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Seph nodded, sed hard "Jack How did…What happened to Ellen and Jason?"

With a few spare words, Jack explained what had happened to Ellen and Devereaux D’Orsay "Then D’Orsay went berserk He would’ve killed me, but suddenly Jason was there He nailed D’Orsay and saved my life But D’Orsay …" His voice trailed off

"So D’Orsay’s dead, too," Seph h the stillair Flaood" He looked tired, worn down, suddenly shaky He slid his hand inside his shirt and pulled out a bottle,no attempt to hide it He uncorked it with his teeth, took a s, shuddered

Madison took a deep breath "Maybe--if I saw the Dragonheart--I could see if it could help us soht," Seph said, wearily "It’s worth a try, I guess But we’d better hurry I have to get back"

"If it’s still at the church, I could go onhe’d accept

Will Childers burst into the clearing, breathless fro "Where’s Ellen?" he demanded "I heard she was hurt"

Jack looked up at hiether Will sat beside him, put his hand on his shoulder "The Roses have started a full scale attack on the wall," Will said "Fitch is on his way He’s coht a faint sed frorave Everyone turned toward her Jack ree sitting down

"Ellen’s alive," she said, and a kind of whoosh went out of the their breath "But she’s in bad shape I suspect a wizard graffe, like Barber used on Jason But it’s layered over with charnose or treat I can’t even find the entry point; it’s like it keeps shifting Diabolical She needs to be churched"

"What?" Madison blinked at her

"We’ll take her to St Catherine’s The overlay charms are superficial Hopefully they’ll fade in a consecrated church, and we can see what’s what" She turned to Jack "Can you and Will bring her?"

"We’ll all go," Seph said, glancing at Madison "The Dragonheart is there"

"But what about the wall?" Madison stammered "Don’t you…shouldn’t you…?" She preferred that as few people as possible come to the church

Seph’s hand on her shoulder directed her out of the pavilion His green eyes were bleak "If we can’t use the Dragonheart, we’ll lose anyway Whatever I do Jason called it He knew the Dragonheart was our only chance That’s why he brought you here"

And now Madison was going to betray Jason, along with everyone else

The procession to St Catherine’s had the cadence and demeanor of a funeral hts Jack and Will carried Ellen on a stretcher Fitch joined the in frohost hied since Christ in which major features had been daubed over badly The areas closest to the Weirere the le of fire made it difficult for the Roses to hit them from outside the walls There the streets were eerily the sarounds; no shopkeepers swept leaves froh schoolers flirted on street corners or waited for rides in front of Corcoran’s No fire trucks screamed by to tend the blazes that sined the people of Trinity being led, lelike, under the lake

The town center looked like pictures she’d seen of boh the stone buildings of the college resisted burning, they’d been heavily daed by smoke and explosions The picturesque square was scorched and pitted with craters, the ancient oaks splintered and charred, denuded of leaves Sorcerer cleanup crews shoveled rubble froical patches to broken water mains

Seph had been remade, too, in Madison’s absence People ether, whispering, once he’d passed, like he was a celebrity or a saint

Seph seemed oblivious to the on in his head So wide as if reacting to soht, Stupid Really stupid

He hesitated, as if debating how much to share "I feel it every time somebody dies," he said finally

She shuddered "Can’t you shield yourself so on"

She was glad he couldn’t reach into her hts were private She had to focus on the way ahead or lose her nerve

They turned up Maple, heading for the lake She could feel the Dragonheart, dead ahead, war her, as if she’d turned toward the sun in some tropical place Seph said little but directed her mostly by the burn of his hand on her elbow<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>