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"Otto Z Otto" The woman sniffed "May he rest"

"Dr Otto," Daniel said, stepping out of the doorway

"You knew Dr Otto?"

"Backwards and forwards" The mysterious lady sniffed

"Oops, my manners!" Arriane said "We must do introductions Daniel, Roland, I don’t think you’ve ever officially met our friend Dee--"

"What a pleasure I aer" The woman smiled, dabbed her damp eyes with a lace handkerchief, and extended a hand to both Daniel and Roland

"Ms Bisenger," Roland said, "irls call you Dee?"

"Just an old nickna the kind of cryptic smile that was Roland’s specialty

When she turned to Luce, her golden eyes lit up

"Ah, Lucinda" Instead of holding out her hand, Dee opened her ar it "I apologize for the unfortunate reseht I must say that my sister looks like me; I do not look like her But you and I have known each other so well over ht not remember It was to me that you entrusted your darkest secrets--your love of Daniel, your fears for your future, your confusing feelings about Cam" Luce flushed, but the woman didn’t notice "And it was to you that I entrusted the very reasons foryou seek You were the one innocent I knew I could always rely upon to do what needed to be done"

"I--I’m sorry I don’t reel?"

"Transeternal, dear"

"They’re technically mortals," Daniel explained,

"but they can live for hundreds, even thousands of years

They have long worked closely with angels"

"It all started with Great-Granddaddy Methuselah," Dee said proudly "He invented prayer He did!"

"How did he do that?" Luce asked

"Well, in the old days, when , they just wished for it in a scattershot manner

Granddaddy was the first to appeal to God directly, and--here’s the genius part--he asked for athat he had been heard God responded with an angel, and the el was born It was Gabbe, I think, who carved out the airspace between Heaven and Earth so mortal prayers could flow els, and he taught all his kin to love theo"

"Why do transeternals live so long?" Luce asked

"Because we are enlightened For our faels, and the fact that we are able to receive an angel’s glory without being overcome as many mortals are, ere rewarded with an extended life span We liaise between angels and other elic guardian-ship We can be killed at any time, of course, but short of assassinations and freak accidents, a transeternal will live on until the end of days The twenty-four of us who re descendants of Methuselah

We used to be exemplary people, but I’m ashamed to say we are in decline You’ve heard of Elders of Zhsmaelim?"

The h Luce’s body

"All transeternals," Dee said "The Elders began nobly There was a tiood ones all defected"--she glanced at Luce and frowned--"not long after your friend Penn was murdered Sophia has always had a cruel streak Now it’s beco out a white handkerchief to polish a corner of the silver tea cart "Such dark things to speak of on our reunion

There is a bright spot, though: You reh my Patina" Dee beamed at Luce "Exemplary work"

"You made that Patina?" Arriane asked "I had no idea you could do that!"

Dee raised an eyebrow, the faintest smile on her lips

"A woe of Can she, girls?" She paused "Well, now that we’re all friends again, what brings you to the Foundation? I was just about to sit down for my predawn jasmine tea You really must join me, I always make too much"

She stepped aside to reveal the silver tray packed with a tall silver teapot, china plates of tiny crustless cucuolden raisins, and a crystal bowl bri with clotted creaht of the food

"So you’ve been expecting us," Annabelle said, counting the teacups with her finger

Dee s the cart down the hallway again Luce and the angels jogged to keep up as Dee’s heels clicked along, forking right into a large rooht fire in the corner, a polished oak dining table that could have seated sixty, and a huge chandelier made of a petrified tree trunk and decorated with hundreds of sparkling crystal candlesticks

The table was already set with fine china for far uests than they had in their party Dee set about filling the teacups with stea amber-colored tea "Very casual here, just take a seat wherever you like" After a few purposeful looks from Daniel, Arriane finally stepped forward and touched Dee--as scooping a htly on the back