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They’d been evenin the flesh, if that hat they were han Books had said Naturally, there were no pictures of thehan who’d seen theiven, likened theed, and horned And they were, sort of, but even worse Tall, leathery-skinned, with glowing orange eyes like s into hell, they had wings, sharp teeth, and long, lethal claws And she wasn’t certain, but she thought she’d seen a tail The only thing she didn’t understand hen they were so obviously capable of ripping their prey to shreds with their bareer, handlike appendages, they’d been shooting at therassy clearing, Gabby couldn’t speak for several long moments She was, she realized, soaked fro it to her face She stood shaking in his ar one deep breath after another

"Are you all right, ka-lyrra?" he said close to her ear

"All right? All right?" Exploding fro the sodden hair froht? Of course I’ apart around ht?"

Mascara was dripping down her cheeks, splattering on her shirt She backed away fro Her shoes squished with the ly down at the of her jeans and flopped about on the ground

"Eew!" She pointed a shaking finger at it "A tadpole I had a tadpole in my pants!"

"Lucky tadpole," he murmured Then, "When one sifts place, ka-lyrra, one comes out on top of whatever currently occupies that space Which isn’t much of a problem if one also has all one’s other powers But I don’t We hit a lake somewhere around the ninety-seventh hop And, contrary to popular belief, I don’t walk on water"

Frantically running her hands up and down her drenched jeans, feeling about for any more creepy-crawlies, she hissed, "Oh, I hate you I hate you" Soa temper tantrum, but really, she seethed, ever since she’d , bizarre experience after another She’d nearly had a heart attack on top of that church Just when she’d begun to think she was getting the hang of it, that it wasn’t quite so awful being deconstructed then reconstructed again and again and again, she’d been gagging on foul-tasting, smelly, fishy, mossy water

"No you don’t," he said softly

"I drank so or aaa turtle!"

"It is wisest to keep one’s "

She skewered him with a frosty stare "Now you telland bedraggled, and he only looked old-velvet, his hair a wet tangle to his waist

"Co his hand, "we ic I’eneral vicinity We need to keep sifting, to spread out their search"

"Is there anything else it’s wisest to do that I should know about before we just pop off again?" She tucked her hands behind her back so he couldn’t grab her and just sift rather than answering her Besides, she needed ain a ht try kissing old, he reached for her

"Close contest," she growled the lie, backing away, hands still tucked behind her back She glanced pointedly at the flopping tadpole

"What?"

"Take it back"

"You’re kidding, right?" he said disbelievingly

"Do we have time?"

He considered that "Yes, but--"

"Then, no I’o," he said i to die, and while youwith an abbreviated little life that hardly even signifies in the fairy sches it’s really looking forward to beco Now take it back A life is a life I don’t care how tiny an alhty fairy thinks it is"