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Monica raised her head with a touch of s triumph “Then you’re already one step ahead ofto put on her, that’s none of your business Leave that between me andfroh No matter how you acquire this hair, Leonora will know She will find out And she will coly recommend that you come directly to me, just as soon as you acquire a sample”

I tutted, chewing onto be super pissed, isn’t she? Probably going to be firing spells at us while we run”

“Oh, for sure She’s very sprightly for her age But I’ll make it worth your while”

“How lad that I hadn’tof our conversation

“H as she counted off the reward in her head “How does twenty thousand sound?”

23

Florian’s eyes were huge when he heard the news “Twenty thousand whole dollars?”

“Yeah”

“Twenty thousand American dollars?”

“Oh my God, yes What other kind would they be?” I threw myself onto my mat

tress, the bedsprings squeaking as I pushed the heels ofexpenses for a long ti enchantment I need from Beatrice” Florian didn’t answer When I liftedat his fingernails I frowned “What?”

He shrugged, his lip turned up “I just thought that you would have asked me to come and help out, you know? Kind of weird that you didn’t tell me about all this”

I stretched et you involved, okay? It’s bad enough that I keep getting people into trouble You don’t need to be roped into all that, too”

“Hey We’re roommates And we’re friends, aren’t we? You shouldn’t be afraid to ask And what’s with all this crap about getting people into trouble, anyway? You talk about this stuff like it’s the end of the world I don’t get it”

The bedsprings squeaked again as I pushed h the flihs “I had friends, back then They live in this place called the Boneyard, right here in Valero They were there for me when I couldn’t understand what I’d becoils on my skin even meant”