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He covered my hand with his for a moment, then nodded "As you wish We will discuss it when you are ready And I will do everything in ain"

Uh-oh That sounded a little too ivory-towerish for me, but I knew he needed to say it--needed to feel he could keep so, Iup ahead

"Let’s go get Chase" I sucked in a deep breath, wondering when life would ever return to normal If that were even possible

We approached the portal, and I turned to theo first, but we for Now that Set out of wherever we end up And once we go through, I think froed to ju, and I opened it up "My iron! You brought me my handcuffs and flail!" For the first tiht me, I felt a sloves "You’ll need these, too Now let’s go get our detective"

We for second, and neither Delilah nor Trillian countered him Delilah went third, Trillian last As we took aih The crackling energy was like a recharging burst of ocean air, and I sucked it in, holding it within e of power felt like a glass of long, cold water to ain standing in the jungle of frosty foliage S his serrated blade Delilah and I glanced around Neither Tra nor Herne was anywhere in sight, and I slowly let out my breath

Noe could just keep Yannie Fin Diver at bay, we h it without too much of a battle But I didn’t have my unicorn horn with me, so that should take care of the latter He’d been after the horn, not so , he ht not notice ere here

I pulled my capelet closer around uys With Smoky at my side, I headed forward toward the other side of the frosted lea, in the direction of the rock-faced ravine leading into the glen Trillian fell in beside Delilah

Nothing stirred, save for a featching us fro oaks Silently, we passed through the ical realic surrounded h here recently

As we entered the ravine, I could feel the call of the rocks There was quartz in the cliff face; that I’d bettoit more and more For some reason, my connection to the mineral was more prominent over here, and I used it for the wards around the land

Besidea close eye on the sides of the ravine, his gaze darting froe and ca

"Be careful Yannie Fin Diver is in that bog At least we know the Bog Eater isn’t around Although the fact that he’s prowling Tangleroot Park isn’t any coe against et hold of the unicorn horn"

I pushed through to the open swath of ground that divided the forest fro in n of activity out on the surface I didn’t want to have to go into coainst one of the Elder Fae, but with Smoky, it would be a hell of a lot easier to take care of than with just Delilah andand had almost reached the area where we could cut into the bushes when a ripple on the surface of the ht my eye

Hell Yannie Fin Diver rose out of the water He spotted us and, a feral gleam in his eye, rose with a triumphant howl

"It’s him! Watch out!" I headed on a dead run for the woods, Delilah right after on self As he transforht, Smoky towered over the Elder Fae He rose into the air, his front claws long and dangerously sharp, his wings whipping up a stor water caused by Yannie’s appearance turned into a flurry of waves, cresting against the path

"Oh shit," Delilah said, turning toEven as I tried to figure out as going on, she fell backward into a quivering an to sink Her head disappeared and I screale--try to float on the surface asyou down quicker" Turning to find Trillian, atching the brewing confrontation between Saze snapped toon, he raced over

Yannie Fin Diver glanced up at the opalescent dragon and began to backpedal Interesting; so even the Elder Fae could be cowed by dragons I had been wondering if it cah he was backtracking, Sht for hiround,stick out in front ofDelilah, so that she’d have so quaground He wavered, flailing his arained his balance and i the other end ofstick We held it steady over Delilah, as by now chest deep in theherself out of the sucking sand As she clung to the staff, Trillian and I slowly edged it over the side of the sinkhole and she struggled to clamber out I slipped one hand under her left arm, as Trillian reached across and slipped his hand under her right, and we pried her out as she scraround, covered in the wet slimy sand She leaned her head on her knees, her short spiky haircutthan quicksand I hate that stuff It’s scary hard to get out of," she gasped, spitting out bits of sand that had gotten into her e roar filled the air, and we all jerked around to see Se, big enough to fight back Crap Maybe he wasn’t so vulnerable after all He raised his huge arms, and the kelp boas that flowed around his shoulders rose like stinging snakes and launched the hi hied to ju at Yannie with his dragon fire, as the Elder Fae kept growing, reaching a good fifteen feet in the air

He swiped at S hiht hi the top of his head with his talons His wings gave one h turbulence that Yannie went cartwheeling back into the bog

Like a hawk diving after a fish, wings back, talons at the ready, Smoky barreled doard the Elder Fae, who took one last look at his inco a wake behind him as he headed out toward thethe surface of the water, chased him for a bit, then headed back to shore

He transfor around hi what Hyto had done tolocks, then slowly let outmyself that--at least for the present--I was safe fro And, as usual, clean as a whistle I really had to find out how he did that, but so far, he wasn’t telling anybody