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"You’re the one who hates faeries," Dave said, speaking at the same time Lolli did so that their words overlapped "You’re the one who sees shit"

Luis held up his hands "Wait a fucking minute I don’t think any of us poisoned any faeries But I have to agree with Val Ravus asked ht He made me--" He scowled in Lolli’s direction "So around his place, but he asked me direct if I was the poisoner, if I kneho it was, if anyone had bribed me to do some sketched-out delivery Why would he do all that if he took out those fey hie that rat poison killed the faeries nagged at her, she ree She believed that he’d been questioned thoroughly Of course,set up, if not by Ravus, then by solamoured itself to look like one of us?"

"Why would it do that?" Lolli demanded

"To make it seem like we’re behind the deaths"

Luis nodded "We should stop doing deliveries Make whoever it is find some other suckers to frame"

Dave scratched his arm where the razor marks were "We can’t stop the deliveries"

"Don’t be such a fucking junkie," said Luis

"Val can get some Never, can’t you, Val?" Lolli said with a sly look up through her pale lashes

"What do youtoo defensive even to her own ears She felt guilty, but she couldn’t quite say why She looked at Lolli’s finger, as straight as if it had never been twisted out of its socket

"The troll owes you, doesn’t he?" Lolli’s voice was pitched low, aluess" Val re on the spoon, and it filled her with longing "But he paid his debt He’s going to show ely

"You should be careful," said Luis Somehow, those words filled Val with an unease that had little to do with physical peril She didn’tinstead at a mirror with a cracked frareat, but now unease had crept into her heart and settled there

Lolli stood up suddenly "Done," she pronounced, tousling Dave’s locks so that they rustled like fat-bellied snakes "Forget about all this Time to play pretend"

"We don’t haveup, already gathering the things froh the grate and into the tunnel

Luis frowned as Lolli brought out the amber sand and her kit "That isn’t for mortals, you know Not really"

In the near darkness, Dave brought a piece of foil to his nose, lighting beneath it so that the Never smoked He took a deep sniff and looked sole is a bad idea doesn’t aze traveled to Luis, and the look in his eyesof

"Give me so the day, Val did deliveries before going to Ravus’s place inside the bridge where he would show her swordplay in his shadowed rooht, she shot her arms up with Never, and she and Dave and Lolli did whatever they pleased They ht sleep after or drink a little to ride out the hollowness that followed the high, when the world settled back into less ical patterns More andNeverwith food, but no ry

"Showthe first lesson Val gripped the half broomstick like it was a lacrosse stick, both hands on it, separated by about a foot

He slid her hands closer together and lower "If you held a sword like that, you would cut your hand on the blade"

"Yeah, only an idiot would do that," Val said, just to see what he’d say

Ravus didn’t react with ht feels off, but with a sword, it won’t be Here" He took down the glass sword and put it in her hand "Feel the weight See? It’s balanced That’s the , balance"

"Balance," she repeated, letting the sword teeter in the pal to each place in turn "This is the grip, the hilt, the cross-guard When you hold the sword, the edge pointing to your opponent is the true edge You want to hold the blade so that the point follows your opponent Now stand like I’htly bent, one foot in front of the other

"Almost" He pushed her body into position, careless where he touched her Her face heated when he pushed her thighs farther apart, but it embarrassed her more that only she seemed to notice his hands on her To hi more

"Now," he said, "show me how you breathe"

Sometimes Val and Dave and Luis and Lolli would talk about the strange things they’d seen or the creatures they’d spoken with Dave told theet chased through the park by a creature with short antlers growing fro the bottle of whatever-it-was, and not looked back Luis told the around town to find unsprayed flowers for a bogan that lived up near the Cloisters and had soiven a bottle of wine that would never e as you didn’t look down the neck It laive you?" Val asked

"Luck," Luis said "And thewith his power I’ to be different"

"How do you break spells?" Val asked

"Salt Light Eggshell soup Depends on the spell" Luis took another pull froer the h his cheek "But mostly iron"

There were no sword moves at the next practice, just stance and footwork Back and forth across the dusty boards, keeping the half broomstick trained on Ravus as Val advanced and retreated He corrected her when she took too large a step, when her balance was off, when her toe wasn’t straight She bit the inside of her cheek in frustration and continued h waiting for a battle that never began

He turned suddenly to one side, forcing her to folloardly "Speed, tis that will ritted her teeth and stepped wrong again

"Stop thinking," he said

"I have to think," said Val "You said I was supposed to concentrate"

"Thinking ht now, you’reo before you’ve gone there? That’s stupid"

"It’s no different froht o on the lacrosse field?"

"The only things you know about lacrosse are what I told you," Val said

"I " He stopped "There You did it You were so busy snapping atit"

Val frowned, too annoyed to be pleased, but too pleased to say anything h the streets of the West Village, s that hopped in chaotic patterns, enchanting strangers to kiss, and otherwise ine<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>