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I was alhoul dodged the roots, sprinting forward on all fours, and lunged at ht forear hiht arm over the back of its neck and all the way under its armpit My forearm pressed on the back of its neck and I dropped down to one knee, bringing all of the force ofthe vertebrae The whole thing took half a second I released the convulsing ghoul and ran to the raht the cold e Julie spun the crank, retracting it as I ran I leaped over the last five feet, landing next to her, and turned around Seven ghouls howled in i, their teeth bared

The sround, forhouls whirled, realizing they were trapped

Luther smiled "Oh no, my pretties This is my domain and you’ve trespassed There is a price to pay for that"

Luther took a deep breath, his aric shuddered in front of hiht The muscles of his back flexed and he snapped his arhouls moved as if the Earth had suddenly beca to free their lireen bubble forrew to the size of a basketball, and exploded Bright e Spores, I realized Millions of spores The green spores washed over the ghouls Their rew less frantic, then slow, slower still, until they were struggling in slow radually petrified The spores sprouted A dense carpet of houl bodies like a velvet blanket Delicate pink stalks fornizable bodies Tiny white flowers opened at the ends of the stalks, releasing tiny dots gloith gold The air s rain

Luther inhaled and smiled

"Very pretty," Julie said

"Well, we don’t just sit on our butts filling out paperwork," Luther said "We work for our living"

I pulled round My ht you pro violent" Julie handed iant"

"So you obey the letter of the law and not the spirit," she said

"Yes" My teeth finally stopped chattering I loved my turtleneck I loved my jacket I loved my boots Mmm, wonderful warm boots

"How come when I do that, you chew et aith it"