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"You&039;re insane"

"I know, but it&039;s better than being bored, don&039;t you think? Where are we going?"

"The library" I gave Magda a very stern look "You really should not be getting involved in this"

She whapped iven her earlier "I already am involved You&039;re wanted by the police, you know And I helped you escape That&039;s aiding and abetting or so as I&039;ht as well have so to the library? Is that where the murderer is? I&039;ve never seen a murderer up close Are you sure it&039;s safe?"

"I don&039;t knohere Kristoff is," I said, so that seemed so horrible to me "And honestly, I don&039;t want to know There are soda"

I stopped outside thethat I had used to leave the library, bitingbeside hosts and the whole bit about being a Zorya

"What? If it&039;s abouthere, don&039;t worry I told Raymond that I needed some time to myself, and that I&039;d see hirinned "Since we&039;ve been going at it rather fast and furious the last few days, I think he was only too happy to get a decent night&039;s rest"

"It&039;s not that I&039;m worried about It&039;s well do you believe in life after death?"

Her eyebrows rose in surprise "Do I believe in what?"

"Ghosts You know, spirits of people who have died but, for whatever reason, haven&039;t made it to heaven or hell or whatever afterlife you believe in That sort of thing" I watched her closely, worried she&039;d regret helping me

To my surprise, she didn&039;t scoff at the question "As a randh I was all the way over in California, and she was in Maine She woke ht, and said she loved , when I woke up, I thought I&039;d had a dream, but later my mom called to say Grandma had died at the same exact tioing to s a whole lot easier," I said, and tapped on theMarta appeared I gestured toward the lock, watching Magda

Marta transforda&039;s jaw dropped

"Did she is that" she staood I wondered if other people can see theuess only Zoryas can see them in their normal state Co out here"

Magda followedwith co, faded back to her norda asked in a whisper

"She&039;s here, but in a low-energy state You can&039;t see her without this," I said, holding up loith a gentle silvery light "I&039;m a Zorya They&039;re so places Or some dead people - I&039;m not quite sure about all the details But the upshot is that there are fifteen ghosts here, sixteen if you count the horse, and I&039;m supposed to take them to Ostri I don&039;t suppose you&039;ve ever heard of it?"

Magda, uncharacteristically silent, just shook her head, her htly ajar as she looked around the hosts were seated at a table, bent over books, alternating between solid and transparent y

"Who are they?"

"That&039;s Karl and his wife, Marta They&039;re the first ghosts Iwo the potted plant The rest of the people are froe iped out by a natural disaster someti up the subject of pigs or chicken"

She pursed her lips for a , hopefully Hello, everyone!" I raised h the ht a friend This is Magda She&039;s new to all this, likeout about Ostri?"

"Ulfur did," Ingveldur said with a father&039;s pride, beay Show the reaper, Ulfur"

"I don&039;t kno helpful it will be," Ulfur said, gesturing to a distant table where a thick book had been placed He escorted us over to it I glanced at the book, but it was in Icelandic "This is an entry for Ostri It includes alternate spellings, and the ety It just says that in Basque and Iberian religions, Ostri was used to refer to heaven The word changed over time, and later came to mean the Christians&039; concept of God"

"H about where it is?"

He shook his head

"Crap Was there anything about it online?"

"Notback to the terrun found siet there The infor"

"Oh, really?" Magda and I crowded around the coda asked as I scanned the screen

"The religious group who maintains the Zoryas Is this their Web site?"

"Yes" Ulfur watched ," I said

"What&039;s interesting?" Magda asked "All I see is Brotherhood of the Blessed Light, a list of cities, and a Web page counter There&039;s notto know that the Brotherhood evidently has branches or churches or whatever they call gatherings of theirseven US cities And I don&039;t think that&039;s a Web page counter," I said, a chill feeling gripping ? People it&039;s helped? Spirits, I mean?"

I shook my head slowly "I think it&039;s the number of vampires they&039;ve er cleansed over the centuries"

"Va herself down in a chair "All right, spill I want to hear everything, right froed version of recent happenings while puzzling over the starkness of the Brotherhood Web site As Magda noted, there was nothing there other than a symbolic moon, the name, a list of major cities, and a somber nu a bit stunned

"Yup"

"And the other man, the one you said didn&039;t kill the other Zorya, he is also a vampire"

"So Kristoff says, and I really don&039;t knohy he&039;d lie about Alec"

She thought about that for a few minutes "You slept with a vampire Did he you know dine?"

I blinked in surprise at the question "Kristoff says yes, and I suppose he&039;d know, but I&039; on, but I don&039;t recall anything out of the ordinary"

"Wow," she said, looking atakin to awe "That&039;s justI really want to meet this Alec Not that I&039;ll take him from you, because one, you&039;re a friend, and I wouldn&039;t do that to a friend, but uys have so to follow that thread

"One thousand, one hundred and eighteen," Magda said, her attention returned to the screen She let out a lohistle "That&039;s a lot of vairlfriend That, too, was an unco about the history of the Brotherhood?" I asked the young worun

"Not e that appeared to focus on mystical societies There was a brief description of the Brotherhood, with reference to reapers lighting the way of the dead, but nothing specific or even helpful

"Well, pooh" I gnawed uess we&039;re going to have to go to the source for inforda asked, s at Ulfur