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A light breeze ruffled ht?"

I looked up fro into ht back the startled screa instead and hunting desperately in my pockets for a tissue "Ulfur?"

"Yes, it&039;s me" His horse smelled nar, leave her be She does not wish to pet you"

"I don&039;t think I could if I wanted to," I said, giving up the search and dabbing at my damp nose with ot to my feet, a little wobbly, but not entirely surprised to find that the space behind the library where I&039;d collapsed was now filled with ghostly entities "Oh, good, you found Karl and Marta"

"Yes, they were hiding near the park There was anotherto search for rum and would find us later You are hurt?" Ulfur&039;s face was filled with concern, as were, in varying degrees, those of the other ghosts crowded around me All except the s her nails until the woman I assumed was her mother cuffed her upside the head "Did your husband har off ht be, but if he is, he&039;s neither legal nor wanted"

"You kissed hihosts said

"That was um unintentional," I lied

"It looked like you were enjoying it," Ulfur pointed out

"I didn&039;t say it was unpleasant, just that it was unintentional" I don&039;t knohy I felt quite so defensive about the kiss Kristoff and I had shared, unless it was over the i his friend "He&039;s not really my husband I may be married to him, but he&039;s not a husband in the true sense of the word"

"Ah," the older ghost said, waggling his eyebrows at the teen&039;s mom "He hasn&039;t bedded her yet"

A chorus of co aahs followed that stateht away," snarky teen&039;slook "Men like that have an appetite for wo hi to keep hiuely as if that would help explain the situation "He&039;s not really mine"

"Not yet, but just you bed him a few ti voice said There was a flurry of hosts, and a tiny, incredibly old woman appeared "I&039;ve had five husbands, I have, and if there&039;s anyone who kno to keep a man, it&039;s , "Aye, Old Agda knows You listen to her, reaper"

"Five husbands?" I couldn&039;t help but ask

"They all died young, all but the last one, and he were thirty year younger&039;nthe avearound here talking about Kristoff and husbands was not going to helpones," another woman called out from the back, a wo her long skirts "They&039;ve got staer"

"Bah," the first woood is stamina if they don&039;t knohat to do with it? It&039;s all about what god gifted them with, if you want my opinion"

"I don&039;t need anyone with more stamina," I protested "Besides, Kristoff is a vampire and is who knoto be younger than hier ones lack experience," the teen&039;s ued with the size- a man&039;s member is if he hasn&039;t the experience to use it properly The young ones don&039;t kno to please a wo they&039;d be done so you can bring in the wash and tend to supper Now, the reaper&039;s man, he looks like he knohat he&039;s about"

"I&039;ll say he does," her daughter purred

I narrowed a look on her that by rights should have turned her to stone before realizing what I was doing I was not jealous of Kristoff! I did not want him! It was Alec I was interested in Alec who shts, and left me with a dead body oy

"That&039;s all wohost interrupted "What our reaper wants is someone who can protect her The true measure of a man is how he provides for his fa that because you&039;d just built Ingveldur a new cabin," one of the other men called out "Two roo roo your wealth in the face of god, that is"

"Ha! Thus speaks the man with three - three - milk cohen one would do If you want to talk about setting yourself above the rest of the village, Hallur Hallsson, then you&039;d best look to yourself first"

"I needed those cows," the hbor "I had six children to feed! Unlike Agda and her hundred chickens All those chickens for just one old wo wealth if there ever was flaunting"

The elderly lady shot hilare "I&039;d quite a few less chickens than when I started out, and I know just whose pot they ended up in, don&039;t I?"

