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"Good evening"

We turned back, found Vincent and Nessa walking together down the hallway Nessa had taken up her friends’ fashion and wore a blousy ivory tank and long, wide-legged trousers in a chalky blue, the same homespun fabric Astrid and Vincent wore Her dark mane was braided loosely across one shoulder She looked, I thought, less a vaoddesses had ever looked so sad

"Good evening," Ethan said, then gestured to the building "This is an i was created as a corporate retreat center The business failed, and ere able to obtain it at minimal cost Many of our va unpleasant situations We try to give theestured toward the linear building, and we followed hi coives us a chance to truly be ourselves" The sound of trickling water blossorew louder There was a fountain that ran down the leah the bricks The canal was lined with cloudy blue-green glass, the water gurgling as it h the channel to the other end

"Very nice," Ethan co compliments "And how many residents?"

"Thirteen of our fifteen present an to discuss potentially applicable NAVR regulations, I glanced around the building, caught fa on the opposite wall

I walked toward it, squinted at the long and straight brushstrokes, the light glea of oil paints used to render a luhtly different, it was the sas of lanced back at Nessa, smiled "This looks familiar"

Nessa nodded, pleased I’d realized it "It’s a Barryuesthouse He traveled through Colorado in the 1890s, did nearly one hundred landscapes, including these two of Elk Valley"

"You’re a collector?" Ethan asked, joining us

Nessa looked back at hi at her eyes "Actually, no They were Christophe’s paintings He had a great love of art, and he’d bought theer home We had them restored, Taran and I"

Ethan nodded, and his voice softened "Are you ready to return to the house?"

Nessa nodded shakily "Yes I mean, no, of course I don’t want to see where he--where Taran--was killed I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to live there again But ifback can help"

Vincent touched her hand "If it’s too soon--"

Nessa suessed she and Vincent had had this conversation before "It’s necessary But thank you, Vincent"

We alking toward the front door when ic prickled my neck Since Dauessed he felt it, too

There were guns, sure But their ic, like an ocean of deep blue water resting on grains of sand