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"Gypsy, do you re to ainst Bekhir’s cheek "That’s right I pro And I always keep my promises"

BekhirThe seconds spun out in unbearable silence My eyes were fixed on the knife Finally, Mr White cracked a s the spell "But," he said cheerily, "first things first!" He turned to face the soldiers who had escorted us "Which of you has their bird?"

The soldiers looked at one another One shook his head, then another

"We didn’t see it," said the one who’d taken us prisoner at the depot

Mr White’s smile faltered He knelt down next to Bekhir "You told ed "Birds have wings They coh Just like that: quick and e in and out Bekhir howled in surprise and pain and rolled onto his side, gripping his leg as blood began to flow

Horace fainted and slid to the floor Olive gasped and covered her eyes

"That’s twice you’ve lied tothe blade clean on a handkerchief

The rest of us clenched our teeth and held our tongues, but I could see Eether behind her back, getting them nice and warm

Mr White dropped the bloody handkerchief on the floor, slid the knife back into its sheath, and stood up to face us He was al, his eyes wide, unibrow raised in a capital M

"Where is your bird?" he asked calmly The nicer he pretended to be, the more it scared the hell out of me

"She fleay," Emma said bitterly "Just like that ; noas afraid he’d single her out for tor was injured You were seen with her just yesterday She couldn’t be far froain"

"She died," I said "We threw her in a river"

Maybe if I were a bigger pain in his butt than Ehed His right hand glided across his holstered gun, lingered over the handle of his knife, then came to rest on his belt’s brass buckle He lowered his voice, as if what he was about to say were meant for my ears only

"I see what the trouble is You believe there’s nothing to be gained by being honest with ardless of what you do or say I need you to know this is not the case However, in the spirit of total honesty, I will say this: you shouldn’t have made us chase you That was a mistake This could’ve been so ry, you see, because you’ve wasted so er toward his soldiers "These men? They’d like very much to hurt you I, on the other hand, as fro, I understand that Our first rettably uncivil What’syou with enerations So it’s only natural that you’d run In light of all that, I’ to make you what I believe to be a reasonable offer Show us to the bird right now, and rather than hurting you, we’ll send you off to a nice facility where you’ll be well looked after Fed every day, each with your own bed … a place noin all these years"

Mr White looked at his hed "Can you believe they spent the last--what is it, seventy years?--on a tiny island, living the same day over and over? Worse than any prison camp I can think of It would’ve been so ed, looked back at us "But pride, venal pride, got the better of you And to think, all this tiood!"