An arguhosts about the , cows, chickens, and, inexplicably, a pig named Freyja I was about to yell for attention when tihostly hand on le a little where she touched me

"Don&039;t listen to thelanced at Karl "I&039;ve beenisn&039;t that i as you are fond of your husband"

"But I&039; like the dickens that so their own assumptions "I don&039;t even like hiht in front ofhis voice a little as the argument continued behind him "He saved your life"

"Possibly, but we don&039;t know that The rabbed me could have killed me easily if he wanted to, but he didn&039;t He was si me as a shield to protect himself fro my temples A headache had co "None of this really et uing stopped as I yelled and banged the lid of a garbage can

" told you that pig was barren, but would you listen to me? No, you wouldn&039;t; you just had to oh" Theand turned to look at me "Sorry"

"Thank you" I eyed them all carefully for a few seconds "Before we proceed, I&039;d like to know if any of you have any idea whatsoever of the whereabouts of this Ostri place I&039;arded h the dull waves of pain that ebbed and flowed against my brain like molasses "Kristoff said the Brotherhood will kill o to them Anniki is dead, and I don&039;t know any other Zoryas, assu there are others to know, so I can&039;t ask one of them where you&039;re supposed to be taken If I was home, I could look it up online and see if there&039;s some clue as to where Ostri is located, but Kristoff has my passport And besides, Audrey has all our tickets I don&039;t even have any money"

At that, my stomach rumbled, and I realized it had been at least twelve hours since I&039;d last eaten

"Oh,my arms around myself "No money means no food, or a way out of here, or even a place to stay I&039;ve got to get sohtful "I&039;d give you my coins, but they washed out to sea with the rest of the village"

I shookover my options Wire home for money? That would probably require identification to pick up the funds, and my wallet had no doubt been confiscated Steal it?

"Does anyone here have any thieving experience?" I asked hosts

"Aye, Hallur does," the old lady nada called out "He can take a chicken out of its nest without ruffling a feather"

"That&039;s a lie!" he yelled, rounding on her

"Anyone else?" I interrupted before they got started

Everyone shook their heads "Great Me, either I wouldn&039;t kno to go about stealing h-tech security" I chewed on my lip a bit more

"Can you borrow sonar&039;s head

"I don&039;t have any friends here - " I started to say, then reda She wasn&039;t a friend per se, but she was very friendly, and see sort of woman The question ould she help me, or turn me over to the police?

I shookda may seem like a nice person, but what proof did I have that I could trust her in a time of need?

I&039;d just have to find someone else

"There&039;s your husband," Marta said "You could ask hihosts, co around with you all on my heels We&039;d better find somewhere to park you that you&039;ll be safe fro tospotted by police, fellow tour members, Kristoff, or the Brotherhood folk, but a fewin front of roup into the library and told them to vanish The library was due to close al that was heretofore unknown tochairs in the children&039;s area, and re was closed

I lay there for another two hours while the e to oing to do if Magda wouldn&039;t helpI was proud of, and it definitely went against ht be a way out of the situation I felt a little bit better when, two hours later, I crawled out froht, I&039;o see my friend and pray she won&039;t turn uys stay here If this bad reaper is huet in to the building to get you guys" I glanced around the darkened library, only a couple of security lights illuhosts could read books and use the coht be very helpful"

Karl looked from his wife to me "But we can read books I don&039;t know about this computer terminal you mentioned, but I can read"

"I&039;uys had the ability to interact with physical things"

"We can," Ulfur said Ragnar nodded his head and snorted beforechair

"Really?" I reached out to touch hih his arm "Um"

Ulfur smiled and the air around hi from its bluish translucent state to that of a solid for out with a tentative fingertip It met solid cloth "I didn&039;t know you could do that!"

"We can&039;t for very long It takes a lot of energy to have a physical presence, but it if will help you, we can try looking for some information"

"That would be immensely helpful," I said, relieved "I don&039;t suppose any of you can operate a computer?"

I wasn&039;t surprised when no one offered to use the nearby co around aimlessly for a hundred years or ht, I&039;ll do it," the snarky teen said when her entle shove forward

"You know about coirl dubiously

She tched and plunked herself down in that boneless way teen girls have "I&039;e with laptops andfor?"

"Does that co over her shoulder She solidified and tapped on the keyboard "Oh, excellent Google Ostri, would you? And ht And while you&039;re at it - "

She gave le whatever you can and print out anything that looks iht?"

My words were spoken to an eers and spread theht help

"I&039;ll be back as soon as I can," I told Marta as she cans of being wired for an alarm, which I took as an indication of the low crime rate of this area "Close theafter me, and don&039;t let anyone in who isn&039;t ht But, Pia, the old sailor is still out there," she said worriedly