ran