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Lyman, of course, kept the same friendly smile stuck on his face that he’d had the entire tilasses, could have been closed for all that his facial features reflected the scene in front of him

Griffin stationed himself in front of the rebel knot, while Luke wandered over to peer into the empty crypt

"The real Anna Gibson’s bones would have been cleared out years ago, when the hu been replaced, anyway That said, we only kept the relics here a short while," he said in his flat Alfar voice "Whoever opened this to spot?" Blondie said, her voice sharp

"Of course," said Luke, cal her coh her ruse Over the past few hundred years, she has written over twenty full-length treatises on Anna Gibson She never understood why, and iped her memory after each But it kept her busy"

Anyan put a restraining hand on Blondie’s shoulder, just in ti for Alfar-kebabs, and I’d felt her powers rise along with her anger as Luke casually discussed their manipulation of the woman she’d obviously cared for very deeply

Griffin, however, was not so reasonable

With an audible booical reflexes quick as a cat, Blondie’s power met his, halfway Anyan retreated to htly around ourselves I saw Gog and Magog do the sa Hiral within their barrier

What was going on between Griffin and Blondie was less of a duel, and hting with each other, just exerting a steady et the other’s shields to buckle

I don’t think, until that tiic She’d done lots of cool things I couldn’t do, and I’d felt her power often But she’d never really had to extend herself In fact, the tiainst Phaedra in the caves leading up to the creature’s lair, I’d later learned she’d been pulling her punches She couldn’t destroy Phaedra because I had to face Jarl’s evil little crony myself, in a shon for the labrys

This ti, and I enjoyed watching Griffin’s eyes widen as he realized he was coht, Luke’s slow Alfar reactions finally kicked in, and the leader lent his power to hison moreour shields with us, or be crushed

I watched, alar between Blondie and the Alfar cru to win this little shon, but I worried the only real loser would be this otherwise lovely little park that we’d already da wait, Griffin raised a palinal and Alfars all cut off their ic, and the rest of us had to amp up our shields not to stumble forward, sucked into the void left by all that power disappearing

Blondie, Luke, and Griffin all stared at each other, until so contest was over

"So what did you do with the re the rest of us back to the business at hand

"They are hidden," Luke said "And hidden well" He took a pristine white handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe off his hands, even though he hadn’t actually touched anything Then he held it aloft till one of his flunkies retrieved it and gave hiht Somehow, that coood hiding place," Anyan said, his voice eminently reasonable "You know that Already the Red has been awakened"

"So we heard," Griffin said, his own voice venoons frohton and Hove"

"Then you know the truth," I said, tired of playing these Alfar ga ever happened when they were around--that was their realcould ever happen "You know that Morrigan is already the Red, and she plans to awaken the White She’s already got her vessel picked out and everything We have to stop her, and no a the White’s remains ork Not when the White wants to be found"

Luke and Griffin both looked ata hint of surprise as if he found it curious I could speak in whole sentences

His words, when he addressed me, were delivered as one would speak to a mildly retarded child

"We found you in the presence of known rebels, discussing the rebel’s desire to obtain the White’s remains for their own uses Why on earth would we help you?"

I nearly screamed in irritation

"We’re not on their side!" I shouted "They ambushed us, just like you ambushed us They kidnapped us, just like you kidnapped us Basically, to us, you’re the sa us fro our job, which is to save your island, and your ass, fro found!"