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‘Are we ready?’ Daniel asked Magog nodded and Gog took her hand

We all headed out to Anyan’s massive backyard, which was noarfed by the presence of a , and Daniel, all bent low to the ground, raced over to the open doors of the helicopter and cliotten to say goodbye to h in the air and flying away

Chapter Fourteen

I’d sort of hoped I’d be able to lean and loaf and invite my ease for the next twenty-four hours, but no such luck While Magog traversed the globe, we kept a tight shield on Anyan’s cabin I also kept a lid on the labrys’s power For although it was so many miles away, I still had control, and we didn’t want the Red or the White to know our exact whereabouts until ere ready to engage That said, I knew at least one of them was close – it felt like a prickle at the back of one after the bigger (seeone out with Aiven them lots of errands, so that we could make battle plans without the out to be really helpful, but I knew they also worried They’d had enough stress, especially with Tracy pregnant

Nell and Trill were patrolling Nell’s borders, to ensure the White didn’t sneak up on us or send in any ure out what to do with the White once we had hiain with Caleb’s journal

‘You have to be kidding hted

Caleb shook his head, his expression griit out loud, thinkingto keep on seize and slay with skillful art

Within the sea, and wield with speed thy knife

With double edges hot andcleft in twain, lift out

The gall and bear away its blackened forht of earthy bile’

I tried to keep control of my temper as I looked up at Caleb ‘What the hell is this? Are you kidding ed ‘It’s what it says’

‘We can’t cleave Anyan in two! That’s absurd’

‘But he’s not "just" Anyan anymore, Jane He’s also the White So it makes sense that he would need to be divided…’

‘But not physically, Caleb I can’t hack Anyan into pieces, like the Sunday roast’ My voice was more than a little hysterical

‘It’s not all that bad,’ he said ‘Keep reading’

So I did:

‘Great clouds of stea dense enough

To bear away the dragon from the sea

And lift hihtened shape

And for of his substance to avoid

And change its nature to a streaain ‘How is this better? It still says we have to chop hi this ti to be helpful I shot her a look that made her eyes widen I turned back to the poehts; then pour theurn and when its stream

Of sacred fluid stops to flow, then wash

Aith care the blackened dross of earth’

I groaned ‘Great, so we need mercury, too? Isn’t mercury poison?’

Caleb shook his head ‘It’s a es, "The union of copper and silver is referred to by Theophrastus as taking place within the sea, the latter being a common term for the liquid metal htly mollified I was nowhere near ‘over’ the idea we’d have to hack up Anyan

Although noas starting to make sense why the chas…

I refused to entertain such thoughts, at least not yet, and instead kept reading:

‘Thus having brightened what the darkness hid

Within the dragon’s entrails thou wilt bring

Abright and clear,

And, being tinged a perfect white throughout,

Will be revealed ondrous brilliancy,

Its blackness having all been changed to white;