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He had so on his mind, Mia was sure of it He was too damn pleasant, attentive, considerate If she hadn&039;t known better, she ood-nature spell on him As ridiculous as it was, even to herself, she preferred hie on At least then she knehat to expect

Still she didn&039;t have the ti below hers And had she the ti power like blue-chip stocks She was resolved, she was prepared, and she was as confident as she could e When nerves trickled in, she used them When doubts crept close, she swept them aside On the day of the full moon, she rose at dawn She&039;d wanted, almost painfully wanted, to roll over into Sam, and his warmth Just to have his arms come around her as they soether, in the e He hadn&039;t questioned her on this, nor had he tried to seduce her The fact that she found his cooperationonly caused her to become annoyed with herself

It had been she who, ht, when herwith needs

But on thisand stood on her cliffs Here she gathered fire fro sea

Arift

When she turned, she saw hiazes locked, and held Light sparked between the in the wind, she walked back to the house, and ignored the black-edged fog crawling along the edges of her world

She went to the bookstore for her own peace of h sweat and drea the counter Since there&039;d been no stopping her, Mia hadn&039;t bother to argue

And she had to adhbors and friends - seeood spirits

Still, Mia had hoped she would ease back to work rather than leaping Because business was unusually brisk, she didn&039;t have the opportunity she&039;d wanted to spend ti to fuss But it seemed that every second person who lived on the island found a reason to stop in and spend time with her

By noon the cafe was ja her over for a word To escape long enough to catch her breath, Mia slipped into the kitchen, snagged a bottle of water froham just told me Ben and Jerry&039;s ice cream is on special this week"

"Two of rilled chicken and Brie sandwich to go with the soup special

"She was pretty daht she&039;d burst into tears any minute"

"Soet sohtafter"

"Fine I&039;ht" Mia walked over to give Nell&039;s back a quick rub

"You have everything you need Tomorrow, it&039;ll be over No shadows"

"I believe that But you have to let me worry about you a little"

"Little sister" Mia rested her cheek on Nell&039;s hair, just for a et out of here I still have things I need to do, and all I&039; I&039;ll see you tonight"

As she hurried out, Nell closed her eyes And prayed

It wasn&039;t, Mia discovered, a siet to her office, retrieve the papers she&039;d locked there, and make her way downstairs, an hour had been eaten up

"Lulu Twoto the back room

"I&039;m busy here"

"Two minutes," Mia repeated and went inside

"I don&039;t have ti, and I don&039;t need another break" With her face scrunched in disapproval, Lulu clonatures, and a fed illustrations

"I&039;ve got custoo hoht remind you, I&039;m down to one arm instead of my usual six"

"I&039;m sorry" A well of emotion rose in her throat, thickened her voice before she could s it again This was the woman who&039;d been mother, father, friend The only constant in her life other than her own gift And ?" Lulu demanded

"No No, I&039;m fine We can close the store for the rest of the day I don&039;t want you to overdo"

"I&039;ll be dao ahead I&039;m not a damned invalid, and I kno to run the shop"

"I know I&039;ll ht you will I&039;ll take an afternoon off next week, and you can stay in the trenches"

"That&039;s a deal Thanks" Careful of the broken ared her, then unable to help herself, pressed her face into Lulu&039;s hair "Thank you"

"If I&039;d known you&039;d get so worked up about it, I&039;d have taken two afternoons off Go on if you&039;re going"

"I love you, Lu I&039;"

She hitched her satchel on her shoulder and, rushing out, didn&039;t see the tears swim into Lulu&039;s eyes or hear her sniff them back

And when she was sure Mia wouldn&039;t hear, she whispered, "Blessed be, baby girl"

"Everything in order, Mrs Farley?"

"It is"

Sa to have to leave matters in your capable hands"

"SirSaood one, all in all You&039;re a better et ho to be one for the books," he predicted as he walked out of his office There were things he needed at the cottage Tools of his own that he hadn&039;t taken to Mia&039;s He packed them - his oldest athame and ritual sword, the old jar where he kept his sea salt He changed into a dark shirt and jeans, deciding to take the black robe with hi in it He wrapped a favored wand in silk

All of this he placed in a carved wooden box that had been in his faenerations Rather than an as on a chain Before he walked to his car, he stopped to look back at the house, and the woods that ran beside it His protection would hold He refused to believe otherwise

He could feel the sie of his charm and stepped clear of it into the street

The force struck him, a full body blow that lifted hi back His body slaround, and a thousand black stars spun inside his head

"It&039;ll take you an hour to set up all this equipment," Ripley complained as Mac loaded the last of it into the back of his Land Rover

"No, it won&039;t"

"You always say that"

"I probably won&039;t need it all, but I&039;est paranoro door "Ready?"

"I&039;ve been ready Let&039;s get - "

He watched, stupefied, as her eyes rolled back in her head and her hands clawed at her own throat while she choked for breath

Nell waited while Zack put the bag holding her tools in the car "This is going to work," she told hi toward this all her life"

"Doesn&039;t hurt to have backup"

"No, and Sam&039;s idea wasn&039;t just brilliant, it speaks to the purpose of the island as well"

He hefted the cooler holding the ice creaives one catatonic My contact said it was like pulling a switch He just went blank"

"He&039;s being used I can feel sorry for hi himself to ill, without question, destroy him"

"What&039;s in him wants you, Nell"

"No" She touched Zack&039;s arm The man who&039;d once been her husband, and her terror, held no , and Mia most of all"

She started to turn to the car door, then with a shocked cry, doubled over

"What is it? Nell?"

"Cramps God, the baby!"

"Hold on Just hold on" He swept her into his arainst panic as he saw the pain on her face "I&039;ll get you to the doctor It&039;s going to be okay"

"No, no, no" Pressing her face into his shoulder, she struggled against both pain and terror "Wait Just wait"

"Not for a second" He yanked open the door, would have set her inside, but she clung like a burr

"It&039;s not real It&039;s not real Mia said the baby would be safe She was sure of it This is not real" She dug down, found the power beneath the fear "It&039;s an illusion, to keep us away To keep us fro, shaky breath, and when she looked at Zack again, her skin glowed

"It&039;s a lie," she said "We have to get to Mia"

She went to her cliffs first, stood with her robe, white as theShe could feel the dark pressing, its edge ice-cold, blade-sharp

She watched, calan, foot by foot, to spread over the island However fiercely she&039;d guarded her thoughts, it understood one point Tonight was the battle for all

"Soaalked into the long shadows and dying light of the forest

The fog closed around her Cold and full of whispers It ers tickling along her skin A kind of tease

She heard the long, lol of a wolf, and the sound was alh her shield of will as the fog crept hideously beneath the skirt of her robe On a sound of disgust, she slapped at it, driving it back froh she knew she scattered so so

Her pulse raging, she walked to the clearing To the heart, to wait for her circle It would not be so easy, she thought, and pulled her e into one narrow beam buried in her heart Not so easy to harm what she loved, to use that love to destroy

She would protect And she would win

Nell cah the woods with Zack to throw her arht!"

"Yes" Gently Mia drew Nell back "What happened?"

"It tried to stop us Mia, it&039;s very close"

"I know" She took both of Nell&039;s hands Gripped tight "You and yours won&039;t be harmed We need to start The sun&039;s nearly set"

She released Nell, opened her ar burst into light "It wants the dark," she said, then turned as Ripley stepped into the clearing

"The son of a bitch thought he could scareof tools as Mac hauled in the first load of his equipment "It&039;s ti with"

"I could use a hand with some of my stuff," Mac said