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And then he’d fallen asleep on my bedroom floor "Do you feel any different?"
"I feel tired"
"Right now? Even after sleeping?"
He nodded
Jiht hours without sleep and still be as sharp as his claws That was one of the fun gifts of Lyc-V: ie, just to spice things up So If it had been a typical curse, o to the medic "We need to see Doolittle"
"No No Doolittle"
"Jieon" Jies of his teeth "If he can’t cut it out or stitch it back together, he doesn’t knohat to do with it I have no symptoms Pulse rate is normal, temperature is normal I just fall asleep You’re Doolittle I come to you with this story What’s your first move?"
"Lock you up for observation"
"Exactly I don’t need to be locked up"
"How do you know soeneration?"
Jim pulled a knife from his waist sheath so fast I barely saw it The bluishacross his forearoose bumps over ether, the skin and e Jim wiped the blood from his skin and showed
"I’ic Four of our people are ic user I have I can’t just leave theht be dead"
"If they’re dead, we need to know" He leaned forward, his brown eyes looking straight into mine "Help me, Dali"
He had no idea, but when he looked atat all
I got up "Let o see that house"
THE NORTHEASTERN OFFICE of the Pack sat on Chamblee Dunwoody Road, well back from the road behind a carefully cut lawn Tall pines fra its parking lot To the right, another copse of pines bordered a large open field converted into pasture To the left, behind the buffer of greenery and a chain-link fence topped with coils of razor wire, rose short stubby apartave us a nasty look as we thundered on by and clutched at his crossbow just in case Sillydrive to the office’s lot, parked, and shut off the vehicle The enchanted water engine took at least fifteenineBesides, Pooki’s top speed during ic barely scraped fifty miles per hour, and if we had to bail, both Jim and I could run ht Painted an ugly olive color, the office looked like two separate buildings had been jaether: The left half reseht was a two-story Queen Anne with green shutters
The wind brought with it a salty ue Blood Ji
I closed ic Intranslucent tentacles ofback and forth over the walls, out the s, over the roof, clutching at the siding and tiles
I pushed a tiny step farther The closest tentacle rose, hovered above the roof for a long ic lashed at ic I didn’t knohat it was, but every cell in my body shrank froht ain, just a drab olive building I sed "We’re going to need protection Lots of protection"
I set my wooden box on Pooki’s hood and flipped it open Jiraphy set inside Most shapeshifters didn’t do h as it was, and ic was iffy, but claws and fangs produced the sa line of ic users, so concerned with tradition that they passed on their knowledge and rituals even when technology was at its strongest and alic remained My family took ic didn’t even work, but Jim had seen me pull it off once or twice It’s not that he was impressed--he was far too cool for that--but Jim treated my talent with respect He was in trouble and he trusted et him out of it I had to step it up
Jiht appeared in one of the upper-floor s, as if solass
"Isn’t it cute," I ht The only tiuar showed you his teeth hen he was about to sink them into you
I pulled two thin strips of hanshi paper out, dippedof characters for general protection on each piece
The ink shiht I held my breath
Please work Please, please, please work
The h the paper I exhaled and tossed one strip at Jih the air, stiff like a blade, and stuck to his chest He stared at it