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"Hi, Alfina…my sister and I are frolanced up, looking startled "But you are--"
"Half human? Yes Our mother was human, our father is Fae Where are you from, back in OW?"
"Willowyrd Glen" Her voice was a whisper, but a glimmer of hope shone in her eyes "I live on the shores of the Dahnsberry Lake, and before I ift--a trip Earthside, to learn about the culture Have you ever been to Dahnsberry Lake? It’s so beautiful Peaceful We have our probleer cities--both over there, and here Earthside"
Camille nodded "I’ve seen the lake, briefly And I’ve been to Dahnsburg It’s an incredible city, and King Uppala-Dahns is a fair and just leader"
That brought a reaction "You know the King of the Dahns Unicorns?" For the first time, her voice showed a spark of life
"Yes," Ca and I know his son, Feddrah-Dahns Tell ?" She kept her eyes on Alfina, holding her gaze
Alfina gave a little shrug "I’’s court" She teared up then and held out her aro through the rest of lish, but I’ll always knohat it says What they did I wish I’d stayed home, that I’d never come here"
As Alfina burst into tears, Sharah pulled out a salve "Listen," she said, her voice gentle "I’ood job on the stitching There will beIn a year or so, it should fade"
Alfina shook her head, trying to shade her eyes to keep us fro her tears "You don’t understand…it’s a reo She squeezed, holding tight "You know that this happens back in Otherworld, too It’s not just here Rape is a constant…it’s not confined to one race or world, it’s all about power and those who seek to use their bodies as weapons You did nothing wrong Your decision to come here didn’t cause this to happen"
She let out another sigh and looked at me with those brilliant blue eyes "What do you need me to do?"
"We need you to look at sonize any of the art?" I scanned her face, watching for any clue as to what she was thinking
She held aze Slowly, deliberately, she said, "I’ll look at your pictures And yes, I knohat Tregarts are And at least two of the her But the man in the suit was the worst He wanted to kill me, but the demons said, no, leave me alive as an example I don’t think…I don’t think the man in the suit realized they weren’t hu"
"Man in a suit?" Ca confused "What man in a suit?"
"The weaselya suit He was…one of the rapists" She turned to Sharah "Can I get dressed now? I feel too exposed And I’h the pictures, we’ll take you back to your hotel" I motioned to Camille "We’ll wait outside while you dress"
As Sharah handed her a pair of trousers and a long tunic, we exited the roo roo?"
"Yeah, and I have a really bad feeling about it" We told hi the Freedoht with that supposition But there’s so else Did she tell you about the man in the suit?"
He pulled out his notebook "I’m not the one who took her statement Let me see…Thayus took the call He said…yes, there is the mention of a h it all before I called you What are you thinking?"
I hooked h the belt loops on my jeans "Show her a picture of Andy Ga perv" Chase tapped his notebook "If it is Gaot hio crazy We have to be prepared Is there any way you can pull together a counterprotest in case the frootloops come out of the ork? Not to confront thee and make Seattle look less like a backwoods KKK enclave Once this hits the news…"
"Yeah…I got it" And I knew exactly what to do "Let me make a call to Tim and to Neely"
"First, let’s see if Andy’s ourat an albu shots on it, Andy Ga them None of us pointed to him, nobody said a e just waited
Alfina stared at the page for a moment, and then without hesitation, she pointed to Gambit’s picture "That’s him That’s the man in the suit" She also identified one of the els
Chase nodded, i "Get warrants for their arrest and to search their houses Do nothing until you consult me If they were OW Supes, we’d extradite them to Otherworld But they’re ours, and their asses areturnout"
Camille and I headed over to the VA with Alfina She didn’t feel safe back in her hotel, so we took her there Hiding her a Wade’s people would be safer than any safe house we could take her to The men followed in my Jeep
Wade’s assistant--Mari, an ES Fae--escorted us to a private office Froave Tim a call and asked him to put the phone tree on alert, should we need them I then called Neely and asked her if we could count on the United Worlds Church to carry through with their proaveShe answered and sat up straight After ave an abrupt "Yes" and flipped the cell shut
"What was that about?"
"That…was Trytian He wants to meet He knows about Gulakah and wants to talk to us about hi "I don’t want to deal with hi e think we knoe’d better ainst the Deet Especially if Van and Jaycee were playing us all this time"