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"They will kill her," he growled

"If she’s lucky, they will kill her" Mother crossed her aric She heals very fast They’ll put her in a cage and harvest her parts over and over She’ll be their organ factory We’ve heard of such things happening She can’t go"

Jiry, he roared Ji, where the only indication of life on his face were his eyes They were hard and furious and full of icy calculation He scared me when he looked like that My throat closed up, and I just wanted to sit in the corner and be small

Today I didn’t have that luxury The anxiety sat in irl You can do it "We need the snail, Mother He will die without it"

"There has to be another way," Jiet itEmas is not some black bear It’s very rare They won’t sell it to you," Mother said

IYou can’t show up there with an entourage of shapeshifters and force them to sell you the snail You can’t buy the snail yourself, because they won’t sell to you"

Jiet a different shapeshifter to go get it, because the snail looks ordinary, until soic touches it, and I’ic, besides Kate, and Kate is hobbling around with a cane at the o either And no, you have no choice, Jim, because there is no other way"

Jim’s eyes sparked

"That won’t work either Even if you put et out," I told him "It doesn’t matter how many people you attach to me, I will curse my way out if I have to I won’t sit here and watch you die"

He snarled I showed him my teeth

A rolled-up newspaper landed on my head and then on Jiods The alpha of Clan Cat just got smacked with a rolled-up newspaper "Mom!"

She pointed at me with the newspaper "Do not shame me"

I clamped my mouth shut When she pulled out the shame card, it was all over

My o with her tohter back to me, unharmed, do you hear? And you better be worth it"

Jiaze

If he struck at my mother, I’d strike him back

Jim opened his mouth

I tensed until it hurt

"Yes, ht he would really strike at my mother, but you just never know

"Take him outside, to the tree,"He falls asleep, he dies"

THE TREE GREW in the inner yard formed by the backs of two houses on one side and a sturdy stone wall on the others A long twisty pond took up half of the yard Pink lotus blossoms and yellow lilies thrust from the dark water, flanked by the round leaves In the middle of the pound, a statue of Lakshlazed pots and linked to the shore by dark stepping-stones Philodendrons bordered the pond, fighting for space with bamboo and ferns Gold bird of paradise plants bloomed here and there To the left a bunut tree rose with a small teak bench beside it A bucket and ladle waited by the trunk

I led Jim to the bench "Sit here"

He sat

I dipped the bucket into the pond, set it between us, and sat on the low stone wall of a flower bed

He looked around "It’s a nice garden"

I nodded "I like it It quiet and beautiful Most Indonesians are Muslim, but we’re Hindu A place forunder came from the seed of a very special holy tree in Bali, the Bunut Bolog tree It’s a type of fig The Bunut Bolog tree is so large and so powerful that it is like a forest by itself It has a hole at its base, and the hole is so wide, there is a two-lane road running through it"

"Why did they build a road through the sacred tree?" Jio around it because of the cliffs They thought about cutting the tree down, but the spirits of the tree’s guardians refused to allow it, so they just had to uardians They are ferocious"

"What sort of guardians?"

I gave hiers, huh"

"Mhm"

He leaned forward His face was calm and I wanted to kiss him I couldn’t help it

"You looked worried after that newspaper thing," he said "I’m sorry for that I didn’t mean to make you--"

If he said "scared," I would etarian and half blind, I was still a shapeshifter, a predator I had my pride

"--upset"

Hmm, upset I could probably live with He didn’t need to know that "I wasn’t upset"

"My point is, I would never hurt you or your family"