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"He reen pastures," Octavia prayed fervently "He leadeth me beside the still waters He restoreth ?"

"Away from here!" Memphis shouted He threw a coat on over his pajamas, shoved his sockless feet into his shoes, and tore out of the building, walking in an aiht It hazed the street lahost town Obscured byshades Me uptown

Why was this happening? What if Isaiah was sick, like their s ith her until it was too late Was this a warning? He re like a radio that picked up signals What signals was Isaiah getting, and how could he make them stop?

He found hiate squeaked in the wind Why was it open? A black cat slunk across the road, giving Memphis pause "Go on! Git!" he hissed at it Meh he couldn’t say why It wasn’t wind In fact, it was very still Not a tree swaying Not one rustle in the leaves Gooseflesh tickled up Meht that he should turn around, go home, and pull his covers up over his head

"Caw!" Up in the branches of a barren tree, a crow sat watching him

"Leave raveyard, he saw the silhouette of a figure in the fog The person wasn’tthere

"Me of dried leaves in a gutter Me of his knees His breath cay Morse code of fear He tried to speak, but his tongue had gone very dry

"Gabe?"

The figure beckoned "Brother…"

The croed again Me hisHe was trapped in so of fatality, he followed the figure deep into the foggy graveyard, until he ca like a broken angel Now Gabe stood in the ht across his full face, and he shies, transient, phosphorescent, a deep-water fish swih the shallows Meh note held on a trumpet It rushed into Meave and he fell to the ground, paralyzed Above hi a cycle of Gabes passing through: His soulful-eyed friend A laughing de with flies, eyes stitched shut, the tongue gone

Gabe’s voice ca, labored whisper, as if these were the last sounds he would ever make "At the crossroads, you will have a choice, brother Careful of the one orks with both hands Don’t let the eye see you…"

Memphis’s entire body shook The horn reached a pitch thatswirled around Gabe, and the last thing Me: "The stor… All are needed…"

Sister Walker sat at her kitchen table in her robe, her hair tied in a scarf, an untouched cup of coffee in front of her, and listened to Memphis talk about his dead friend She kept perfectly still as he spun out his frantic tale, which started with Isaiah’s trance and ended in Trinity Cemetery; she didn’t even --"The stor When Me of the kitchen clock and the first ht of dawn at the

Finally, Sister Walker spoke "Memphis, I want you to listen to me very carefully: You’ve had a terrible shock I don’t knohat happened in that graveyard, but for the ti, I would like you to keep this between us Tell no one--no one, do you understandother than nod

"As for Isaiah, I’ with him for a small while, till he’s better When he comes over next ti more"

"Isaiah won’t like that," Memphis said hollowly

"You letand hard and popped a lozenge into her mouth Then she placed Memphis’s coat around his shoulders like aat the back of his throat "Go on home now, Memphis Get some rest"