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Katie said, "You have done well to find and destroy my enemies I commend you I shall provide the standard form of financial remuneration I approve"

"Um Well, actually, Leo killed one of the smile "He did And he did this for you Use caution, little cat, that you do not stalk what is mine"

Sheto say "He’s all yours, Katie Honest to God All yours"

Katie’s fangs snapped down "Remember that Leo is mine" Behind ainst the light and I got out of there fast, through the door that Troll had opened Sadly, that was the high point ofover the back fence, the Kid and Tia and the children were heading outside to play--which was grown-up talk for getting out of the line of fire When I entered ht between Molly and Big Evan Evan was standing in theroo around hih his clothes, his ic activated, but contained, for the ht loss, was standing at the entrance to the kitchen Her dress hung perfectly still, her hair a spill of rich color, unainst her skin, a dark shadow of potential Of the two, Molly looked far erous

"--tell me you were on the pill? How could you not, Mol?"

"Because she was afraid the death ics would interfere with the baby’s develop else equally horrible She was afraid of giving birth to a ht, Molly?"

My friend gave her head a tiny nod, one Iwith Mr Infinitesimal for the last few months

"She was also afraid of hurting the children, or draining you in your sleep She was hoping to find a way out of the probleer, she put her troubles behind her and ca that she got taken before she could get to me for help It was also stupid that she didn’t tell us about herbad and let us help her find a treat on you And stupidity isn’t a cri Evan didn’t take his eyes from his wife, but his face turned even redder "You talked to her about all this and you couldn’t talk to , you idiot" I could have been a bit ry witches, and I couldn’t just leave theht wake up with the house on fire Or dropped on top of one of the the glittery puous feet From the look on his face, I probably shouldn’t share the vision with hiuys with all her heart She wants her ic And--" I stopped It was possible that I had a way, if I could get the fa launched across the kitchen at Molly Molly whirled and lifted her arm Evan raised both of his fists "No!" I shouted They both stopped The kitten landed on Molly’s shoulder And ie’s mother’s prophecy and Molly’s desire to be her old self, and lots of old stories about witches and cats Puzzle pieces settling into place "When I was a kid, in the children’s ho soirls put a puzzle together"

Big Evan looked at me as if I were insane "What?"

"Yeah, I know Weird, huh? Anyway, I had no idea what a puzzle was" The kitten on Molly’s shoulder arched her back and walked around to her other shoulder Molly held perfectly still Eyes wide, fingers spread As if she was afraid to even breathe "I didn’t understand Not for, like, two days" I shovedMolly and the kitten It put its cheek to her and purred long and steadily "But I kneas iirls I lived ere so totally focused on it, like, the way a ry and has kits to feed Anyway, on the end of the second day, they put the last piece together and they got up and left They left me alone with the puzzle So I walked over and looked at it"

Molly shtly and reached up to touch the kitten It started to purr and Molly gathered the kitten in her arainst Molly’s chest, and her purr ratcheted up, echoing, the ru to fill the whole rooo And the black cloud of energies wrapped around her began to lighten

"I knew there was a pattern there," I went on "I could alreens and reds and yellows But I didn’t understand hu at that point But as I stood there and studied it, I realized what it was It was a kitten, crouching a some potted flowers, hidden in the board Trapped there I didn’t understand about pictures yet But I did understand about traps So I started taking the puzzle apart, trying to find a way to free the kitten"

Big Evan’s eyes filled with tears as he watched his wife The fine treers eased She tookto do, of course," I said "I was never going to free the kitten It wasn’t really trapped But it was all I knew to do Culturally, educationally, e I could I pulled up each piece of the puzzle and looked at the table beneath Then at the back of the puzzle piece There was no kitten anywhere I sat down and studied the puzzle And I slowly put the picture back together I realized it was like a spell, a ic captured in the paper, printed on the puzzle pieces And I enjoyed thebeneath the flowers"

I relaxed "Kinda like what just happened here This ave her to ift with herEvan said, as if trying to"Witches keep aniic, but for their love of ani Molly’s deathLisi’s face when I told her about her KitKit "So her nose to the kitten’s, "not by itself But it’s enough for now It givesso Evan’s fists unclenched His storently folded her in his arms Her head didn’t even reach his chin, and he had to drop his face down to place a kiss on the top of her hair "Okay," he said "We’ll do it your way I won’t fight you any about, but it sounded proo Then Molly raised her face and kissed Big Evan There was a lot of passion in the kiss, so I got the heck outta Dodge, leaving them to some privacy In front of the house, in the heat of the day, I removed my weapons and secured the knife--just in case sory blood-servant wanted to try to take ot in and drove

I ended up at the little church where I had attended a few tily empty, and I checked my phone for the time and day And discovered that it was Sunday, well after noon I locked the SUV and went to the door, knocking before I entered Most churches stayed locked when not in use, against vandals and thieves, but the door was open, and I pushed it wider Inside, it was cool, and I realized how hot it was outside But it was cool here Boots thu on the worn floor, I went to the little chapel It was empty but smelled of humans and peace and acceptance

I took a seat in the front pew and stared at the cross hanging on the wall It was the empty cross, not the cross of the dead Jesus, and that was obscurely co I had seen too much blood in the last day or two Even redeie One Feather talked about, was so up, counselors in the children’s ho about redehts, stirring up trouble, though at the ti the helpless and the bullied, and in hindsight I’d have done nothing different Early on, I hadn’t understood why the counselors had wantedclasses, why they talked so much about salvation I didn’t understand what I needed to be forgiven for But even back then I had understood about peace and the lack of peace And I had accepted the kind of redeht ot

Noanted that peace I had lost I wanted to forgivefull well that I would take more I wondered if soldiers felt this confusion, this mixed-up, complex, complicated, crazy set of drives--for peace and for battle For rest and for blood

I was War Woman I was meant to kill

ButI was never meant to enjoy it, to take pleasure in it My uni lisi hadn’t taken pleasure in the deaths of the men who killed my father It was a job, a responsibility, and she did it well That was all That hat she was trying to teach me when she put the knife into ation--to see that I perforood and for life, not for death Weird as all that seele" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">