Page 7 (1/2)

"Don’t suppose you have any ideas where your grand the chances of that were sliained with, finding the Hands ca out how to outs the leader of the Arnaud fa tio She was full of herself; she’d never see reason She had betrayed myNo doubt, she had it co I’d had , it was Josephine’s turn I was pretty sure she hadn’t had a setdown inwell, ever

"The last place I saw the Hands was in the library," I said "So they s beyond the counter The Keeper won’t let you"

"That rule ht have been just for you The rules for the council randht out"

"So we’ll have to figure out if they’re gone fro theh She’d never venture into the GD or the ruins to hide the Hands She has so extremely valuable and she knows it"

"In her house, you think? Too obvious?"

"Maybe Wherever she’s put theuarded, warded, cloaked--you narahed softly "True What about your father or one of the Lamarliere witches? Can they scry for it?"

"I’ll ask my father But I think the fewer people who know about the Hands the better"

I rubbed both hands down hed I didn’t want to deal with the Hands, but the alternative orse Josephine would use them to cause trouble, or she’d destroy them If I didn’t find them soon, Athena would send her own force into New 2 to find the a lot of lives I sat down on the brick pavers and crossed," Crank piped up "I go to Arnaud House every week to deliver packages I can snoop around, keep ot an eye in the sky," Henri said, referring to hiot connections too," Dub spoke next "When Spits gets a pricey selection of stolen goods, he takes them to the Cabildo or to soood stuff I can probably tag along" Spits was Dub’s dealer After Dub robbed graves, he sold his finds to Spits, who operated an antique shop in the French Quarter Spits cleaned up the valuables and sold theo back to the library and talk to the Keeper again," I said "Last ti the entire library in order to locate the Hands Maybe he’s found theone"

And while I was there, I was going to start researching I wanted to knoho had fathered Athena’s child--and what part he was going to play once I found said child and possibly turned the baby over to itsout more about the prophecy that had started this whole mess in the first place, the one that said Athena’s child was fated to kill Zeus I’d need to talk to the River Witch again too He’dAnd I had to wonder if the other person he’d referred to was the father

I looked at Violet, who had fallen asleep on the statue, her eyes closed behind herso herself in "harm’s way"

Henri, Dub, and Crank eventually wandered into the house, leaving Sebastian andfire and the sounds of Violet’s soft snores He sat down besidereht came out of nowhere Once upon a ti a fire like this burn It was macabre and bizarre, but that was my life now Those bones and ashes were a stark reo that I orking forto becoo that I was as oblivious as the rest of the world to the truth about ods and monsters

Sebastian leaned forward and wrapped his arether A muscle in his jaw ticked His Adam’s apple slid up and down as he sed and then facedof awareness shot straight to my stomach From the moment I’d met him, Sebastian reminded me of an old soul, a musician with an introspective, dark side He was all that and e, before the blood, but now there was so if I let it If he let it It was part of his nature now Itto sacrifice a little blood to quench his thirst Even his appearance had subtly changed His skin was paler, his lips were a bit darkerHis features were somehow more vivid now

Tension filled the space between us, and I had the feeling he wanted to say so that bothered hi with the doubts We were stuck at the very beginning of a relationship, unable tothat had happened with Athena Since the battle in the ruins, Sebastian spent more and ether, he seereat person at relationships that I was, I had no clue how to handle things or what to say, if anything

"You still having dinner with your father to hi me look up at hi your father?"