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My feet scuffed a few steps back "Maybe it’s not elven Maybe it justis"

Al rubbed his forehead "I don’t re so our knees al him to listen "Al, I knoe can do this You oyles as anchors now There’s support a to sway the witches’ coven Professor Anders" I hesitated "Ah, she’s okay, right?"

Al waved a hand and sighed, his regret that she was indeed okay obvious

"Well, she’s rallying the scientific community," I continued "You aren’t alone this time Four hundred and thirteen survivors, but you are the ones who made it this far Can’t you convince the rest we have a real chance?"

"It was beautiful here once," Al said distantly, eyes on nothing

"Al!" I shouted, then frowned as Jenks’s wings clattered "I can’t walk away froht here, this spot," the delow "The fountain was the perfect blending of sound and motion" I started, eyes wide as a haze shimmered over the broken statuary and realities see in and out until a ht ht vines was intoxicating," Al whispered, and I could hear the water, see it "There were pixies then That bastard killed them all when she died It wasn’t their fault"

He was fingering the pocket where the chrysalis lay, and I couldn’t speak as I looked over a memory pulled fro likethat he was talking about Trent’s mother and dad "You were here?" I asked "You knew theic faded and reality imposed itself anew and the shattered ruin of the fountain se, and the curve of a graceful leg All gone All spoiled

"Not everything changes, Rachel," Al said as he stood up "Sos just are"

"So you won’t help," I said

His hand trembled as he set the chrysalis down on the broken statues "No"

"Then you’d better leave because I’lireenery

Al said nothing, and I started when I turned to find hied, and it was up to those who cared to fight for the change they wanted

"I’

"Me too" Frustrated, I turned and went back to the spelling hut, hurt and sick at heart

I left the chrysalis behind

Chapter 25

The black van was borrowed from one of Ivy’s friends, and therefore untraceable past a fictional Hollows address It smelled like Special K and blood lust under the acidic bite of disinfectant Between that and the phero into the air,across the front seat at Ivy, Ithe side ould open a littleher painted nails as they dru wheel We’d been here for about ten o of it yet

"This is relaxed," Nina said, but she’d gotten up fro forith a pained slowness to avoid touching anyone Kneeling beside Ivy, she put an ar to rest alhed and the tension visibly flowed fro down to land upon Nina’s

Happy, I turned back to retying lad that Ivy had someone and that it was Nina

Ivy was decidedly polished in black slacks, white shirt with a collar, and a suit coat that was tailored to both show off her curves and scream "desk clerk" all at the same time She’d even put on les and a belt that I thought could be used as handcuffs in a pinch They were going in first, co our way clean and open at all ti checked jerked my head back up Nina had slipped into a seat, and Trent stiffened at the little pistol she was sighting down "I said no weapons," he said, leaning from the backseat with his hand outstretched

"Rachel has one!" Nina complained as she held it close to her chest like a favorite doll "How are we supposed to take the front desk if we can’t have guns?"

She knew darn well un, not considered lethal by the FIB or the IS thanks to sos loud in the sot the front desk already," he said, red dust slipping over her threateningly "Ivy, you said she was ready for this I don’t have the manpower to babysit her"

Ivy sucked on her teeth, and with that as an alun to Trent "Can I keep my knife?" she asked sarcastically, and Trent nodded

"Be careful how you use it"

I exhaled as Trent put the gun in the van’s illegal "safe hole" and shut it My eyes returned to the one-way back door of the hotel, waiting for a Were to signal us that the sixth floor was cleared; the staff in the break roo; and the hotel ready to assuuns That was rule number one, four, and sixteen This operation had an excellent chance of crashing down before we reached the end, and I didn’t want guns cluttering the issue It was going to be hard enough to survive this

"At least it’s not in the tunnels," Trent said as he checked that his laces were tied

A quiver, quickly quashed, lit throughfor hi up from his soft-soled boots, Trent lined his utilitarian hat with his spelling cap and settled it onto his head "No They’re da just as good in his thief-black tights

And cold, I echoed inthis stayed within the hotel Septe alive through a street chase as the sun went down, taking the temperature with it