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"Now," Ancient Mai said, turning her focus back to me "You will instruct your apprentice to lower the shield, or I will tear it down"

"Might want to take a few steps back before you do," I said "If anything but the proper sequence takes it apart, it explodes It&039;ll take out the cottage And the tower And the top of the hill The kid and Morgan should be fine, though"

Molly h Finally made that idea work, did you?" Ebenezar said

I shrugged "After those zoh ivedid it take you to hts and weekends for three hed "It was a real pain in the ass"

"Sounds it," Ebenezar agreed

"Wizard McCoy," Mai said sharply "I remind you that Dresden and his apprentice aided and abetted a fugitive from justice"

Froh"

She turned her eyes to hih," Listens-to-Wind repeated "The hour is dark enough without trying to paintto be forced to use on Morgan One death is necessary Adding two more innocents to the count would be callous, pointless, and evil The Council will interpret Dresden&039;s actions as ultiic and the White Council And that will be the end of it"

There was no expression on Mai&039;s face-absolutely none I couldn&039;t have told you a darn thing about as going on behind that mask She stared at the two older wizards for a time, then at ood," Listens-to-Wind said "No one should be pleased with this day&039;s outcoan into custody, Mai," Ebenezar said "Why don&039;t you take the Wardens back to the city in the boat? It should give you less trouble withoutin the other boat"

"Your word," Mai said, "that you will bring Morgan to Edinburgh"

"Bring hi him unharmed," Ebenezar said "You have my word"

She nodded her head once "Wardens"

Then she walked calmly out The four Wardens fell into step behind her

I kept track of them once they were outside They started down the path that would lead them back to the dock

I looked up at Listens-to-Wind "I need your help with so"

He nodded

"There&039;s a patch of blackberry bushes out there One of the Little Folk tried to play guardian angel for losh-"

"Don&039;t say the word," Listens-to-Wind said cal its reputation Referring to them by name can only increase their power"

I snorted "I saw you send it running You think I&039; it any fear?"

"Not at thethe word doesn&039;t accoet into"

I grunted I could accept that He&039;d probably phrased things that way intentionally Besides, of the two of us, which one had a better track record against naagloshii? I decided to not be an idiot and listen to the medicine man

"The creature," I said, "knocked him out of the air Maybe hurt or killed him"

Injun Joe nodded His broken ar and wrapped in ear "I saw the very end of your fight Which is why I felt it appropriate to give the creature the same treate for the little one to do what he did I already went looking for him"

I felt a little bit sick "Was he?"

Listens-to-Wind smiled faintly and shook his head "Knocked senseless for a while, and wounded by blackberry thorns, though his armor protected hi out a short little laugh of relief "That ar"

He shook his head "Worst thing hurt was his pride, I think" His dark eyes sparkled "Little guy like that, taking on soht to see"

Ebenezar snorted "Yeah Wonder where the pixie learned that"

I felt"I didn&039;t want to do it I had to"

"You picked a good fight," Listens-to-Wind said "Not a very shost is as close to pure evil as you&039;ll ever see Good ainst that"

"You had it on the run," I said "You could have killed it"

"Sure," Listens-to-Wind said "Would have been a chase, and then host desperate It would have started using innocents as shields, obstacles, distractions" The old ed "Maybe I would have lost, too And while it was going on, spiders would be eating fat old hill-billies and picking their fangs clean with their bones"

Ebenezar snorted "Never would have happened I don&039;t much care for vampires, especially not those White Court weasels, but I&039;ll say this ht, when they have a s were a lot more careful"

"Yeah," I said "They didn&039;t have much of a spine when they tried to stop h"

Both of the old wizards traded a look, and then Injun Joe turned back to h the Way?"

"Yeah," I said I thought about it and was surprised Had it happened so recently? "Two days ago, when I cah I told you about it The killer o end of the Way, to get them into position in tier

"What&039;s so funny?" Ebenezar asked

"Nothing," I said "Just appreciating irony and getting punchy I guess he didn&039;t want an was"

"Sounds like a reasonable theory," Injun Joe said He looked at Ebenezar "Got to be soh Cuts the suspect pool down even ree closer" He exhaled "But it won&039;t do Morgan any good" He stood, and his knees popped a couple of tiuess we can&039;t put this off any longer"

