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I let us both back into the office, and flicked on the lights The bulb blew out It does that a lot I sighed, and shut the door behind us, leaving stripes of golden autu with shadows on the floor and walls

I drew out a seat in front ofwoman She blinked at me in confusion for a second before she said, "Oh," and sat I walked around the desk, leaving ht," I said "If you want s from you first"

She pushed back her asphalt-colored hair with one hand and gave s, so that the cut of her dress left one pale leg bare to , firainst the fabric "Of course, Mr Dresden I&039;ave

Nipple erection on co Oh, she was pretty enough, I suppose Any adolescenthimself at her, but I&039;d seen acts a lot better I rolled my eyes "That&039;s not what I meant"

Her sex-kitten look faltered "Itit isn&039;t?" She frowned atme "Is itare you ?"

"No," I said "I&039; You haven&039;t even told s for me? No thanks Hell&039;s Bells, haven&039;t you ever heard of AIDS? Herpes?"

Her face hite, and she pressed her lips together until they hite, too "All right, then," she said "What do you want froer at her "And don&039;t try lying to inal lie, in itself Being a wizard doesn&039;tto try a soulgaze on her to find out if she was sincere - it wasn&039;t worth it But another great thing about being a wizard is that people attribute just about anything you do to your vast and unknowable powers Granted, it only works with those who know enough to believe in wizards, but not enough to understand our liic is just a joke, just look at you like so to stuff you into a little white coat any second now

She licked her lips, a nervous gesture, not a sexy one "All right," she said "What do you want to know?"

"Your nah "You think I&039;ive you that, wizard?"

Point Serious spell-slingers like iven by their own lips "All right, then What do I call you?"

She didn&039;t bother to cover her leg again A rather pretty leg, actually, with a tattoo of so her ankle I tried not to notice "Lydia," she said "Call me Lydia"

"Okay, Lydia You&039;re a practitioner of the Art Tellto do hat I want fro "Please I need your help"

"All right, all right," I said "What kind of help do you need? If you&039;re into so to recouard"

She shivered, and hugged herself with her ar like that It&039;s not my body I&039;m worried about"

That made me frown

She closed her eyes and drew in a breath "I need a talis to protect me from a hostile spirit"

ThatWith the city flying into spiritual chaos as it was, I had no trouble believing that a girl gifted withsoically gifted "What kind of spirit?"

Her eyes shifted left and right, never looking at me "I can&039;t really say, Mr Dresden It&039;s powerful and it wants to hurtthat would keep me safe"

True, in point of fact Around my left wrist at that very moment was a talisman made from a dead man&039;s shroud, blessed silver, and a nuredients "Maybe," I told her "That depends on why you&039;re in danger, and why you feel you need protection"

"I c-can&039;t tell you that," she said Her pale face pinched into an expression of worry - real worry, the kind that ed herself made her look smaller, more frail "Please, I just need your help"

I sighed, and rubbed at one eyebroith ive her a cup of hot chocolate, put a blanket around her shoulders, tell her everything would be all right and strap h Down, Quixote I still knew nothing about her situation, or what she needed protection fro angel co after her in retribution for some act so vile that it stirred the Powers that be to take ihosts soood reason

"Look, Lydia I don&039;t like to get involved in anything without knowing so on" Which hadn&039;t slowed me down before, I noted "Unless you can tell me a little bit about your situation, convince itimate need of protection, I won&039;t be able to help you"

She bowed her head, her asphalt hair falling across her face for a long minute Then she drew in a breath and asked, "Do you knohat Cassandra&039;s Tears is, Mr Dresden?"

"Prophetic condition," I said "The person in question has random seizures - visions of the future, but they&039;re always couched in terms of conditions that make explanation of the dreams seem unbelievable Doctors mistake it for epilepsy in children, sos for it Pretty accurate prophecy, as it goes, but no one ever buys into it Soift"

"I&039;m not one of them," she whispered "You don&039;t kno horrible it is To see soe it, only to have no one believe you"

I studied her for ato the clock on ht," I said "You say that you have this gift I guess you want me to believe that one of your visions warned you about an evil spirit co after you?"

"Not one," she said "Three Three, Mr Dresden I only got one vision when they tried to kill the President I got two for that disaster at NASA, and for the earthquake in Laos I&039;ve never had three before Never had so appear so clearly "

I closed ain, host or whatever, and walk off into the sunset If she was indeed afflicted with Cassandra&039;s Tears, my actions could do e it for the better

On the other hand, I&039;d been played for a sucker before The girl was obviously a competent actress She had shifted sht I had been asking for sex in payment That she would immediately make that conclusion based onabout her, all by itself This wasn&039;t a girl as used to playing things fair and square Unless I was grossly oods and services before - and she fully young to be so jaded about the entire le was a perfect scaically endowed The story required no proof, no perfor the scaive her the right aura, h kinetomancy to tilt the dice a little on their way down Then she could make up whatever story she wanted about her supposed prophetic gifts, put on a little-girl-lost act, and head straight for the local dummy, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden

I openedCassandra&039;s Tears can&039;t be analyzed or observed I could be using it as an excuse to provide a reasonable explanation why you should help a lady in distress"

"That&039;s pretty h my mind, Lydia, yeah You could just be a s for a way out"

She spread her hands "All I can tell you is that I&039; I don&039;t knohat, and I don&039;t knohy or how I just knohat I see"

"Which is?"

"Fire," she whispered "Wind I see dark things and a dark war I seefor me, out of the spirit world And I see you at the , the end of it You&039;re the one who can o different ways"