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"And what’s the sive me a potion that’ll take me to another world, but you can’t tell your own future?" I asked

"One day, you’ll learn that power doesn’t work that way," she said with another deep chuckle "Every time I lay my cards, I draw the Witch Every time I look into lass"

"Fine," I said quietly "I’ll tell your future"

Cri "Letitia, love, there’s bound to be a catch A trick She won’t give you so," I said,"It’s a valuable talent You said so yourself"

"It’s very valuable," he agreed "But there’s so else she wants, or it wouldn’t be so si the other to give in I refused to drop h request He just didn’t want me to have that potion And it wasn’t even that I wanted it so badly, not really I just wanted my own bolt hole, one forever I wanted a choice

I took offits wings over a carcass

"Don’t touch her!" Criminy snapped "Don’t do this Love, she tricked o so easily I promise you"

"Don’t tell her what to do, Master Stain," she warned "Your sweet little kitten doesn’t like that"

Caught between the two of them, I was furious And I wasn’t about to back down

Madalove, and her scaled hand hovered in the air, waiting I grasped it and gasped The jolt was explosive and strange, a black vortex drawing gered backward

Cri, "Are you all right, love?"

"And what did you see?" Mada

"How much did you take?" I said, my voice low and dark I had a sudden vision of what it would be like to rip her throat out with my blunt little Pinky teeth

"Just five years," she said "A pittance I’m surprised you even noticed Yet"

"What’s that supposed to h, mad sound The hair on my arms rose

"Can’t you feel it, little kitten? Doesn’t time here seem to run fast for you? Haven’t you noticed the crow’s feetacross your face? That locket draws the years from you as surely as my hands You’ll wither in his arms yet, if you don’t make your choice soon Or break the locket"

"Is it true, Cri autoes that I was sure hadn’t been there yesterday, that o "Am I really older?"

"There’s always a catch, my love," he said "But you’re beautiful to me, no matter what"

So I couldn’t have both worlds, both lives I’d seen it all in that desperately dark and dizzying glance The locket was stealingit to the witch as I aged supernaturally fast I was going to have to choose, and choose soon It all came down to the potion, the blud, or the locket Every rew older faster My dreaes of ray with a locket aroundlover in lance, which made a littleto pay

"Let me tell your fortune," I said "So we’ll be even"

"You saw nothing," she said, drawing up and pulling her cloak tightly around her

"Suit yourself," I said

Pushing away from Cri tired to the bone When I stepped up to the counter, Madam Burial looked just a littles bested me But underneath it, I could tell that she was just a little bit scared of me Good

I snatched the little bottle off the counter and looked her dead in the eye

"I kno you die It’s going to hurt And you don’t have long," I said