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"And that can only be one place," I said All faces turned toward me expectantly
"I know you’ve already searched there, but it has to be the cove" Blondie frowned at my words, but I continued "Think about it My mother took me there as a child She was drawn to it All these years, Nell kept it glamoured She said it was to keep out local kids, but why did she even care in the first place? She was obviously drawn to it"
"I love it as much as Jane does," Trill said in her oil-slick voice
"See? We’re all drawn to it Even Anyan hangs out there" I felt a cold nose press against otta be the place"
"But there’s nothing under it," protested Blondie
"So it’s not underneath It’s so, Jane And you’re there all the ti Take lyph"
Blondie sighed "C’ht"
I rab my cell phone and slip it into my back pocket at Blondie’s words Then I felt the now-fa sensation of apparation, a second before I felt cold sand underthe north hile Blondie and I scoured the south We’d left Trill at horeat ti appreciatively at the wet spot
I’ht, and then fruitlessly tried not to wonder if gie kisses We’ll find a way to change him back, I told myself Even if it takes the rest of , ic Without hislike that will live, what, twelve years if he’s lucky?
I felt rim resolve My life was littered with tooAnyan
Confident that Anyan’s cure was tied up in our victory, I searched the cove with new deter under rocks and into crevices Iris sat on Caleb’s shoulders so she could look higher up the walls We backed away fro-picture view, in case there was so we could have , I flopped down in roaned "It has to be"
"Babydoll, I see nothing," Iris said, squatting down next to iant driftwood tree Shaking her head to indicate her own lack of success, Iris perched next to the satyr Anyan busied hi on the free end of the tree
We nearly ht, in that exact spot And now it’s your toilet
I felt like that moment encapsulated all of my pent-up frustration, and I buried ly at the stars swirling above me
But as soon as I did so, the cool sand sucked at all hThe cove always had that effect on me
The others discussed where else to look while I stewed
It has to be here, I thought It has to be…
Sleep now, and dream, whispered the cove, as it had in the past Sleep now, and dreaain, their peace ether we played [Wait, I have no sisters, no brothers…] I was so happy, and they were so happy We dreaht blaze of the stars [I see the stars, too, Jane thought through half-lidded eyes, before wondering who "Jane" was] The stars danced into patterns that we folloith delight, until, entwined together, we fell into sleep
[deep in her ownthat fall of lihtly ritual, but deep down she kneasn’t her co up at the sky that mimicked what lay below, she knew that pattern…]
"Earth to Jane!" Blondie’s sharp voice broke through ly
"Hmmm?" was my sleepy response
"What are you, a narcoleptic? We need your help, so sit up and fucking pay attention," the Original snapped at me
Part of me bristled at her harsh tone, but the majority of me was still half asleep, alpull from the sky above
"Jane, I said sit up," Blondie repeated, her voice grown cold