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Before, the fort had seeain, the deadlands had been strangely quiet of spirits as well

Soed Soain Maybe it was the fort Or so

Travis greeted him warmly when he entered the office "Hey, Rune Good to have you back"

"Good to be here Nerit, like your hair Looks good" He shook both their hands and Nerit looked pleased with the mention of her new hairstyle

"What do you have to tell us, Rune? Lenore e of his desk as Nerit took a chair

Rune re and crossed his arms over his chest "Well, it ht and today trying to get here I need to warn you about so, Travis said, "Go on"

"I woke up last night Got woke up last night Jenni was there She told "

"Jenni?"

"Yeah," Rune answered, then exhaled as he shrugged "I see the dead"

"How do you know she’s dead?" Nerit tilted her head

"Because I saw her last night in the hunters blind where I was sleeping

She was a spirit She’s dead And she toldthis way She told h, I saw aout of the valley"

Travis looked at Nerit, his expression troubled, and obviously unsure of what to say

"If you think I’o check it out for yourselves I saw some helicopters out there Send one of them"

"We need to check it out, Travis" Nerit stood up slowly "We have to see if what he is saying is accurate"

"They’re heading straight for the fort It will take the over every hill, through every forest, every pasture along the way But they’re co" Rune would have felt resentful if not for the fact he was used to people doubting his abilities

He probably shouldn’t have mentioned Jenni

"We’ll send one of the helicopters and check it out," Travis assured him

"Welcome back, Rune"

"And I did see Jenni," Rune declared "I did"

"I don’t doubt it The dead don’t seem to stay dead in this world anymore" Travis set this ball rolling"

Satisfied, Rune finally let himself relax and fell into a nearby chair With relief, he listened to Nerit calling for the helicopter pilot and someone named Kevin He would tell them where to look, then find a hot plate of food, and a place to sleep

Despite the terror of the night before and the colad to be back at the fort It was like co home

2 Family Life

Juan wasn’t real sure he could deal with this

It was alht little ball and his heart felt fluttery

He felt dizzy for a moment

Slowly, he lowered the tiny pink panties with the bows on them into the dresser drawer

Jack lay on the bed next to the trash bags full of clothes and toys Juan was unpacking The dog was trying to edge his way toward a stuffed bear

Jack was doing his best innocent look while being very sneaky

"My bear," Juan’s new son said to the dog and grabbed the teddy bear

Jack whined and looked as pathetic as possible

The kids wereinto the suite he had shared with Jenni and Jason

It had been a sad little home for him and Jason and the ever-faithful Jack, but noas filled with laughter and loud little voices Jason sat on the bed opposite hiie talked his head off Holly, theher toys into the shelf in the side table, talking to each one as she transferred the," the little boy chided Jack