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I patted the stretched leather over his bulging bicep "If I were your daughter, you would have a lot of explaining to do"

He choked and turned puce, opting to dive into his trailer rather than continue to blush inbeside Torno’s weights, his forked tongue flapping against pebbled green skin

"You ever been to Franchia?" I asked him For once, he didn’t flinch or cower from me

"Only home and the caravan, mistress But I chose the caravan"

"Don’t you ever wish for adventure?"

He sat up and looked over the hills, his strange eyes following the twin lines the caravan train had cut through the rasses We’d been near Dover last week, and he’d been especially quiet in sight of the sea cliffs He’d gone out one day for a swim and returned with skin an odd combination of red and black that had earned him more coppers than usual in the freak tent No one in the caravan knehere he had coone, but the sea made him noticeably melancholy

"Caravan’s all the adventure I need But I understand better than most why you need to leave"

I couldn’t touch hihtly before walking on "Thanks, Eblick"

I passed Veruca the Abyssinian sword ser next, and she leaned on her scihtfully She was possibly the only person in the caravan more standoffish than Eblick, and I had no idea where she was fro to follow either Bludman or Pinky fashion, she sweet-talked the costuht leather outfits for her that showcased her muscles and revealed her dark brown skin She always smelled like als had been never to drink froo mad and then die; the way he described it, it was a lot like instant rabies couar," she finally said

I stopped and grinned "Lithe and dangerous as a jungle cat?"

"They fall asleep in the trees, thinking they are safe A savvy hunter need only yank them down by the tail for a fancy new jacket So I say to you, Demi: don’t let anyone yank your tail"

With a curt nod, I was dish I could already see Charlie Dregs sitting, distant and forlorn, by his puppets Mr Punch sagged over an ars When Charlie’s eyes caught ainst my will He always looked so sad and hopeful to me, like one of the Beatles crossed with a basset hound I’d heard stories that he’d loved a girl once and lost her, a Stranger like ainst ?"

I irl"

"Even big girls can find bad ends, lass Promise me you’ll take care"

"I promise"

I put my hand on his shoulder, and hisshut as if in pain He patted love "I hope you find what you’re looking for, Demi I really do"

That’s what finally drove hoht be the last tis I’d never really looked at hi, a cousin, maybe I’d never seen him as a man, but now, for a moment, I could see the boy he had once been

"What was her name, Charlie?"