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"I want it before sunset," Pugsy demanded "Or else!"

The boy obediently ran off, took the entire day, and returned just as the day settled into twilight He presented Pugsy with a list and a cosy nodded his acceptance

Then Mary asked the saraph the demise of all ninety-three in her care The boy took only two hours, and he returned with a list, and not just one graph, but three: a coordinate graph, a bar graph, and a pie chart

"You cheated!" Pugsy insisted "He already knew the answers"

"Do you really believe that?" Mary asked in a cal way "My children obey my requests because they want to, not because they fear ill happen if they fail Consequently, they perforsy that Mary never actually denied that Bedhair already knew the answers

Mary also discovered that Pugsy did not personally attend to the transitioning Interlights that Jill continued to bring to the agricultural building He found it beneath him, and left their assireat opportunity

SheInterlight would awaken, and reet them when they did

"Welcohtened, children "My na friends" Then she would present each of them with a volume of Tipsfor Taps, her definitive book for new arrivals to Everlost--each book painstakingly handwritten by her children on paper scavenged frosy's troves Grateful for her kindness, these new children would iiance, while Pugsy becaure in their sy's point of view, high atop his regal Ferris wheel, nothing had really changed His subjects still feared him and obeyed his every whim But noas merely because Mary allowed it Only when Mary o, did he begin to worry about her intentions

"Tell sy one day "Not what you've heard, but what you know"

"There is no west," he answered curtly "Everlost ends at the Mississippi River"

"Have you been there?"

"What's it to you?"

"I just assumed that a leader of your stature would want to see it with his own eyes"

Pugsy took the flattery at face value and said, "I did Once There's a wind that blows frohts, one after the other, to cross the Centennial Bridge, but the ouldn't let thee, into the river"

The thought that he'd order so hts to their doom didn't sit ith Mary, but she tried not to show it "Perhaps if you found a bridge that had crossed into Everlost "

"There are no Everlost bridges that cross the Mississippi, because there's no Everlost there to cross into, so stop asking stupid questions" He eyed her with suspicion, and Mary realized she had pushed too far

"Perhaps ested "I's you know that I don't"

"And it'll stay that way," said Pugsy, closing the door to further conversation But, as they say, when God closes a door he opens a , and in Mary'swest

Jackin' Jill took a close interest in the gradual shift of power Pugsy was far too busy luxuriating in extravagance to notice it, and although Jill could have sown the seeds of his suspicion, she didn't Pugsy's life before Mary's arrival had been one of decadent excess, but Mary's superior administrative abilities had o--especially Pugsy Even the leather arold eht have once used It was a gift presented to him by Mary as a show of her loyalty to their partnership Mary had traded the finest baubles of her own collection for the settee, and yet she had given it away to Pugsy, clai his armchair for herself Jill found this very isy's comfort orth any cost, because thein Mary's direction Jill dreamed that the next partnership would be between her and Mary--that together they would become the most powerful force in Everlost

On this particular day, Jill carried two fresh sleeping Interlights to the incubator, both thrown over her shoulder like a hunter's kills The incubator wasn't kept under tight guard anyhts should be able to see this glorious place, as if it were a hospital nursery After depositing the sleeping Interlights, Jill went to tell Mary that the incubator was now bri souls She found Mary in the Hindenburg's Starboard Proht--but not just any Afterlight This one was a handsome skinjacker A skinjacker by the name of Milos

Jill tried to hide her shock, but couldn't She had left Milos and his two ry , slow trip to the center of the earth She should have realized that Milos would have found a way out of it He was so smooth--too sloat, and a grin that hid what must have been hatred, for how could he not hate her after what she had done to hilad you're here" She was either oblivious or pretending to be She was smooth too

"He's a liar!" Jill blurted out "Don't listen to a word Milos says If you have any sense you'll get hins of heeding her "What an odd thing to say--I thought you tere friends At least that's what Milos said"

Jill looked to Milos The grin never left his face "We parted underuncertain circumstances," he said "But Jill, I must say, I am surprised by yourhow do you say it? 'Unprovoked hostility'"

"Whatever happened between you and Milos, I'h to put it behind you," Mary said "Just as I've been able to ad I've been in my assessment of skinjackers, you should be able to resolve your differences After all, we're all working for the greater good"