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"What are we doing in here?" Iabove my head

Jo-Jo’s face hovered over igantic sinkhole out back It’s already filled in ater It hasn’t reached the house yet, but it ht you to the store where it was safer Now, relax, Gin, asto hurt"

Jo-Jo’s eyes flashed a brilliant white, and her Air power rolled off her like invisible waves The dwarf put her hand against ic filledin a bed that wasn’t my own I felt better, but bone-tired at the sa fro blasted with Jo-Jo’s healing Air ic I shuddered to think how ain But while I’d been unconscious, someone had bathed and dressed -sleeved T-shirt, and thick socks

I threw back the blanket on top of ot to my feet, and stumbled over to the dresser in the corner I stared at my reflection in the mirror I looked the saht skin, a few freckles on led my jaw Perfect as always, and all my loose tooth felt attached once more However terrible I’d looked when I’d come out of the mountain, Jo-Jo Deveraux had healed ive the dwarf a bonus for going above and beyond this time

I opened the door to the bedroom and looked around

I was upstairs in the Foxes’ house, from the look of all the pictures of Warren, Violet, and the rest of their faht and padded down a set of narrow stairs I’d just stepped onto the landing when soht my eye

The small creek that ran by the Foxes’s house and country store had turned into a large pond It stretched out perhaps a quarter of a ht over the spot where the cavern with the diaic had altered the landscape, of how I’d done this thing without even thinking about the consequences

"Fuck," I whispered

I shook my head and went down the stairs Soft voices drifted out from the den, so that’s where I headed

" can’t believe the aic she was able to tap into"

I stopped where I was in the hallway Jo-Jo was talking - about me

"I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t felt it," Warren T Fox replied in his high, reedy voice "Felt like the wholeto tear itself in two Worse than an earthquake"

"Gin’s only just now co into the full extent of her power," Jo-Jo replied "She’s only going to get stronger"

"I’d hate to get on her bad side," Warren muttered

I waited in the hallway, but the two of the else So I padded into the den where they were sitting Both of them looked at me Sophia and Finn were nowhere to be found, and Violet was probably still at Eva’s The television flickered in front of Warren and Jo-Jo, showing scenes of the collapsedbetter?" Jo-Jo asked

I shrugged "Soh"

"You will be," the dwarf replied "It tookwhile to patch you up this time Whatever you did in that mine shaft, it took its toll on you"

I didn’t respond Instead, I looked at Warren "I’uessed by now, but Tobias Dawson is dead So are two of his giants He won’t be bothering you anymore"

The old ured as much"

"What happened down there, Gin?" Jo-Jo asked "In the mine"

I sat on the sofa and curled my feet up underneath my body "Dawson knocked ic somehow When I woke up, I was in the iants We were in this cavern, this beautiful cavern That’s where the diamonds were, hundreds of them set in the stone walls like tiny lamps Dawson hit me He wanted to know if Warren had hired me to kill him All the usual stuff"

"What did you say?" Warren asked

I s for Mab Monroe That she wanted hi sparked in Jo-Jo’s eyes, but she ure out what it was

"Then what happened?" Jo-Jo asked

I shrugged "I figured I wasn’t getting out of there alive and that I oons withThat’s why he needed your land, Warren The cavern was right under the creek, and the ceiling was too fragile for hi about it"

Warren nodded

"After the dust settled, I was still alive, and they weren’t So I looked for a way out of the cavern, and I found one End of story"

I didn’t tell Jo-Jo about ic now than ever before

That I could feel the cool power rippling through h to do that later After I’d figured out for myself whether it was just a fluke

I jerked ?"

Warren hit the re it was an earthquake That Dawson and his ot trapped inside They’re still digging for theh everybody knows he’s probably dead by now"

I thought of Dawson’s pale hand sticking out the mound of earth and stone - and the way I’d cut the dwarf ’s wrist just to make sure "Yeah, Dawson’s dead and buried"

"I’lad you didn’t end up the sae on the television The sound of the earth ru in my ears "Me too"

Jo-Jo went to call Finn and Sophia and tell the me alone in the den with Warren

The old coot heaved hi, and disappeared I watched the news coverage of thea small picture frame He stared at it a moment, then shoved it into my hands "Here I know I can’t pay you for what you did with Dawson and all that you suffered But I’d like to give you soht want this"

I stared at the picture A fine layer of dust covered the frae of ht have been in color at one ti ers, looked up at me The shorter man was obviously Warren T Fox He’d stared into the cah he didn’t like having his picture taken The other rin more than made up for Warren’s lack of one They both ork shirts and overalls Fishing rods and tackle boxes lay at their feet, along with a string of fish Trees ringed the area behind them

"Is this you and Fletcher?" I asked

Warren settled into his recliner and started rocking again "It is Taken a couple of months before he started up the Pork Pit Last photo we ever took together"