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"Sure, that pop-culture reference you know"

"You got a pretty et eaten by a crocodile"

"Alligator," he corrected

Arnie cleared his throat and angled his chin at the empty bench in the skiff

"Close your eyes and pretend it’s Venice," Holden suggested

Thefull, and there was enough space between the sycas of Spanish ht froreen water Along the shore, the reflective eyes of wild ani

We’d had to pay a preht tour

Arnie flicked on a spotlight mounted at the front of the boat, and a hundred yards away so seen I wondered hoould fare in one-on-one coator I didn’t particularly want to find out

Holden plunked onto the bench and threw a booted foot over the side of the boat "Come on, dear, let’s not hold up the tour"

"’Urry up," Arnie said S tobacco into the water Did they um into pulp when you didn’t have teeth left to cheith?

I sat next to Holden and pulled un was holstered beneath it, and I was glad to have it I’d even thrown subtlety to the wind and strapped h Arnie took one look at the Japanese-style knife, like a ht I had a fantasy about being Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider

Once ere both in place, Arnie used the oar to push us off, and I was surprised by how sturdy the boat felt once ere on the ave hiator hunting with Gucci loafers tonight What a shahtly lit cabin and into the true dark of the sith only our spotlight and the uide us In the real darkness on either side of the skiff I felt like unseen eyes atching us I shuddered

No wonder no one wanted night tours The swa scary

Mosquitoes buzzed around our heads, hungry with a bloodlust that would put thevampire to shame Holden didn’t seem bothered by them, and I wondered if his absentee pulse had a role in that If avoiding bug bites was a perk to the iht have to consider my destiny a bit ht couldn’t penetrate, night birds sang to each other, calling out warnings over our intrusion into their peaceful evening More unseen ani it to escape us or to follow us more closely

The farther into the se drifted, the quieter and quieter it became, until all the calls and ansere distant echoes, and all I could hear were Arnie’s raspy breaths and the slice of the paddle in the water For half an hour those were the only diversions in an otherwise eerie silence

"’Ere," Arnie announced as the skiff bu solid He added, "Out"

"Out?" I looked to Holden "We can’t be done"

Arnie spit into the water and grunted "’Splore"

A dark ht air once I blinked away the haze of the spotlight "You want us to go exploring?"

The guide shrugged a bony shoulder up, and it sank down iestive wink to Holden

He had to be kidding

"What harm can it do?" Holden said before I could throttle Arnie "We ht direction"

Since neither of us had the foggiest clue in hell where to look for La Sorcière, I had to ad the sood a place to start as any

Holden climbed ashore first then helped me out

"’Ifteen minutes Here" Arnie tapped the boat with his oar

I led the way, even though Holden’s nocturnal eyesight was better than enia was my task, and I felt it was essential I lead us to her Besides, it would be good to know so behind me if any unexpected surprises popped up

After fiveon the stinky ht on Arnie’s boat

Had we gone that far? The island didn’t seeh for us to wander so far we’d be unable to see the million-watt bulb

A few yards ahead of us the bushes rustled Twigs snapped as the weight of a body insi backwards into Holden’s ar out on a pitch-black island in the middle of a swamp We made it towards the shore at a run I was in theto Arnie e cleared the thin tree line and came upon emptiness