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I slid off the Tahoe Froauze out of ht I saw it, and brushed at the dirt The loose soil slid aside, revealing a narrow ribbon of translucent shiny sand It looked brittle, but held together as if solass

Julie knelt next to me and reached to brush auze The first rule of staying alive in Atlanta: if you see so the dirt aside, Julie and I from one side, Curran and Derek from the other In twenty ain A perfectly round ribbon of glass sand, about eight inches wide, circled the vehicle, lying on top of the dirt like a thin crust of dirty ice on the surface of a pond after the first frost Sohouls, had tried to cover it, but there it was

"Copper?" I asked Julie

She nodded

"What does it ic up there" I pointed to the area above the car "It’s probably the teleportation footprint The group of ghouls frohborhood cahouls have gathered And this glasslike ring is the physical evidence of it" At least it was so "Teleportation usually requires an anchor, soh carried water This glass thing is probably an anchor I definitely want a saure out what it was and where it caive us Eduardo back Pretty please with sugar on top

"If it occurred as they teleported, who covered it?" Curran asked

"Maybe they covered it before they teleported," Julie said

I ju froive me some space"

They backed away

I quickly sliced with Sarrat The thin crust of glass broke into sections I waited to see if it would sprout needles or deliver so inert I used the gauze to pick up a piece, about four inches wide and three inches long, and slid the translucent chunk into the ziplock evidence bag

Julie squinted at us and wrinkled her nose "You sh a Du story," Curran told her "Can you see anything else?"

She shook her head "Lots of ghouls and the copper explosion That’s it"

"We’re done here, then," he said

Eduardo had been ht hours Everyhim less likely, and I had no idea where to look next

• • •

WE SENT DEREK and Julie back to the house, instructing thee’s car, and drove to Eduardo’s house The idea of Julie driving still gave e, so I had no room to talk

We drove with the n despite the cold wind We were both too fragrant otherwise I considered a brief detour to Cutting Edge for a quick shower, but it would be easier to just go and get the home search over with

Eduardo lived in a nice place in Sandy Springs, a sturdy two-story brick ho on a half-acre lot The walls of the first story looked reinforced, their s narrow and shielded by steel bars The second-story s ran larger, but the steel bars on theone loup or a loose vampire would scale the tallest fence in the blink of an eye, and razor wire didn’t give them much pause either In post-Shift Atlanta fences didn’t keep

Curran unlocked the steel security door and then the solid inner door with the keys George left for us Hardwood floors Clean house, airy despite the narros Neat Curran inhaled "I’ to walk around outside"

I went into the kitchen Granite countertops, clean and polished Nice oak cabinets Happy kitchen toith bright red apples sewn on the solid table, no frills, and only two chairs This place le No blood I kept walking Faainst the left wall, mostly empty A couple of comfortable shapeshifter-sized couches, each lined with a knitted afghan, offered a soft place to sit A stack of books lay on the coffee table, the top one half-closed because someone had stuck a pencil into it, probably to hold their place A teacup, a little bit of tea still in the bottom, waited by the books for its owner This wasn’t some pristine house This was Eduardo’s hoe would live with hih this space, as if I were invading their privacy without their per here on the couch, each with their own cup of tea, reading together under the knitted blankets on the oversized couch