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"Give me a break How many pieces of two-thousand-year-old linen are in town?"

"That&039;s not the point, Harry The Shroud is -" Bob seele to find words "It doesn&039;t exist on the sath as me It&039;s out ofabout?"

"I&039;ic The Shroud isn&039;t about logic It&039;s an artifact of faith"

"What?" I demanded "That doesn&039;t , Harry," Bob said "You don&039;t even know a lot I can&039;t touch this I can&039;t co boundaries I shouldn&039;t I&039;els, Dresden, Fallen, or otherwise"

I sighed, and lifted my hands "Fine, fine Is there someone I can talk to?"

Bob was quiet for a moment before he said, "Maybe Ulsharavas"

"Ulsha- who?"

"Ulsharavas She&039;s an ally of the loa, an oracle spirit There&039;s details about halfway through your copy of Dumont&039;s Guide to Divinationators"

"How are her prices?"

"Reasonable," Bob said "You&039;ve got everything you need for the calling She isn&039;t usually malicious"

"Isn&039;t usually?"

"The loa are basically good guys, but they all have their darker aspects, too Ulsharavas is a pretty gentle guide, but she&039;s been harsh before Don&039;t let your guard down"

"I won&039;t," I said, and frowned "Oneby Marcone&039;s place and see if there&039;s anything interesting there You don&039;t have to go all David Niven; just take a look around"

"You think Marcone&039;s involved in this one?"

"His thugs already took a poke at ive you permission to leave in pursuit of that information, Bob Get back before dawn Oh, do we still have that recipe for the antivenohts flowed out of the skull, across the table, and then up the stairs Bob&039;s voice, oddly et to light the wardflaone"

"Yeah, yeah," I ot down a three-candle holder with green, yellow, and red candles on it I lit the green one and set the candleholder aside I got out Dumont&039;s Guide and read over the entry for Ulsharavas It looked pretty sih you couldn&039;t be too careful whenever you called so in froather what I&039;d need The oracle spirit couldn&039;t put together a body for herself, not even a nebulous cloud of light, like Bob could She required a homunculus to manifest in the mortal world Dumont recommended a newly dead corpse, but as the only one I was likely to find was my own, I needed a substitute I found it in another box and plopped it down in the center ofcircle,

I added a cup of whiskey and a freshly opened tin of Prince Albert&039;s chewing tobacco to the circle, the required down payment to convince Ulsharavas to show up It was the last of my whiskey and the last of the tins of tobacco, so I added Get more scotch and Prince Albert in a can to my to-do list, and stuck it inthe floor around the circle, so that I wouldn&039;t kick a stray hair or bit of paper across the circle and flub it up After a brief deliberation I chalked down another circle outside the copper one Then I took a uide a last time, and to clear my head of distractions

I took a deep breath and gathered in th Then I focused, reached down, and touched the copper circle, willing a tiny jolt of power into it The su prickle on the back of my neck and a faint warmth on the skin ofa second layer, and then knelt down by the circle, lifting both hands paly into the words My voice shook oddly, skittering around tones in what seenorance seeks you One darkened by the lack of knowledge seeks your light Couardian ofand join me here"

At the conclusion of the ritual words, I released the power I&039;d been holding, sending it coursing froh it to seek out the oracle spirit in the Nevernever

The response caht appeared within the copper circle, and briefly made the barrier around it visible as a curved plane of blue sparkles The light drizzled down over the homunculus, and a moment later it twitched, then sat up

"Welcoht be of some help"

The hoy arms Then it blinked, looked at its arms, and rose to stare down at itself It looked up at me with one eyebrow raised, and asked, in a tiny voice, "A Cabbage Patch doll? You expectthis?"

