Page 5 (2/2)

"Well, actually," Selwyn corrected, "you didn't so much tell as show - "

She sreed for safety's sake "Yes, you did"

"Then why did you go and point it at the bats?"

"I didn't do it on purpose," Selwyn said "It was just, the bats htened you?" both Elswyth and the bat shrieked at him Elswyth pointed the bone at the tiny bat and yelled at Selwyn, "Look at hier What, precisely, do you find so terrifying that you had to go and muddle the spell?"

"The noise startled s out so that he sounded like a fool? "I wasn't frightened of one bat" He decided againstthat the whole swar than one all by itself Most likely Elsasn't intimidated by any number of bats, and she looked ready to use the bone on his head again He said, "So Farold's spirit returned to the wrong body? It went into this bat's body? Can we redo the spell?"

"No," Elswyth said in a tone that indicated, once again, he was a fool And, to Farold, she said, "Bats can't stand, so stop trying"

"As though it's not bad enough being dead," the bat co up and doith rage, "now I've got to be a rodent, too?"

"I' thoughtful, "you're not"

Selwyn and the bat looked at each other "Who's not what?" the bat deed "That I have no idea about But you're not a rodent"

"I' entirely Bats have mouselike faces, but they're in a completely different order from rodents"

"Thank you very much, professor" The bat spit on the floor "Now there's a thoroughly useless piece of information to add to this whole mess I look like a rodent, I feel like a rodent - who are you to tell ly old witch?"

Selwyn saw the flash of irritation in Elswyth's eyes He pulled back his hand so that the bat could try to escape, but it stood its ground, wobbly but defiant

Elswyth raised the bone, which was big enough to send the bat - or Farold, or Farold in the bat's body - back to where she'd just summoned him from But she took pity on his small size and, instead, hit Selwyn

"No wonder so but didn't dare complain that this latest attack had been unfair "You're a very irritating little snippet"

The bat stood ht," it finally said, much subdued "I wasyou call lad to be back on the topic they needed to be on "We called you here so that you could tell us who did it"

The bat that was Farold said, "I thought you called me here so that you could tell me"

"What?" Elswyth snapped

"You don't knoho killed you?" Selwyn asked in horror

"I was asleep, you duht, and it was dark, and" - the bat beat at Selwyn's hand with its wings, as though forgetting that it had wings, and not hands - "if you had looked before starting all this, you would have seen that I was stabbed in the back"

Selwyn rested his forehead on the palusted even to hit hi you act the fool again, Selwyn,back now The afterlife makes a lot more sense than you do"

"Wait!" Selwyn cried Six years He'd just given away six years of his life - to be insulted by Farold, hit by Elswyth, and end up no further ahead than he'd been when this had started "But you did want to find out who murdered you That's why you came back, you said"

"For all I know, it could be you," Farold said

Elswyth gave a cry of exasperation "What is it - so in the water that makes everyone in Penryth fools? Why would he have paid to bring you back if he was the one who killed you?"

Farold didn't ask what he had paid "I suppose," he agreed

"So the real murderer is free, and I've been blamed," Selwyn said "And Bowden condemned me to die here in this cave with you"

"I don't think Bowden is going to release you on s "He'll be convinced this is soes of witchcraft"

Selwyn didn't argue, because he was thinking how bed react if an accusedbat that claimed to be the dead man Instead, to show Farold there was benefit in this for hiether can find out who did it, and you can rest easier in the afterlife"

"I was resting easy," Farold gruht, why not? Besides, I'd like to see Anora one more time"

At the mention of Anora's name from those little bat lips, Selwyn felthe wasn't quite sure what It wasn't a good feeling, whatever it was: a bubbling of jealousy, anger, guilt to be pleased that Farold was now, obviously, no longer coe on Farold for his earlier unkind re you're in the body you're in A three-day-old corpse ly old witch," Farold repeated

Looking from Farold to Selwyn, Elswyth said, "The two of you deserve each other"

Chapter Seven

Selwyn rewrapped Farold's corpse, Farold finding fault and nagging all the while, co the job with a properly respectful attitude It was hard to look respectful while fighting the urge to vomit Selwyn resolved that henceforth he would try to avoid situations where he had to prepare a corpse while the corpse was in a position to criticize