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"Fine! We get it!" I shouted "But where are the daaze flicked tohis eyes to studythat blank stare with my own black eyes

"That which is closest to your heart," caan’s normal tones, before he collapsed in a heap at an and partially of Blondie "What does he mean ‘closest tothe spriggan with the tip of her boot I was too in shock to do anything but blink as she apparated hiic

"I dunno, sugarpants," she said, her eyes shifty "Add that to our list of mysteries"

"Where’d you send hi at what Fugwat’s possessor had just said

"Abu Dhabi," she replied

"Really?"

"Yep"

"Huh Maybe he can hang out with Nermal or Odie," I said

"While I appreciate that we’re on the sa ht noe’ve got to dig down deep and find out what’s closest to that pretty little heart of yours Before Phaedra’s lot does it with a spoon"

Thanks for that iot no idea what that thing meant

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

For the first ti aroundpoker My father, the usual poker culprit, was out with his own friends, having a " around the table with cheeseburgers as they discussed their latest et over e-related joint aches to coenetically flawed heart

Unfortunately, I still hadn’t had a chance to celebrate with him Blondie had apparated us directly from the cavern underneath Gus’s rock to e, and then toaroundbaby Nell--Caleb, Iris, Blondie, andto sniff everyone’s crotch

What I wouldn’t give for a rolled-up newspaper, I thought, suppressing a yawn We’d been going for al to feel it But at least soreasy cruers All war efforts need the war

"Um, Earth to Jane Are you with us?" Blondie’s sharp voice cut through my reverie

I looked at her, and then dropped my eyes pointedly at the uneaten strip of bacon on her plate She sighed, and then pushed her plate toward e her ives away bacon? I wondered Originals are weird

"Selkies," I heard heryou if there were any other places that were close to your heart, Jane"

"Where’ve you checked, again?" I asked After ht have fallen asleep for an hour on my ratty old couch while aited on everyone to arrive Blondie had been busy checking out the places I could list for her off the top of hest barghest licking hed "We’ve checked where Jason, Nick, and Nan have their memorial stones, and where their ashes were buried We’ve probed the hell out of your house, and Anyan’s We’ve tried your friends’ houses, and we’ve even tried Read It and Weep"

"And you got nothing?"

"We got nothing"

Hmmm, I puzzled, as ht of theever

"Did you check the cove?" I asked Clearly that was the place closest to my heart

"That was the first place I looked," Blondie replied "While you were swi"

Iris nodded "Everyone knows your obsession with the cove"

"It’s not an obsession… It’s a healthy relationship The cove gives me pleasure I keep her sand cothat makes no sense," said Caleb "Jane’s been alive for only a few decades Surely her interests can’t have dictated where these sigils are buried"

"No, it’s got to be so that Jane happens to like and that’s also where one of the glyphs is buried," Blondie said

"Hoe even know to trust this voice?" Iris interrupted "I mean, all it’s done is warn us, in a way that’s really scary"

"Is there a friendly way to warn about the destruction of a big chunk of the continent?" asked Trill

"I think what Iris is saying," said Caleb, always the peaces’ could just as well have been threats, or bait Maybe whoever is doing theoose chase"