I folded my arms and looked at Ebenezar evenly

The old man&039;s face darkened "Hoss," he said quietly, "I hate this as much as you do But as much as you don&039;t like it, as ht about this The real killer will know that Morgan is innocent-but the other poon&039;t They&039;ll only see us doing business hard and quick, like always Hell, it h confidence to slip up and an I&039;d help him," I said "And I will"

"Son," Injun Joe said quietly, "no one can help hiroundhiht you if you make me"

Ebenezar looked atsadly "You couldn&039;t fight one of your little pixie friends right now, boy"

I shrugged "I&039;ll try You can&039;t have him"

"Harry," said a quiet voice, weirdly an lying quietly on his pallet, his eyes open and focused on ht," he said

I blinked at hiht," he said quietly "I&039;ll go with them" His eyes turned to Ebenezar "I killed LaFortier I deceived Dresden into believing ive you a deposition"

"Morgan," I said sharply, "what the hell are you doing?"

"My duty," he replied There was, I thought, a faint note of pride in his voice, absent since he had appeared at ht call for ive up my life to protect the Council And so it has"

I stared at the wounded an"

"You did your best," Morgan said quietly "Despite everything that has gone between us You put yourself to the hazard again and again for my sake It was a worthy effort But it just wasn&039;t to be No shaain "You&039;ll learn, if you live long enough You never win thehed I tried to put ht cheek touched an to burn with pain I still couldn&039;t see out of ht eye "Dammit, after all this Dammit"

The fire popped and crackled and no one said anything

"He&039;s in a lot of pain," Listens-to-Wind said quietly, breaking the silence "At least I can make him more comfortable And you need some more attention, too" He put a hand on my shoulder "Take the shield down Please"

I didn&039;t want to do it

But this wasn&039;t about me

I showed Molly how to lower the shield

We got Morgan settled into a bunk on the Water Beetle and prepared to leave Molly, troubled and worried about an Listens-to-Wind had offered to show her sorabbed some painkillers while ere there, and felt like I could at least walk far enough to find Will and Georgia

De, and I led Ebenezar through the woods toward the this place as a sanctuer arrived from Rashid," Ebenezar said "He&039;s more familiar hat you can do with that kind of bond So he went up to find you and get you to take those trees out fros"

I shookthe way he did it"

"Not many ever have," Ebenezar said, with obvious pride in his old friend&039;s skills in his voice After a moment, he said, "He&039;s offered to teach you some, if you want to learn"

"With , and not be able to come back out of it"

He snorted quietly, and then said, "Not shifting He knows e over injustice and being unfairly wronged Don&039;t getI think it&039;s ads, and choose to do sos to a man, too" His face was distant for a s He&039;s been there I think if you spent some time with him, you&039;d benefit by it"

"Aren&039;t I a little old to be an apprentice?"

"Stop learning, start dying," Ebenezar said, in the tone of aa bedrock-firm maxim "You&039;re never too old to learn"

"I&039;ve got responsibilities," I said

"I know"

"I&039;ll think about it"

He nodded Then he paused for aabout tonight that I can&039;t figure out, Hoss," et everyone here To lure the killer here I give you a perfect excuse to roa over your shoulder so you can get the job done But instead of slipping up through the weeds and taking down the killer-which would clear up this whole business-you go up the hill and throith so you know damn well you can&039;t beat"

"Yeah," I said "I know"

Ebenezar spread his hands "Why?"

I walked for several tired, heavy steps before answering "Tho me"

"Thoed

"He was mentation of the White Council"

"The creature was heading straight for the cottage My apprentice and my client were both there-and he had Tho to hiirl had that crystal to protect herself with Hell, son, if it went off as violently as you said it would, it ht have killed the creature all by itself" He shook his head "Norot a pretty solid head on your shoulders, Hoss But that was a bad call"

"Maybe," I said quietly

"No maybe about it," he replied firmly

"He&039;s a friend"

Ebenezar stopped in his tracks and faced ht be his, but he isn&039;t yours He&039;s a vampire When all&039;s said and done, he&039;d eat you if he was hungry enough It&039;s what he is" Ebenezar gestured at the woods around us "Hell&039;s bells, boy We found as left of that Raith creature&039;s cousin, after the battle And I figure you sahat it did to its own blood"

"Yeah," I said, subdued

"And that was her own fa to those creatures They&039;re so good at the lie that sometimes maybe they even believe it themselves-but in the end, you don&039;t make friends with food I been around this world a while, Hoss, and let me tell you-it&039;s their nature Sooner or later it wins out"

"Thomas is different," I said

He eyed ain "Why don&039;t you ask your apprentice exactly what made her drop the veil and use that shield, then?"