It was a cute doll Blond ringlets fell to her plush shoulders, and she wore a pink-and-blue calico dress, co ribbons and little black shoes "Uh, yeah Sorry," I said "I didn&039;t have anything else with two ars, and I&039;e Patch doll sighed and sat down in the circle, legs straight out like a teddy bear&039;s She struggled to pick up the coe cup of whiskey, and drank it down It looked like she was taking a pull from a rain barrel, but she downed the whiskey in one shot I don&039;t knohere it went, given that the doll didn&039;t actually have a mouth or a stomach, but none of it spilled onto the floor That done, she thrust a tiny fist into the tobacco and stuffed a wad of it into her mouth

"So," she said, between chews "You want to know about the Shroud, and the people who stole it"

I lifted ood"

"There are two problems"

I frowned "Okay What are they?"

Ulsharavas peered at me and said, "First I don&039;t work for bokkor"

"I&039;m not a bokkor," I protested

"You aren&039;t a houngun You aren&039;t a mambo That makes you a sorcerer"

"Wizard," I said "I&039;m with the White Council"

The doll tilted her head "You&039;re stained," she said "I can feel blackstory," I said "But mostly it isn&039;t mine"

"Some of it is"

I frowned at the doll and then nodded "Yeah I&039;ve made a bad call or two"

"But honest," Ulsharavas noted "Well enough Second is my price"

"What did you have in mind?"

The doll spat to one side, flecks of tobacco landing on the floor "An honest answer to one question Answer ht," I said "You could just ask me for my Name I&039;ve heard that one before"

"I didn&039;t say you&039;d have to answer in full," the doll said "I certainly do not wish to threaten you But what you would answer, you ht about it for a ht Done"

Ulsharavas scooped up"Answer only this Why do you do what you do?"

I blinked at her "You ht?"

"I mean always," she answered "Why are you a wizard? Why do you present yourself openly? Why do you help other mortals as you do?"

"Uh," I said I stood up and paced over to my table "What else would I do?"

"Precisely," the doll said, and spat "You could be doinga purpose in life in other careers You could be sequestered and studying You could be using your skills forin wealth Even in your profession as an investigator, you could do more to avoid confrontation than you do But instead you consign yourself to a poor ho all manner of mortal and supernatural foe Why?"

I leaned back against my table, folded my arms, and frowned at the doll "What the hell kind of question is that?"

"An ireed to answer honestly"

"Well," I said "I guess I wanted to do soood at"

"Is that why?" she asked

I chewed over the thought for athis stuff? I ainst situations that had the potential to horribly kill me Most wizards never had the kind of problems I did They stayed at ho went on about their lives They did not challenge other supernatural forces They didn&039;t declare theet into trouble for sticking their noses in other people&039;s business, whether or not they&039;d been paid to do so They didn&039;t start wars, get challenged to duels with vaet the s shot out of their cars

So why did I do it? Was it soical dysfunction of some sort?

Why?

"I don&039;t know," I said, finally "I guess I never thought about it all thatintensity for a full"Don&039;t you think you should?"

I scowled down at my shoes, and didn&039;t answer

Ulsharavas took one last fistful of tobacco, and sat back down in her original position, settling her calico dress primly about her "The Shroud and the thieves you seek have rented a small vessel docked in the harbor It is a pleasure craft called the Etranger"

I nodded and exhaled through ht then Thank you for your help"

She lifted a tiny hand "One thing hts of the White God wish you to stay away from the Shroud"

I arched an eyebrow "Why?"

"They received part of a prophecy A prophecy that told them that should you seek the Shroud, you will most assuredly perish"

"Only part of a prophecy?" I asked

"Yes Their Adversary concealed some of it fro me this?"

"Because," Ulsharavas said "You must hear the second half of the prophecy in order to restore the balance"

"Uh Okay"

The doll nodded and fixedstare "Should you seek the Shroud, Harry Dresden, you will ht," I said "So what happens if I don&039;t?"

The doll lay down on her back, and wisps of light began flowing back out of her, back from whence Ulsharavas had coreat distance "If you do not, they all die And this city with them"