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"So the curse is cru, which means you’ll die when you rejoin the normal time streaht I understood what he wanted of us now

Booke shrugged "It may not be instantaneous, but certainly ick fails"

"You want us to fix the spell?" Shannon asked

He shook his head, fingers lacing tightly around the bone handle of his teacup His knuckles burned white "I want you to crack it I’ve had enough waiting I’m beyond tired, and I’h, however, that I do not wish to die alone I don’t want to be an undiscovered skeleton in an abandoned house I want a proper burialand I trust you to see to it"

The request hitcouldn’t have been worse; I’d just lost Chance I wasn’t strong enough to do this for hiet out, unless I cracked the spell He didn’t seeh to tweak the paraht he would be inclined to do so

Shannon set a hand on"This sucks," she said to him "You’ve hardly lived at all, unless you count those thirty-odd years as a pleasure-seeking asshat"

"My son died," he said quietly "He was only eighteen Hisafter his birth, and she wasted away Macleish was alone within a few years of wreaking his vengeance"

I guessed he’d found out via Internet searches At this point, I just had to ask "How do you--"

"Acquire food and modern conveniences?"

Shan looked like she wanted to know too

"I made a deal with a minor devil He can’t cross the spell barrier, but he can deliver items inside the house itself It is easier for me to tweak the spell in order to permit inaniant, actually

Shan asked, "You couldn’t suh to break the curse?"

"I have no Soloerous to deal with deick would also be powerful enough to destroy me or compel me to a situation more dire than this"

Her face darkened as she reave a jerky nod Things could always get worse I respected Booke’s forbearance, since Ijust to see an end to the inter

I wondered aloud, "Did Macleish think you would starve to death?"

"The ick is sufficient to keep me alive, but I eak and emaciated when I stu devil"

"The Birsael," I supplied "There are castes of de to realize he owed his relative health and safety to a dee surprised him Booke studied me, alert for the first time since our arrival

"You went to Sheol" Certainty rang in his plue "That’s why I couldn’t raise you in any fashion"

I nodded My eyes burned with tears, just frootten, absorbed in his troubles, butdown on me like an avalanche The fact that he wanted ements? Inexpressibly painful

"She went to save aze flickered between us,educated deductions about why our faces already held a funereal cast "Chance ith you in Mexico, last I heard Where is he now?"

My throat hurt so badly; I sippedthe words In the end, Shan said them for me

"Chance didn’t make it"

No He promised me He said, Even death can’t keep me from you It was madness to believe those words, but they were all I had

"It’s late," Booke said, seenize my inability to function "Perhaps we can continue in the ?"

That would be four days in the real world I couldn’t bring hter then, I’ Action

Sleep cahtmares

I couldn’t count the number of times I’d watched Chance die over the past week To make matters worse, I had to live with the fact that my choices had led me to that dead-end road I saw Chance’s face; in ain His blood spilled down the stone ledge, opening a gate for us

All along, I intended to die, if that was necessary to save Shannon But it didn’t work out that way Soood outcome I would’ve paid any price to see Shannon safeI just didn’t realize it would come down to a choice between my best friend and theA trip to Sheol wasn’t a walk in the park--and you didn’t return without dire consequences