I started walking again

I didn&039;t answer

We got back into Chicago in the witching hour

Ancient Mai and the Wardens aiting at the dock, to escort Ebenezar, Injun Joe, and Morgan to Edinburgh-"in case of trouble" They left within threethe Water Beetle to the dock

I watched theh a straw Listens-to-Wind had cleaneda couple on my lower lip He told me that I hadn&039;t lost the eye, and suano and smelled like honey Then he&039;dWounded Idiot co that side of e that wrapped all the way around my head Added to the one I needed for the daiven ery, only surlier

Will and Georgia were sleeping it off under a spread sleeping bag on an inflatable mattress on the rear deck of the Water Beetle, when I walked down the dock, over to the parking lot, and up to a parked Mercedes

Vince rolled down hisand squinted at me "Did you curse everyone who desecrated your touys?"

"You just lost your tip," I told hiet it?"

He passed me a manila envelope without coer door, and Mouse hopped down froreetbeastie a hug

"Your dog is weird," Vince said

Mouse was licking rinned, and for just a second, he didn&039;t look at all nondescript He had the kind of se the climate of a room I stood up and nodded to him "You knohere to send the bill"

"Yep," he said, and drove away

I went back down to the boat and poured some Coke into the now-empty water bottle I sipped at it carefully so that I wouldn&039;t break open one of the cuts and bleed some more I was too tired to clean it up

Molly fussed around the boat for a fewsure it was tied down, and then took two sets of spare shorts and T-shirts froia and Will would find the down on the other bunk across the cabin from me

"The shield," I said quietly "When did you use it?"

She sed "The skinw-the creature threw Thomas into the cabin and he" She shuddered "Harry He&039;d changed It wasn&039;t it wasn&039;t hi the air like like a hungry wolf or so around for me And his body was" She blushed "He was hard And he did so and all of a sudden I wanted to just rip my clothes off And I kneasn&039;t in control And I kneould kill me But I wanted to anyway It was so intense"

"So you popped the shield"

She sed and nodded "I think if I&039;d waited er I wouldn&039;t have been able to think of it" She looked up at ed, Harry It wasn&039;t hi behind You don&039;t have words for the things I did to him

Thomas

I put the drink aside and folded ood, kid"

She gave me a tired smile An aard silence fell Molly see to say "They&039;re they&039;re going to try Morgan tomorrow," she said quietly "I heard Mai say so"

"Yeah," I said

"They expect us to be there"

"Oh," I said, "ill be"

"Harry we failed," she said She sed "An innocentto die The killer is still loose That entire battle took place and didn&039;t acco"

I looked up at her Then, iven me

"What&039;s that?" she asked

"Surveillance photos," I said quietly "Shot through a telephoto lens from a block away"

She blinked at me "What?"

"I hired Vince to take some pictures," I said "Well, technically Murphy hired hied But I&039; the bill, so really, it was me"

"Pictures? What pictures?"

"Of the Way to Chicago froh," I said "Where it opens up into that alley behind the oldfactory I had Vince take pictures of anyone coh about theon the island"

Molly frowned "But why?"

"Didn&039;t give them time to think, kid," I said "I was fairly sure the killer was in Edinburgh So I o I et here by alternate means"

I drew out the pictures and started flipping through them Vince had done a crisp, professional job You could have used them for portraits, much less identification McCoy, Mai, Listens-to-Wind, Bjorn Bjorngunnarson, the other Wardens were all pictured, both in a wide shot, walking in a Right Stuff group, and in tight focus on each face "And I made sure Vince and Mouse were there to watch the only fast way into town from Scotland"

While I did that, Molly puzzled through the logic "Then that entire scenario on the island thewas a ploy?"

"Wile E Coyote," I said wisely "Suuuuuper Genius"

Molly shook her head "But you didn&039;t tell anyone?"

"Nobody Had to look good," I said "Didn&039;t knoho the traitor "

"Wow, Obi-Wan," the grasshopper said "I&039;m sort of iht have worked," I said "And I needed it to get a crack at the skinwalker on friendly ground But lately I&039;ve started thinking that you don&039;t ever plan on a single path to victory You set things up so that you&039;ve got more than one way to win

"What I really needed was a weapon I could use against the killer" I stared at the last photo for a moment, and then flipped it over and showed it to her "And now," I said, a snarl coot one"

Molly looked at the picture blankly "Oh," she said "Who&039;s that?"