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After that cah Jael wouldn’t know it And for an instant, his brow furroith confusion

An instant only Then the tide turned

61

SUPERPOWERS WILLY-NILLY

"Now, let’s not be hasty," said Mik, holding one of the saucer-broad wishes in his hand "What exactly is a sa we should know before ish it?"

"Good point" Zuzana held a hed even ht turn us both into Japanese men" She squinted at him "Would you still love me if I were a Japanesea beat "However, as cool a word as samurai is, I don’t think it’s e really ht?"

"Well, definitely don’t phrase it that way We’d probably just beco people in the ass Don’t turn your back on the was i Fairy tales could tell you that, even if Karou herself hadn’t, plenty of times Zuzana had wished on scuppies before, but she’d never held a true wish in her hand, and the weight of it cowed her What if she avriel A avriel

Of which there were four in Mik’s violin case

The case sat at Zuzana’s feet now She was still in awe of Mik, swiping the ht out from under Evil Esther’s nose The sweetness Had she noticed yet? How frenzied was she? And did revenge even count if you didn’t get to see your eneuish?

It definitely counted as one of Mik’s tasks, anyway, though they were in disagreement as to which Zuzana said it was the third and last, because she was still counting his getting the air conditioner working back in Ouarzazate He said that didn’t count--not by a million miles, because it had been in his own self-interest, so that he could pounce on her--and he still had one task to go Zuzana could only argue up to a point before it would begin to seee already, so she let hiht now: the sky still ominously empty, and her phone silent to match They didn’t knohat they could or should atte skills, could they help? What could they do that Akiva, Virko, and Karou couldn’t? Zuzana didn’t suppose you could wish for battle experience and strategic good sense Could you?

And there was Eliza to think of, too Even if they glutted the the off to save the day, they couldn’t just leave her sitting here, could they?

Hey, wait

Zuzana looked at Eliza, then at Mik She perked an eyebrow Mik looked at Eliza, too "Well, yeah Of course," he said at once

And so, quickly, feeling the press of time and need, they for of a young woman whose ailment was a mystery to theavriel in her hand It felt al to Briranted full power over herself inpossessed her to add at the end, "May she be her best possible self," because it seemed, in that moment, to be the truest of all wishes--not a betrayal of self that ca

When a wish exceeds the power of thehappens Like, if you held a scuppy and wished for a million dollars, the scuppy would just lie there Mik and Zuzana didn’t knohat they were asking ithin the realavriel’s power So they watched Eliza closely for so effect

There was no sn was not small

Not even a little bit

62

THE AGE OF WARS

The word that Akiva spoke was Haxaya, and Jael ht have had no notion what it meant, or even that it was a nah

One second

The air beside him was empty and then it wasn’t, and the shape that filled it--a streak of fur and teeth--was in motion He saw it and it hit hied swiftly backward

Two seconds

His soldiers were all before hiainst his flesh and gasped, and by the time their heads craned around, he was in the doorway on his knees, a blade to his throat and his attacker behind him, out of their reach

A caterent up It e in Jael’s head, but it wasn’t co from his own lips He didn’t dare scream, not with the press of the blade It was the Fallen who screairl