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"How’s school?" Roland asked Julie

All of h alert

"Fine," she said "Thank you I just got an A on my essay on Daniel"

"Did you use the Apocrypha?" Roland asked, his voice mild

"Of course," Julie said

The Apocrypha, a collection of ancient writings that had been edited out of the modern Bible for various reasons, had a whole chapter on Daniel The ancient Daniel kicked a lot of ass, unlike his modern version that stressed humility and passive resistance It was entirely possible that I was reading too ested that this wasn’t their first discussion Julie had so hirandmother is in poor health," Roland said to ic, trapped between life and death, fueled the randmother," he said

I froze

"Your hty-nine years old I visit her so"

"Does she knohat happened to her daughter?"

Roland shook his head "She knows she died"

He kept finding ways to avoid saying my mother’s name

"She does know about you She doesn’t have much tie for transportation so you can speak before this chance is lost forever"

My world turned upside down I didn’t remember my mother Not a hint of her face, not a whisper of her voice, not even her scent He was dangling bait in front ofherit up

"Where is she?" I asked

"Seattle," Roland said

There it was He wanted to get me out of the city and away from the ifrit He’d picked a hell of a lure Sure, he would arrange transportation there He said nothing about arranging it for the trip back

"You can be there in three days," he said