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"I heard that Now, out"

"So co to undo these knots Once I got the hang of it, I’d proven quite adept at getting out of things That said, as usual when I learned so power all over the place, so I had to swie of the Charles River, his back towardthe hell out of both of us as I stripped down and once again plunged into the Charles Both the river and I could feel the ocean nearby, and we desperately wanted to go e with the current, feeling everything it felt and only justed, adhtly off, I was still happier than I’d been in days

I rather regretfully dried myself with one of Ryu’s expensive towels, certain that river water was not good for fine linens I popped

"All righty What’s up next?"

We’d already worked on iven then they Eventually, I would build up my defenses to where I could use them to block or carry physical objects, as the others had with the trees at Au Bon Pain But I wasn’t there yet

That said, the barghest was a good teacher Anyan was like Nell, patiently building on skills But he’d go in withor how I could do so faster or etting the shields trick, he’d pulled out a rope, much to my evident consternation It made sense, however, once I realized what he wanted to teach me It did help et captured, what Anyan was teaching s You just had to ante up the force to get out of handcuffs, or use a shitload of power if the bindings were ical But the old probe and push/pull was all you really needed to get out of anything, as long as it was less powerful than you The trick, however, was not to break your own bones if the binding was too strong

"Now for sohest rumbled He put his hands on my shoulders and settled me squarely in front of him

"Have you taken any self-defense courses?" he asked

"Me? No I’ve always been of the ‘turn tail and flee’ persuasion"

Anyan snorted "I’ve chased you I’m sorry, Jane, but you couldn’t outrun a sloth"

I wrinkled o all hellhound doesn’tability"

"When we get back to Rockabill, I’ You’re slow as shit, no matter what form your pursuer Your ettingAnd I can outrun a seal, fercrissakes And speaking of my ineered for cohed "Okay, fine But noe live in ti to work on so to kick so? He’ll just wallop me with his mojo and I’ll be down for the count"

"Why would you kick Jarl in the decorative knickknacks?"

I sighed " ‘Tchotchkes’ is too good a word to li It should be used often, as much as possible And don’t tell me you didn’t know exactly what I meant when I said, ‘Kick Jarl in the tchotchkes’"

Anyan eyed ive you ‘tchotchkes’ If you give me ‘frabjous’"

" ‘Jabberwocky’ frabjous?"

"Yes Nice ID"

"I’ood like that"