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I wasn’t sure where here was, and I sensed that he wouldn’t tell me even if I asked So I just sat there and looked at hi at the wrinkled face that I’d loved so much, that I’d missed so much And I realized I had questions for Fletcher-all these burning questions I’d wanted to ask hiive me that folder of information on Bria? Why didn’t you just tell me that she was alive? Why wait until after you died? Why buy the land where my childhood house was? And did Mab really hire you to kill my family? Is that why you wanted her dead all these years? Because she tried to have you killed when you turned her down?" One after another, the questions tumbled froain, then looked up at hter than I remembered and free of the rheued

"That’s what you want to know?" he asked in an amused voice "Thestuff? You know, about life and death and if there’s really a heaven or not?"

I shook my head "I don’t care about any of that I just want to know about you, Fletcher I want to know all about you"

The oldon the is"

I crossed my arms over my chest and snorted "Only because you turned me into the sarin just widened

Fletcher didn’t askMab He didn’t have to We both knew that I wouldn’t be here if the job hadn’t been done Finally, finally done

"Well," he ruh in that letter I left for you in my office But to answer your questions, yes, Mab did hire me to kill your fareedy and wanted me to throw in you and your two sisters for free And you know that I didn’t kill kids-ever"

I nodded

Fletcher shrugged "Mab was a bit upset when I turned down her offer She knew me only as the Tin Man, not as Fletcher Lane, but that didn’t stop her fro some of her men to track me down and kill me When I took the initiative and killed them instead, she sent a few ht the land, it was yours-yours and Bria’s Mab had already taken so much from the two of you I didn’t want her to take that too You know everything else that happened The rough outlines anyway My trying to save your fa I was already too late My finding Bria roa her to her foster fa up at reen eyes clouded over, lost in his memories, just like I was

"But why keep me in the dark about Bria for all these years?" I asked "Why even take me in? Why train me to be an assassin? You could have just shipped me off to Savannah to live with Bria and her foster fa for you to do The si, for everyone"

"Maybe I could have, ht about it when you first caed your es of his book, and for a ht that he wouldn’t answer aze to las, that giant, came to the Pork Pit? He was one of Mab’sforanother job, and he followed me back here to kill me Do you remember that, Gin?"

Oh, I relas was the first person I’d killed inside the Pork Pit I’d taunted the giant, lured him over to me, and then I’d stabbed hi to chop onions The first time I’d ever used a blade that way-the first of las, I realized how I could one I realized that I could train you to be an assassin, to survive Even back then, you had that same cold, iron will you do now," Fletcher said "I’d heard about Magda’s prophecy, so I knehy Mab had wanted you and your sisters dead, because supposedly one of you would grow up to kill her And I thought that maybe-that maybe this hat the prophecy was all about in the first place That maybe you were meant to be with rew up Until I could train you Besides, by that point, I just loved you too daht back to what I’d said to Mab, when I’d asked her if she thought that she’d brought all this on herself

"It’s all very Greek, isn’t it?" I quipped "Prophecies, tragedies, destinies Just like in all those old ed "Hard to beat the classics"

I nodded "And what about all that talk of ed again "Being an assassin is all well and good, but I wanted you to start thinking about other things, to realize that there was ood you are at it I’d taught you how to survive I guess I wanted to put you on a happier path before I died"

"The one that led me to Bria," I finished

He nodded We didn’t speak Outside the snow continued to fall, coating everything in its cold, wet embrace

"So what now?" I finally asked "Because Mab’s dead I made sure of that And if I’m not already, then I’m probably on my way to join her-and you"

The old man snorted "What now? That’s up to you, Gin Just like it always has been"

"So I can go back then? Back to being alive? Or whatever?"

The old reen eyes "You’re Gin Blanco, Genevieve Snow, and the Spider all rolled into one You can do whatever you want to, sweetheart"

I bit ain, Fletcher I don’t want to leave you behind Especially since it’s my fault that you died in the first place My fault that Alexis Jahtened my throat, but for once, I forced out the words "I-I failed you that night"

"And I failed you when I didn’t stop Mab fro your ht back at me "We all make mistakes, Gin, even the best of us I like to think that it all evens out in the end Remember that, and you’ll be fine"

"But what should I do?"

"I can’t tell you that," Fletcher said "But it seems to me like there are a lot of people out there who care about you It would be a sha so hard to try to save your life"

I thought about everything that I’d gone through in the last fewover Fletcher’s death, uy after bad guy, finding Bria, connecting with her, and noith Owen too, and all the things I felt for hiet through all of that, to build a real life for ot to my feet with a heavy heart I should have headed for the door, but I lingered at the counter I breathed in, and the old ar all ether, with just a hint of chicory coffee The caffeine fuuess this is good-bye"