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"The Old Ones coe it’s hard for them to talk When you interrupted that ritual, you surprised the Old Ones In that moment, I feltit was like an electric shock Like it blasted away sohts as they communicated with each other

"At first, I was thrilled I thought my new ability meant I’d becoliness" She touched her hair It had been combed but still lacked its usual luster "Believe me, I checkedback, but they didn’t pick up what I was saying I assumed I just needed practice, but as I listened to them, I realized they’d never intended ht of s "As some sort of lab rat"

"They didn’t know you could hear them?"

"No They communicated freely around me, and the more I learned, the more I realized howyour power What else?"

"Eternal life, for starters They claimed to be immortal But you proved that was a lie when you killed that Old One You killed hih she still couldn’t believe it, even though she’d kicked the thing’s headless corpse "Everything makes so much more sense, now that I know they can die"

"Did you overhear anything about someone named Pryce?"

She shook her head "It didn’t work like that They didn’t use names I had to keep my own mind very, very still and listen forit sounded like whispers in an adjacent rooes, sys"

"Not e like that"

"You’re right The Old Ones would have no use for poetry They have no use for anything besides their oer" Her eyes clouded for a moment, then refocused on nize so"

"He’s a demi-deing so far "I killed his demon half, and he went catatonic After he fell, his human shell disappeared, and I’m pretty sure the Old Ones snatched it"

"Catatonic? There was soht of as ‘the sleeper’ They did take hiainst someone else, ‘the wizard’ There was a lot of fear and hatred coloring their thoughts about this wizard, but they believed he’d help them because of the sleeper"

This wizard was news to me "Who is he?"

"I don’t know By this ti to stay a step ahead of the It was risky As long as I only eavesdropped on their thoughts, I was fine But if I saw one of theain Like I was last night" Juliet picked up a partially full bottle of blood froain "I recall there was so the wizard would be immensely difficult, but I never found out why That’s all I know, I’m afraid"

"That’s okay" The next time I spoke with my aunt Mab, I’d ask her if she knew of any wizard associated with Pryce She knew round than I did I’d been too busy dodging his attempts to kill me to ask for his résumé

Juliet yawned and stretched; the stretch ended in a wince

"Are you okay?" I asked "Do you need to rest?"

"Soon But I know you’re wondering what happened in Washington, so let me tell you that first"

Good I really wanted to hear Juliet’s side of that story-- and share it with Kane But after last night’s ordeal, I didn’t want to tax her

"I was still an enthusiastic new recruit when the Old Ones started hts case They didn’t like it"