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Maggie stared at her wildly

"Youwhat?"

"I shouldhave told you earlier," Aradia said "ButI didn’t realize he was your brother until my mind became clearer You’re a lot alike, but I couldn’tthink properly to put it together" She added,quickly and with terrible gentleness, "But, Maggie, I don’t want to get your hopes up I don’t thinkthere’s ie went still "Tell me"

"He actually savedto this valley, but I wasn’t alone-therewere several other witches with me We didn’tknohere the pass was exactly-we’d only et incomplete information from our spiesin Hunter Redfern’s household"

Maggie controlled her breathing and nodded

"It was Saeneral area of the pass,trying to find a spell that would reveal it All wedid was set off an avalanche"

Maggie stopped breathing entirely "An avalanche?"

"It didn’t hurt your brother He was on the road,the place we should have been, if we’d only knownBut it did kill the others in ie whispered "Oh, I’m sorry"

"I wasn’t seriously hurt, but I was completely dazed I could feel that the others were dead, butI wasn’t sure where I was any He and Sylvia had heard the avalanche, of course, and they caht in it"

"Miles would always stop to help people," Maggiesaid, still almost in a whisper "Even if they only needed batteries or socks or things"

"I can’t tell you how grateful I was to hear himHe saved my life, I’m sure-I would have wandered around dazed until I froze And I was so happy torecognize that the girl with hirimaced

"Huh," Jeanne said, but not unsympathetically"I bet that didn’t last"

"She recognized me, too, ie to bargainwith all the other witches And to buy credit withHunter Redfern And of course, she knew that she could stopDelos"

"All she cares about is power," Maggie said quietly "I heard hertalking-it’sall about her, and how the witches have given her a bad deal becauseshe’s not a Har"

Aradia smiled very faintly "I’hters of Hellewise Hearth-Wohtly "Sylvia was so excited about findingit all to your brother And hewasn’t happy"

"No," Maggie said, burning with such fierce pride that for a moment the cold cell seemed warm to her

"She’d only told hi hiends were stillalive But now she told hidom, and how she wanted him to be apart of it She told him that it could be theirstheir own private haven-after Delos left with Hunter Redfern He could become a vampire orshapeshifter, whichever he liked better They wouldboth be part of the Night World, and they couldrule here without any interference"

Maggie lifted her hands helplessly, waving theitation because she couldn’t find words How stupid could Sylvia be? Didn’t she know Miles atall?

"Miles wouldn’t care about any of that," she finally got out in a choked voice

"He didn’t He told her so And I knew right awaythat he was in trouble with her" Aradia sighed"But there was nothing I could do Sylvia played it very cool until they got etting ers aboutchanged"

"I reie said slowly"The people there eird"

"They were Night People," Aradia said "And Sylvia’s friends As soon as ere inside she toldthe to explain to Miles,to see if we both could get away, but there weretoo ie He said they’d have to kill hiie’s chest felt not so ht noollen, like a dru slowly inside, and the wayit echoed all through her

She steadied her voice and said, "Did they killhim?"

"No Not then And maybe not ever-but that’sthe part that I don’t know All I know is that theyknocked him out, and then the two slave tradersarrived Bern and Gavin Sylvia had sent for thePJ, Maggie thought What wonderful guys

"They knocked me out And then Sylvia boundme with spells and practiced with her truth potions on et much information, becauseI didn’t haveto invade the Dark Kingdoht noish there were And she already knew that I was coain and finished quickly "Thetruth potion poisoned me, so that for days afterwards I was delirious I couldn’t really understandas going on aroundkept ina warehouse until the weather cleared enough to take me to thevalley And I knew that Miles had already been disposed of-Sylvia mentioned that before she left mein the warehouse But I didn’t knohat she haddone with hiie sed Her heart was still thu in that slow, heavy way "What I don’t understandis why she had to set up a whole scenario to explainwhere he went She let soers find her onthe mountain, and she said that he fell down acrevasse But if he was dead, why not just let himdisappear?"

"I think I know the answer to that, at least," Aradia said "When Miles was fighting the withher He said that if he didn’t come back, they’dre ie still didn’t knohat had beco silence

`"Well, he was brave," Jeanne said finally, andwith unexpected seriousness "If he did die, he wentout the right way We just ought to hope we cando the sa to read the angularfeatures in the darkness There was no trace ofmockery or sarcased into Aradia, Maiden of allthe witches, and I’ve changed into the Deliverernot that I’ve been ht But I think ed the most afterall, Jeanne

"You know, I don’t even know your last name,"

she said to Jeanne, so abruptly and so much offthe subject that Jeanne reared back a little

"Uh-McCartney It was-it is�CMcCartney" Sheadded, "I was fourteen when they gotFist of Death at the arcade And Iwent to go to the bathroo e up in a slave trader’s cart And now you know everything," she said

Maggie put out a hand in the dirip of slen der, callused fingers, and she shook Jeanne’s handAnd then she just held on to it, and to Aradia’s soft warether in the dark cell, slave, huirls,Maggie thought

"You didn’t tell ie said suddenly "What’d they callyou when you started working here? What was your job?"

Jeanne snorted "Second Assistant Stable SweeperAnd now you know everything "

Maggie didn’t think she could possibly sleep in aplace like this, but after the three of the And when the rattle of the dungeon door startledher, she realized that she’d been asleep

She had no idea what ti low She could feel Aradia and Jeannecome awake beside her

"Dinner?" Jeanne ie began, and

then broke off as firm, determined steps sounded on the stone floor of the corridor

She recognized the stride and she stood up to torchlightflickering on his dark hair, catching occasionalsparks off his golden eyes He was alone

And he didn’t waste ti to the point

"I came to see if you’ve decided to be reasonable," he said

"I’ve been reasonable froie said quietly and coht link she felt between their e in hiuish, she also felt the steel ofhis resolve

I won’t let you be killed Nothing else

She turned slightly Aradia and Jeanne were stillsitting on the bench, Aradia motionless, Jeannecoiled and wary But she could tell that they bothfelt this was her fight

And they’re right If I can’t do it, nobody canBut how?

"They’re people," she said, gesturing toward theother girls, but watching Delos’s face "I don’t kno to get you to see that They lanced back at the," he said, as carefully as ifreciting a lesson, "only the Night People will survive The ancient forces ofThey’vebeen asleep for ten thousand years, but they’rewaking up again"

A low voice, not belligerent, but not afraid either,came from the back of the cell "Soic"

"Soto die," Delos said, without even looking

He stared at Maggie She stared back at hi each other ashard as possible to understand