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This ed atit in the process Nekhbet swept Gran’s china collection off the sideboard

"You will die, Sadie Kane!" she said "I will pick clean your bones Then the other gods will see you were not worthy!"

I waited for another attack, but she just glared at me from the other side of the sofa It occurred to me that vultures don’t usually kill They wait for their prey to die

Nekhbet’s wings filled the rooan to feel trapped, helpless, like a sainst gods before, I ing in the back of ainst any nureasy old bird

"Nice try," I said "But I’littered "Perhaps it will take some time, my dear, but as I told you, I’m patient If you won’t succumb, your mortal friends will be here soon What are their names --Liz and Emma?"

"Leave them out of this!"

"Ah, they’ll make lovely appetizers And you haven’t even said hello to dear old Gramps yet"

Blood roared in lanced at the ceiling "Oh, he’ll be along shortly We vultures like to follow a nice big predator around, you know, and wait for it to do the killing"

Froe piece of furniture had been thrown out a

Graed into the roar of a e melted into my combat boots "Wh-what--"

"Yes," Nekhbet said "Babi is waking"

"B-bobby? You’ve got a god naoddess snarled "You really are quite dense, aren’t you, dear?"

The ceiling plaster cracked under the weight of heavy footsteps So toward the stairwell

"Babi will take good care of you," Nehkbet promised "And there will be plenty left over for me"

"Good-bye," I said, and I bolted for the door

Nekhbet didn’t try to stop me She shrieked behind me, "A hunt! Excellent!"

I made it across the street when our front door exploded Glancing back, I saw soe fro to be randfather

I didn’t wait for a better look

I raced around the corner of South Colonnade and plowed straight into Liz and E a birthday present "What’s wrong?"

"No time!" I said "Coru off--"

The creature behind me bellowed, quite close now

"Explain later," I said "Unless you’d like to be ripped apart by a god na back, I can appreciate just what a , but at the time I was too panicked to feel properly sorry forbehind us al

"Sadie!" Eotten a bit taller but still looked lasses and short spiky hair She wore a black leather miniskirt, a fuzzy pink jumper, and ridiculous platform shoes that she could barely walk in, much less run Who’s that flamboyant rock ’n’ roll chap froht look like Eod’s sake, lose those shoes!"

Emma looked appalled "You kno much these cost?"

"Honestly, Sadie," Liz put in "Where are you dragging us to?"

She was dressed more sensibly in jeans and trainers, a white top and denim jacket, but she looked just as winded as E a bit squashed Liz was a redhead with lots of freckles, and when she got embarrassed or overexerted herself, her pale face became so flushed, her freckles disappeared Under normal circumstances Emma and I would’ve teased her about this, but not today