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"That I was going to stay with Verlaine for a couple of days to help out while Uncle Gary’s in the hospital Right now he can’t get to his job anyway, so he can be around for Cole Verlaine’s going to cover for ?"

She nodded, and at last she turned back to him "Thanks to you"

Mateo patted the handlebars "You walk it at least half a et it back on the road and go You know the way to Providence?"

"Yeah I go to the airport, put your , and then I can pick up ht you about the bike Really, riding it is easier than it looks"

"Right" But Nadia didn’t look too sure It hardly mattered; this was their only shot

Only then did Mateo realize he was still thinking of this as their chance, their risk, not hers alone

"Mateo--thank you"

He shook his head "You’d do the same for me"

"Not just for the bike, or the loan, or the ride For believing inwas, Mateo had his doubts He didn’t knohat temptations Nadia was about to face, or whether she could resist theh to conquer Elizabeth or the One Beneath

But he’d made a decision Mateo knew he couldn’t test Nadia; he could only test hih to let her go

"You can do it," he said

Only now did he recognize the forest where they stood He’d seen it in his dreaht never return--but had that been a irl he knew and loved, but as someone else entirely?

Nadia clutched at his jacket, pulled hirily, so hard, that he knew she felt the same desperation he did For a moment he could only think of the first time their lips had met--when she’d been trapped underwater, and he’d had to breathe for her It was like that now, as though they were keeping each other alive

The wind picked up around theain, so hard it nearly knocked hiale And yet there was so about this--a shimmer in the wind that meant it wasn’t only natural His Steadfast abilities told him another force had caused that

but in this Sorceress-haunted toasn’thi for her When he repeated the words, his voice was near breaking: "You can do it"