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Asa clapped his hands, and ti at a house on fire, only to have it instantly go out--and see Elizabeth apparently h, she obviously realized what had happened Her face flushed with anger "If Asa hadn’t been with you--"

There were other ways in which she ht have saved her ho Nadia learn too much about her power until they were on the same side "Asa is here," Elizabeth said evenly "And so you failed again"

Nadia sagged against the nearest tree in disappointment--and Elizabeth smiled

"Doesn’t this ?" She tried to say this pleasantly, to show none of her impatience "That you have so much more to learn?"

"Not from you," Nadia said "Never from you"

Asa chi Certainly not at Rodh school a total loss Nothing they teach will ever be relevant to your existence ever again Except calculus They have calculus in hell"

Elizabeth ignored this irrelevancy Her eyes never left Nadia’s face Though to any outside observer they looked the sae, she could feel all the centuries that lay between her life and Nadia’s What had it been like to be so young, to still have hope that the world could be ht comply with your will? She couldn’t re as that, even as a girl

If she couldn’t speak to Nadia as a young woe her spirit To show her what the world really was

"So what are you going to do?" Nadia hadn’t backed up even a single step; that took soe "Do whatever you want to ain--"

"If I go after hiain, he’ll enjoy it At least for a little while But your father isn’t the one you should be thinking about If I were you, I’d realize it ell overdue to start thinking about yourto do with this She’s not even here"

"Did you think that was coincidence?"

It was always so delicious, that moment of realization: the moment when people realized the trouble they were in was infinitely deeper than they’d ever dreamed--the moment when uncertainty or tension turned into real fear Real fear eeter to Elizabeth than wine

"You didn’t do anything to her," Nadia said, trying to sound more certain than she truly was "She left us Just--left Moved out Got a divorce Sa to do with it"