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And then…

It should have been painful It was not It was the ainst her

And listening… to the soundto him

Her body seemed to… erupt It was the ecstasy within, about which she had only dared drea… brilliant… climactic…

And then… icy Icy, and dark And yet… he had said that the day was coe… chill

A paralyzing cold that filled her, just as the fire had done

She opened her eyes, and it was a terrible effort And she saw

And she would have screamed--oh, God she would have screamed…

Except that life expired at that , she collapsed

The faint echo of laughter filled the hills, and the darkness

It was still a few minutes before the daould actually break

Stephanie was glad that Arturo had told her that she couldn’t possibly expect to meet with her cast until the afternoon

She had no idea why, but she’d slept later than she’d iined possible Of course, there was the natural adjustht through, haunted by the strangest dreams

At one point, she had awakened, certain that sohtain with a surreal sense of the world being well

More than well She had the ht, touched, alht made her flush uneasily, and remind herself that she hadn’t been a lone fes were ridiculous

She felt an odd sense of disco of sleep, she had felt as if she were hoe, she had felt the strangest surge of fear, as if she should rise and lock the s, but she didn’t have the energy to do so

Jet lag could do very strange things

Ironically, after having arrived to find no one present for the first roup, she came in that afternoon to discover that she was the last to make it into the club

"Hi! You reet her was a small, pretty woman with dark eyes, dark hair, who looked as if she could be a native--except that her English had no foreign accent If anything, she had the slight twang of a Midwesterner

The wo a hted to meet you"

"Lena, hi"

"This is Suzette Croix," Lena said, turning to the woman at her side Suzette was Lena’s antithesis--her eyes were a light green, almost a lime, and her hair was a soft blond

"Hello," Suzette said She srave surveillance

"Suzette, hi"

Again she shook hands

"Have you met the boys?" Suzette asked "How silly of me, you just walked in Slept late, huh? That first day after crossing the Atlantic is always a killer Anyway, this is Drew"--she pointed out a very tall, sli towas a little shorter than Dreith brown hair, coffee-colored eyes, and a quick grin

"We’re really sorry about last night," Drew said, shaking her hand "Who would have ever i?"

"But the girls were stuck, too," Doug reminded them all

"Yes," Suzette said, and shivered

"Oh, it was really rather exciting!" Lena argued

"Exciting! Ugh!" Suzette said, shaking her head as she looked at Stephanie "I hated it! They’re still unearthing bones, and rather than just crate theh the dirt… and the campsite was just a few feet away After all those years… there’s still hair and flesh and pieces of clothing and--trust ," Lena argued

"I think she found the archeologists exciting," Suzette said dryly