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"I take it you knoho this is," I said, trying not to look at the inert figure of Donald Callaway
"I do And I’ve been looking for a chance to shut hisoff stearet he’s dead," I said "But this whole incident is kind of shocking, and it’s taking h a lot of shocking stuff lately But what else is new? Sorry, I’"
"I can quite understand that Shall I tell you what I’ve been doing?"
"Yes, please Have a seat and talk to ive me a chance to recover
The demon sat opposite me and s a baby shower, I believe? And the hellhounds were pursuing lass of ice water?"
"Not at all," I said, and rose to fetch it I had to step over the body
"Thank you,s I refilled it I was glad to return to my seat
"You look kind of beat up," I observed, for I’d watched him as he drank Mr Cataliades was usually very well turned out in expensive suits that could not hide his round figure but at least made him look prosperous The suit he had on had certainly looked ht it Noas s and holes and frayed spots, and spotted with stains His once-polished brogans could not be salvaged Even his socks were in tatters The tonsure of dark hair was full of debris, leaves and twigs Could it be he hadn’t had a chance to change clothes since I’d last seen hi a tied streaks of darkness?
"Yes," he said, looking down at his condition "’Kind of beat up’ is a gentle way to put it Those streaks of darkness were hellhounds" It was no shock to me that he could read my mind; my own telepathy had been a birth present fro his own gift, never betraying by so lance that he could read huive it away "The hellhounds pursuedtime, and I had no idea why I could not fathom what I had done to offend their master" He shook his head "Now, of course, I know"
I waited for him to tell me what he’d done, but he wasn’t ready for that
"Finally, I becae an ambush By then, Diantha had been able to find me to join in the surprise I’d planned for thele with the hounds" He was silent for aand took a deep breath
"Please tell me Diantha isn’t dead," I said His niece Diantha was one of theso whom I could enter in my address book
"We prevailed," he said simply "But it cost us, of course I had to lie hidden in the woods for ain Diantha recovered htinfor ourselves out of trouble"
"Uh-huh," I said, wondering where this was going to lead "You want to share that inforuy didn’t understand ran’s letter" I nodded my head at the body
"He may not have understood the context, and he didn’t believe in fairies, but he did see the phrase ’cluviel dor,’" Mr Cataliades said
"But how come he kneas valuable? He definitely didn’t knohat it can do, because he didn’t understand the reality of fairies"
"I learned froled the terment of text from an old Irish folk tale," Mr Cataliades said
This Bertine odrandfather’s best friend) was mine I wondered briefly what Bertine looked like, where she lived But Mr Cataliades was still talking
"Coe, when no one has to really travel to learn is froment of leaf floated to the floor and landed on the corpse "And I’ll tell you ht like her"
I suspected Mr Cataliades also had flashes of foreseeing
"Fortunately for us, Callaway came to Bertine’s attention when he persisted in his research Of course, it was unfortunate for hilance at the inert Donald "Callaway tracked down a supposed expert in fairy lore, soendary fairy artifact; namely, the fact that none exist on this earth anymore Unfortunately, this expert-as Bertine, as you have no doubt sur silent Since dear Bertine didn’t believe that there were any cluviel dors left in either world, she felt free to talk about the she committed when she told Callaway that a cluviel dor could be made in almost any form or shape Callaway had never suspected the item he’d held was an actual fae artifact until he talked to Bertine He iive a pretty penny to possess such a thing"
"When he showed et that he’d already opened it," I said quietly "How could that be?"
"Were you shielding?"
"I’, to protect myself Of course, I couldn’tall day, every day And of course, it protected your brain only like wearing ear; a lot of stuff still filtered in, especially fro broadcaster But apparently Donald had been preoccupied that day, and I had been so excited at the contents of the drawer I hadn’t realized he was seeing the Butterick pattern envelope and the velvet bag for the second ti valuable or notable: a confusing letter fro a present, and a bag containing an old toiletry iteht the find over later and Googled the odd phrase that he’d begun to wonder if those iteive you lessons, child, as I should have done before Isn’t it nice that we’re finally getting to know one another? I regret that it takes a huge crisis to ilad to learn so aboutto think of Des part of , so I said hurriedly, "Please tellBertine, Bertine realized what she had done Far fro a human a useless bit of information about old fairy lore, she had revealed a secret She ca, and I finally understood why I’d been pursued"
"Because " I tried to arrange hts "Because you’d kept secret the existence of a cluviel dor?"
"Yes My friendship with Fintan, whose narandmother led Fintan, too, and though he didn’t find out anything about the real Fintan, the conjunction of the two searches sent out an alar ears The fact that Fintan was your grandfather is no secret, either, since Niall found you and chose to honor you with his love and protection It would not take ether"
"This is the only cluviel dor left in the world?" Awesootten in the land of the fae And believe "
"Can I give it away?"