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Ethan’s jaorked "I recall what Celina did And I appreciate the suggestion But that’s not the focus I want for the House right now"

"Sire," Luc said, but his tone clearly said that he thought Ethan wasdecision

Ethan checked his watch "We leave here at twenty after three That gives us tiet to the rendezvous point on the island, do our own look-see before the op"

"We’ll get the van," s set up on our end We’ll meet you there"

Ethan nodded

"I’ll keep working on the lanced up at the clock, which ticked down o in a couple of hours, but I’ll try"

"I’ll help you," I told her "We don’t have much time, but maybe our luck will hold"

"Do the best you can in the tiot," Ethan said "I want everyone wired and downstairs, ready to go by then" He looked at Luc "You’ll handle the details"

"Always," Luc said

Ethan rose "In that case, I think we’re done for now" He began to move toward the door, but turned back "Relations with humans have improved, undeniably But they still don’t see us as subject-matter experts on supernaturals We will hope that is neither their downfall, nor ours But we should be careful and vigilant We must be on our toes, and we must take care of each other Our lives depend on it"

• • •

Portnoy the Ugly could have easily been called Portnoy the Inarticulate Portnoy the Obfuscating

"Portnoy the Jerkface," Mallory e in the manuscript Since we had only one copy of the docuht-hand pages as I reviewed those on the left

With a groan, she rose frootten any further in the hour we’d been squinting at the pages, trying to find soore, explained how it ainst us We’d found char others), ras, descriptions of plants and aniore

Mallory lay down in theup"

"You aren’t giving up You’re just taking a break"

I flipped another page, found another recipe, this tian meats, rendered fat, and "chicken foot jelly," which I didn’t want to think too closely about