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It was raining, of course Not a terrible storie hardly noticedIt plastered her hair down but it also concealed thenoise of her steps

And the lowlying clouds blocked out MountRainier In clear weather the el

I’ht She could hardly believe it, but she wasreallycars and ducking behind rhododendron bushes

While all the tiure in front of her

That hat kept her going Shethisbut not tonight What had happened put her farbeyond embarrassment, and if she ’started to relax inside and feel the faint pricklings of uncertainty,else away

The ht not have been fastenedrightAnd the ed

I’ll follow you no ht And then

She didn’t knohat then She was trusting to instinct, letting it guide her It was stronger andsmarter than she was at the moment

Sylvia’s aparte area around the University of Washington Itwas a long walk, and by the tiie was gladto get out of it and follow Sylvia into the under ground garage

This is a dangerous place, she thought as shewalked into the echoing darkness But it was simply a note made by her mind, with no emotionattached At the h to splatter hiainst the wall

She kept a safe distance as Sylvia waited for the elevator, then headed for the stairs Third floor Maggie trotted up faster than the elevator couldhard Thedoor of the stairas half open and she watched from behind it as Sylvia walked to anapartment door and raised a hand to knock

Before she could, the door opened A boy wholooked a little older than Maggie was holding it,letting a couple of laughing girls out Music driftedto Maggie, and the s a party in there

That shouldn’t be so shocking-it was Saturdaynight Sylvia lived with three roo the party But as the girls walked past Sylvia they smiled and noddedand Sylvia sh the door

Hardly the sort of thing you do when your boyfriend’s just been killed, Maggie thought fiercelyAnd it doesn’t exactly fit the "tragic heroine" act,either

Then she noticed so almost shut - but not quite

Can I do it? Maybe If I look confident I’d haveto walk right in as if I belonged, not hesitate

And hope she doesn’t notice Then get behindher See if shetalksto anybody, what she says

The laughing girls had caught the elevator Maggie walked straight up to the door and, withoutpausing, she pushed it open and went inside

Look confident, she thought, and she kept ongoing, instinctivelytoward a side wall Herentry didn’t seeht to walk in aers The apart And the

The only problem was that she couldn’t see Sylvia She put her back to the wall and waited forher eyes to adjust

Not over there-not by the stereo Probably inone of the bedroo

It was as she moved toward the little hallwaythat led to the bedroo about this apartave her thesaer

This place is dangerous

Everybody there was so good-looking - or elseugly in a really fashionable way, as if they’d juststepped off MTV But there was an air about theie of the sharks at the SeattleAquarium A coldness that couldn’t be seen, onlysensed

There is so?Satanists?Some kindof junior ie herself felt like a cat with all its fur standing on end

When she heard a girl’s voice co it was Sylvia

"Really, the ined" It wasn’t Sylvia Maggie could just see thespeaker through the crack in the door She waspale and beautiful, with one long black braid, andshe was leaning forward and lightly touching theback of a boy’s hand

"So exotic, so mysterious-it’s a place frootten about it, but it’s still there Of course, it’s terribly dangerous-but not forus"

Not relevant, Maggie’sSo to do with Sylvia or Miles

She kept on edging down the hall The door atthe end was shut

Sylvia’s bedroom

Well, she has to be in there; she isn’t anywhereelse

With a surreptitious glance behind her, Maggie crept closer to the door She leaned toward it untilher cheek touched the cool white paint on the wood, all the while straining her eyes toward theliving room in case somebody should turn her way She held her breath and tried to look casual, buther heart was beating so loudly that she could only hear it and thebehind thedoor Maggie’s hopes of eavesdropping faded

All right, then, I’ll go in And there’s no point intrying to be stealthy; she’s going to notice

So I’ll just do it

It helpedthat she was so keyed up She didn’t even need to brace herself; her body was at maxi htened, or at least not in a way that felt like fear It felt like rage instead, like being desperately ready for battle She wanted to grab so and shake it to pieces

She took hold of the knob and pushed the dooropen

A new ser than the living roo sweetness that Maggie didn’t like The bedrooie stepped insideThere was tension on the door soo of it, it whispered shut behind her

Sylvia was standing beside the desk

She was alone, and she was still wearing theGore-Tex cliie’shouse Her shi up like little angel feathers awayfro with a brass incenseburner, adding pinches of powder and what looked like herbs to it That here thesickeninglysweet sie had plannedas far as she’d plannedanything at all - to,rush right up and get in Sylvia’sface To startle her into so to say, "I need to talk to you" Butbefore she could get the first word out, Sylvia spokewithout looking up