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They looked at each other, feeling jittery and shell-shocked Quentin wanted to do so, but he didn’t knohat The truth was, he hadn’t really known Jollyby all that well

"He was so proud," he said finally "He thought he’d saved the day"

"It had to be the rabbit," Janet said Her eyes were red froht? Or hare, whatever That’s what killed him What else?"

"We can’t assume that The hare predicted his death but it ical fallacy"

If he’d waited even another second he would have realized that Janet wasn’t interested in the Latin naht not have been co up again"

"So it’s just a coincidence?" she snapped "That he died right then, right after it said that about death? Maybe we’ve got it wrong Maybe the hare doesn’t predict the future, ht," Julia said

"I have a hard ti written by a talking rabbit," Eliot said "Though that would explain a lot"

It was five o’clock in the afternoon, their regulartime For the first few months after they’d arrived at Castle Whitespire Eliot had left thes, on the theory that they’d naturally find their own courses as rulers, and take charge of the things that best suited their various gifts This had resulted in total chaos, and nothing getting done, and the things that did get done got done twice by two different people in two different ways So Eliot instituted a daily h whatever business of the real was traditionally accoloriously comprehensive whiskey service ever seen on any of the possibly infinite worlds of the multiverse

"I told the family we’d take care of the funeral," Quentin said "It’s just his parents He was an only child"

"I should say so"

"Did you knoas a were-lion?" Janet smiled sadly "True story It went on a solar calendar--he changed only at equinoxes and solstices He said it helped him understand the animals He was hairy everywhere"

"Please," Eliot said "I would give anything to not kno you know that"

"It helped with lots of things"

"I have a theory," Quentin said quickly "Maybe the Fenwicks did it They’ve been pissed at us ever since we got here"

The Fenwicks were the s at the time when the Brakebills returned to Fillory They weren’t happy about being kicked out of Castle Whitespire, but they didn’t have the political capital to dostep up for the Fenwicks," Eliot said "They’re pretty small-time"

"And ould they kill Jollyby?" Janet said "Everybody loved Jollyby!"

"Maybe they were trying for one of us, not him," Quentin said "Maybe one of us was supposed to catch the hare You know they’re already trying to put it around that we killed him?"

"But hoould they have done it?" Eliot said "You’re saying they sent a rabbit assassin?"

"They could not turn the Seeing Hare," Julia said "Unique Beasts do not intervene in the affairs ofHare at all, maybe it was a person in hare form A were-hare Look, I don’t know!"

Quentin rubbed his temples If only they’d hunted that stupid lizard instead He was annoyed at hi what Fillory was like He’d let his were all better after Alice had killed Martin Chatwin, no more death and despair and disillusionment and whatever else the hare had said But there was more It wasn’t like the books There was always h he kneas crazy, in a childishly elegant way, he couldn’t escape a vague feeling that Jollyby’s death was his fault, that it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t been teh? What were the rules? Maybe he should have gone into the clearing after all Maybe Jollyby’s death had been o into the meadow and die there, but he didn’t, so Jollyby had to instead

"Maybe there isn’t an explanation," he said out loud "Maybe it’s just a ical mystery tour No reason for it, it just happened You can’t explain it"

This didn’t satisfy Eliot He was still Eliot, the languid lush of Brakebills, but becoorous streak in hidom," he said "It won’t do" He cleared his throat "Here’s what’s going to happen I’ll put the fear of Ember into the Fenwicks, just in case It won’t take much They’re a bunch of pussy dandies And I say that as a pussy dandy myself"

"And if that doesn’t work?" Janet said

"Then, Janet, you’ll go lean on the Lorians" That was Fillory’s neighbor to the north Janet was in charge of relations with foreign powers--Quentin called her Fillory Clinton "They’re always behind everything bad in the books Maybe they were trying to decapitate the leadership Stupid pseudo-Viking fuckers Now for Christ’s sake let’s talk about so else to talk about, so they lapsed into silence Nobody was especially happy with Eliot’s plan, least of all Eliot, but they didn’t have a better one, or even a worse one Six hours after the fact Julia’s eyes were still flooded with black from the spell she’d cast in the forest The effect was disconcerting She had no pupils He wondered what she could see that they couldn’t

Eliot shuffled his notes, looking for another item of business, but business was in short supply these days

"It is tio to the "

Every day after the afternoonthey went out on the balcony and waved to the people

"Daht"

"Maybe we shouldn’t today," Janet said "It feels wrong"

Quentin knehat sheout there on the narrow balcony, frozen sathered for the daily ritual, felt a little off Still

"We should to do it," he said "Today of all days"

"We’re accepting congratulations for doing nothing"

"We’re reassuring the people of continuity in the face of tragedy"