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Dozens of days

Hundreds of days

Without hu ly curved into claws Theover, but the monster could feel no pain, so Balthazar accepted it Filthturned into ht, he devoured them He was as low as he deserved to be; that was as ht about theat all

One evening, though, as he lay on the floor halfway between stupor and sluh "Lookit this Soht have souy Lookit hirave"

"We can take care of that, can’t we?"

Balthazar breathed in, smelled human blood, and thebefore his er

He stood over the corpses of his victims for nearly an hour as he tried to process his return to human consciousness Already Balthazar could feel his body restoring itself, taking on the usted hi his body, but he’d have to clean hi he’d been in this place

One of the dead men was at least close to his size, so Balthazar put on his shirt, coat, and shoes before venturing outside It was late at night--but that was all he recognized The entire neighborhood had been rebuilt around hies were to be seen; instead, automobiles rolled past, faster andstock in General Motors was a good idea, Balthazar thought But his portfolio wasn’t hismore naturally and decisively now, Balthazar went to a nearby trash bin and pulled out a crumpled newspaper The headlines blared unfamiliar information--Depression, Dust Bowl--and one unexpectedly faain?--but he’d read this and absorb the contents later Right now he cared about only one thing: the date

April 26, 1933

Al

He would have to return to Evernight Acadeain There he could find out what the world was like these days and start to adapt Balthazar hated the process of starting over, but he could do it when he had to