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We go our separate paths Theue froone with the hurry of a secret lover

He only just stopped hi after her His hands twitched the reins His horse responded He had to pretend the er Noould lead With the help of the scroll in his pocket, he’d lead Jack straight to DeMalo

He rode on And he thought And he planned

Jack an me ain’t never met here before Deepwell Tower rises lone an lonely froer that points to the sky As I draw near, my stummick twists in disquiet as I draw near We parted so badly last night With so ht? Every day seeht now

Nero calls to warn of our approach Jack’s pony, stands patiently by the wreck of a doorway I leave Herh the shattered arch into a round room It’s twelve foot by twelve, no ape open-mouthed at the sky To let the ht

Mind yer step, says Jack

There’s a well hole in the middle of the room Lit by the shaft of moonbeam, it yaidely, darkly deep He leans on the wall the other side Lookin like hisself fer a change His oorn-out clothes on his back, his battered old hat on his head, his down-at-heel boots on his feet

Yer ent, I says

There’s a certain stillness in a person’s body A tightness, unmistakeable, that comes from once more knowin how all our stories end When you see that, you know solanced at me He stares into the blackness of the well

Who is it? I says My voice barely comes out

Skeet, he says

A brief spark of thanks I was braced fer him to tell me it was Mercy Skeet, I says How?

He looked a Tonton straight in the eye, says Jack Man to man Standin tall an proud

Like I told hiinst the wall behind it a flash of him at the mill that day As he clasped hands with Mercy an the fearsome mask of his scarified face softened to a smile while he told her of his life that used to be The cart with yelloheels an a horse called Otis Another life--his--added to my scorecard How many is that now? I’m losin count

It’s my fault, I says

Now, at last, Jack does look at ht Stop blamin yerself, you do it every time, he says Give us some credit We all know the risks an we choose to take ’e while It’s sad He’ll be ood people But he eether oes We all accept it

I shake my head

Yes, says Jack, an if he could, I know he’d tell you it orth it Listen, I s He started the whisper that change is coel of Death is back an they should be ready to… a couple of ’eh, we bin real careful an, so far, that’s gone okay

It has, I says How many?

Seven, he says We’ve took every one they left out

It ain’t enough, I says Did you git Mercy back into the babyhouse she was at? What’s happenin there?

That plan her an Cassie cooked up, says Jack Slin out babies they report as stillborn? Mercy did two That’s all we figgered was safe to do in such a short tiotta roll this out fast to the other babyhouses You gotta move her on to another one

He starts to speak, but hesitates Like he don’t wanna say what’s gotta be said

I straighten up, the skin of my hands pricklin trouble What? I says What is it? I hurry around the well an take hold of his sleeve C’ency wakes the old echo in the stones Jack waits fer it to settle before he speaks