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Michael and I plunged through the hole I&039;d torn in reality and into the Nevernever It felt likefrom a sauna into an air-conditioned office, except that I didn&039;t feel the change on s, and in the pri part of me at the base of my brain I stood in a different world than our own

The little leather sack of ghost dust inround I let out a curse The whole point of the ghost dust was that it was so extra-real, that it was heavy and inert and locked spiritual , it had beco here, in the world of spirit, it ht tear a hole in the floor I&039;d have to be careful I grunted with effort and pulled the little pouch out of hed thirty or forty pounds

Michael frowned down at ht to ask before - but what is that dust made of?"

"Depleted uraniuredient I had to add in a lot of other things Cold iron, basil, dung from a - "

"Never mind," he said "I don&039;t want to know" He turned away fro the massive sword before hi the lay of the as-it-were land

This part of the Nevernever looked like Chicago, at the end of the nineteenth century - no, strike that This was the ghost&039;s delethorn&039;s o at the end of her life Edison&039;s bulbs were hts, while others burned with flickering gas fla little to actually illuhtly odd angles to one another, with parts of the - streets, sidewalks, buildings - was made of wood

"Hell&039;s bell," Idown This place is a tinderbox"

Rats moved in the shadows, but the street was otherwise empty and still The rift that led back to our world wavered and shifted, fluorescent light and sterile hospital air pouring onto the old Chicago streets Around us pulseddisturbances in the air - the rich life forces of the infants back in the infirh into the Nevernever

"Where is she?" Michael asked, his voice quiet "Where&039;s the ghost?"

I turned in a slow circle, peering at the shadows, and shook my head "I don&039;t know But we&039;d better find her, fast And we need to get a look at this one if we can"

"To try to find out what&039;s gotten it stirred up," Michael said

"Exactly I don&039;t know about you, but I&039;ht"

"Didn&039;t you already get a look at her?"

"Not the right kind of look," I said with a griic around her to clueon I need to be not in mortal peril for a couple of minutes to examine her"

"Provided she doesn&039;t kill us first, all right," Michael assented "But time is short, and I don&039;t see her anywhere What should we do?"

"I hate to say it," I said, "but I think we should - "

I was going to say "split up," but I didn&039;t get the chance The heavy wooden timbers of the roadway beneath us exploded up and out in a deadly cloud of splinters I threw one leather-clad ar one way Michael went the other

"My little angels! Mine, ainst h host, quite real and solid now, clawing its one-aratha&039;s face was lean and bony, twisted in rage, and her hair hung about her in a shaggy mane, sharply at odds with her crisp white shirt Her ar from its shoulder, and dark fluid stained the cloth beneath it

Michael rose to his feet with a shout, one of his cheeks cut and bleeding, and went after her with A arrunted and went flying, rolling along the wooden street

And then, snarling and drooling, her eyes ith frenzied host turned toward me

I scrambled to my feet and held out my staff across host on its houess it&039;s too late to have a reasonable discussion, Agatha"

"My babies!" the spirit screamed "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

"Yeah, that&039;s what I thought," I breathed I gathered h the staff The pale wood began gloith a gold-and-orange light, spreading out before ain and hurtled toward me I stood fast and shouted, "Reflettuainst my shield with all the momentum of a bull rhinoceros on steroids I&039;ve stopped bullets and worse with that shield before, but that was on atha&039;s ghost overloaded my shield, which detonated with a thunderous roar and sent ain

I jaroaned towith dark bruises and burst blood vessels

Agatha stood several paces away, shaking with rage, or if I was lucky, with confusion Bits of my shield-fire played over her shape and sloinked out I fuone numb and I dropped it I bent over to pick it up, swayed, and stood up again, red h my vision

Michael circled the stunned spirit and arrived at htened "Easy, Harry, easy Good Lord, ht?"

"I&039;ll ood news and bad news"

The knight brought his sword to guard again "I&039;ve always been partial to the good news"

"I don&039;t think she&039;s interested in those babies anymore"

Michael flashed ood news"

I wiped some sweat frootten a cut, so to come over here and tear us apart in a couple ative, but I&039;ets worse," Michael said "Listen"