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She started to screaain

And her scream faded away, and the world with it

"She has died; she will become one of the creatures!" Godwin told them all firmly

"She sleeps!" Jason protested

"The sleep of death"

"She sleeps!" Robert Canady thundered

"The sleep of life! She is my child, hter into his ar her even from Robert

And he carried her away Walked away frolow of the ain The blood-red

He looked up then, and realized that theto burst forward that so plagued his eyesight

The sun The daylight was coe

She lay in a strange, icy world of darkness She knew that she should fight the sensations of utter blackness and absolute cold that settled upon her like an unearthly blanket People called to her; their voices seemed so far away Froht, but she could not see her, she realized She wanted to cry out She wanted to reach the light She could not Let ht But it was a soundless plea in the vast darkness, in the void, in the loneliness beyond death

Once again, there was sensation So strange She thought that the chill that had settled upon her would never go away, but there was so the bone-deep chill Even the blackness was different There were shades of gray within it

Tiht, darkness, shadows, light, darkness

The nightsthey came and went

Finally, there came a moment when she felt her father’s hands, and knew that he ith her

She felt a liquid wars that were real, tangible

Tier She could lift her head Feel the texture of the cup froers She lay in her own bed Its softness surrounded and eentle upon her eyes She kept drinking, not recognizing what strange potion he had given her while she lay so sick, armth it was that had suth to become curious

"What is it?" she whispered to her father "What is it that I’?"

"Blood," Jason said flatly

She turned her head into her pillow She cried, but tears would not come

"For the love of God, Father!" she whispered

"No," he said softly, "for the love of ain She lay in a ently commanded, she slept

Jason rose with a heavy heart, pulled the covers high around her She did need that warmth so desperately!

He walked downstairs to where his friends waited and strode to theupon the carved wood for support as he hed his words carefully

"I believe that she is going to live," he said very softly Then he hesitated, knuckles white as he prayed that he was nowwhat he would say He inhaled deeply