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I closedto dampen down the pain as I focused the Atlantic’s power on a particular section of Phaedra’s trap It felt complicated and solid, but it was really just like one of Anyan’s knots It had a seam where it joined, and if I could force the seam apart, we could escape And while I wasn’t confident I was going to survive et the job done quickly

I openedme with more of her power The influx was too ony; it felt like the poas building to a point where it would explode out from my skin Meanwhile, as if to reiterate her claim on me, tendrils of seawater rose from the floor to wrap around entle as a lover, as it made its way under my top to writhe between my breasts and wrap itself around h my watery bonds, and I screa point

The pain was toowarm, solid, and decidedly nonaqueous wrap aroundhest countered the force of the ocean with his own ele off the excess energy that would otherwise have torn ain--on Phaedra’s Alfar web

Thin edge of the wedge, I chanted toa slender needle of power into the sea the ocean respond like an eager lapdog to h me, most of it directed toward the web’s seahest, where it dissipated into the wooden floor of the building

Finally, the seah Camille and Julian were first, Ryu and Caleb second, and then Anyan pulledtendrils of writhing water as he tugged me to safety When ere free, he pulled s, till ere face-to-face Then he did his power-cloak trick, only ten tiether as close as Siamese twins, but it also severed rasp

Without the Atlantic’s force flooding through ical "nerves"--whatever the hell it was that let me feel my power--felt like they were on fire I moaned piteously as Anyan passed me wordlessly to Caleb

"… you were sick…" I ht We alking and healing, no doubt in case Phaedra aiting soht in the area, for Daoud Then we could come help find you," he said "Brave lady Jane," Caleb ruhtly on the forehead It was the kiss of a proud parent, and it made me blush

The warehouse was also beginning to creak ominously, and we picked up our pace when it started to sway The ocean, as if pissed off that she didn’t get to clai at the walls and floor around us

Ryu led the way, issuing commands to Camille and Julian as they sent out all sorts of probes and shields to check for more traps But Phaedra must have had co to her wounded, for there was nothing between us and freedo sound, and we hotfooted it for the cars We clustered around theroaning into the sea

I blinked, wide-eyed, at the space where the huge warehouse had just stood Until I realized that everyone else was looking at me Everyone except for Anyan, who’d sat down on the hood of Ryu’s little car as he stared out into the ocean

"Jane, what did you do?" Ryu asked, frowning atwoozy I started to slide forward, but Ryu caught me and held me close

"Take me home," I murmured to my lover

"Of course," he said, as he kissed er’s seat of his car Anyan was gone from the hood, and I craned n of the barghest

I felt dazed, eot in the car and we turned toward the city Daas just breaking over the skyline When I’d said "hoht now, I’d take anywhere that had a bed I was exhausted, physically and mentally, but I also felt unfinished somehow Conleth was dead, yet there was no justice to be found in hisfree, despite all the atrocities they’d co I also felt about two decades older than when I’d stepped off that plane at Logan Airport I curled up inhts flashing past my face But the memory of Con’s white face as he reached for me superimposed itself over the busy life of Boston