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.He shifted his upper body to face me more directly.I didn tsee the expected surprise only sadness. Why so short? Like I said, the magic is unstable. I chewed on my lower lip. Anytime magic is used,it upsets the natural balance of things.Usually it s self-correcting, but this is different.Idied three days ago because I was meant to die.It was my time, no matter what Tovinsaid. Who s Tovin? Alex asked.I waved one hand in the air. Never mind, because that s not the point.It happenedbecause it was supposed to happen, but when Wyatt brought me back, it upset thebalance.Everything I do, everyone I interact with, is affected by my presence.There areconsequences, and they compound with every extra hour I m alive. What sort of consequences?A car honked.The Honda had made its left.Alex hit the gas.We shot forward andbarely managed our turn before the light changed back to red.Up onto the bridge, andtoward the heart of downtown and Mercy s Lot. What sort of consequences, Evy? You, Alex.You should be busy planning a funeral right now, and while that sdepressing and terrible, it s a far cry from being on a Triad hit list.You never wouldhave been dragged into this if I d stayed dead. So what happens when your time limit is up? What happens at four o clock, the dayafter tomorrow? You get to bury Chalice.And I go back to being dead.Heaven or Hell or limbo, I don tknow, but I go back and the world turns without me. Wyatt?A chill wormed down my spine. He made a freewill deal with an Elder. What s that mean? It means that when I die again, Wyatt loses his free will to an elf named Tovin. I still don t In some ways, he ll be no better than dead.Does that simplify it? Imagine losing yourability to make decisions; to take a piss without permission; to fucking love someone.Alex had paled considerably during my mini rant. For how long? Forever.There s no statute of limitations on this particular brand of magic bargain.On the other side of the bridge, I directed him to go south.The background static, allbut gone while in Parkside East, tickled the back of my mind.I concentrated on it,somehow comforted by its presence.Like an invisible security blanket.We managed three more blocks before Alex spoke again. You said you lost part ofyour memory, right? he asked. The final three days of my life, yes. Have you tried hypnosis? Are you serious? Chalice believed in it. I m not her.He flinched.I regretted the barb.I wasn t Chalice, but I didn t have to be insensitive tohis suggestions.I believed that all manner of creatures roamed the earth and that wewere on the brink of a species apocalypse, but I couldn t bring myself to believe insomething as small as hypnosis? Tragic. Have you ever seen it work? I asked. At a carnival once.I snorted. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. What have you got to lose?Respect? I bit my tongue.Being around Alex encouraged me to curb the more seriousside of my sarcastic nature.It was as inexplicable as it was annoying.But he seemed sogentle pain-induced cussing aside that I hesitated to bring out the big guns. This isn t a crystal ball psychic, right? I asked. Just a hypnotist? Sure, yeah.How about your shrink? My what? Sorry, Chalice s therapist.She was going to counseling for a while.She never told mewhat for, and I was too self-absorbed to ask, but the lithium prescription kind of gave itaway.Depression.Yikes.But the shrink gave me an in thatShit.The gremlins. I don t think that will work. Why not?I explained.He pulled his lips into a taut grimace.I patted his knee. Sorry you asked? A little bit, but even if there s no record of her being a patient, the doctor willremember her. Yeah, but we don t have time to make an appointment.I ve only got two days.I likethe idea, but let s table it for a while.I need to concentrate. On Wyatt?Was I wearing a sign? Yeah, sorry. Don t be sorry, Evy.He s important to you. Jealousy dripped from his words.Hisbrain still had a difficult time distinguishing me (Evy) from the body that I inhabited.The befuddlement tempted me to just ditch him at the next block, but that was a deathsentence.As soon as Tully and Wormer were found, Alex Forrester would be a wantedman.Just like me.But he was correct Wyatt was important to me, and not just because of theinvestigation or our past.My resurrection bound me to him in a way I still didn tunderstand.Since the moment he entered that burger joint, I had missed him.Physicallymissed his presence, like an amputee misses a leg or an arm.He was gone, and I wasincomplete. He s more than that, I said. I figured. What s that supposed to mean?He looked straight ahead, eyes on the traffic in front of him. I ve heard women talkabout guys like that, with that tone. We have a tone? Forget it. Oh no. I turned sideways in the seat, giving my full attention, and he squirmed. Whattone? You re like a dog with a bone, that s all. You should see me when I really want information from someone. I cracked myknuckles for effect; he winced. I just & His fingers flexed around the steering wheel. I mean, I ve never even metthe guy and I m a little jealous.Just ignore me for a while, okay? Humor speckled hiswords, so I let it go. Where are we going again? Lincoln Street Bridge.I need to check on a friend.He nodded and moved into the right-turn lane. Lincoln Street it is.Chapter Fourteen52:17A coat of fresh, black tar covered the underside of Smedge s bridge.Every availablecement surface was coated with the oily substance that prevented bridge trolls fromrising.Smedge had been forced to relocate.The city had a plethora of bridgesfootbridges, overpasses, train bridges and an almost equal number of trolls.Findinganother home would be difficult.Until he surfaced and sent word, I had no way ofcontacting my last Dreg ally.Alex remained in the car with the engine running while I inspected the area.He hadn targued, and I appreciated his growing trust.The footprints in the dust wereinconclusive.Average shoe sizes, bipedal, and at least four different people.They leftnothing behind.Even the body of the hound I d killed the day before was gone, everydrop of blood washed away.Someone was being careful.Too careful.I climbed back into the passenger seat and stared at the dashboard, willing an idea tocome to me.Something more productive than sitting around and waiting for dusk andthe promised phone call from Rufus.Staking out the phone booth was a good idea.That prevented someone else from gettingthere first and laying a trap assuming he even called.I wanted to trust Rufus; his Triadwas merely reacting to the information at hand.Their leader had been kidnapped.Theyneeded to get him back at any cost.I understood that sort of blind devotion. Your friend s not here? Alex asked. No, he s not. So what now?It was time to do the one thing I d been avoiding go to the place I didn t want toventure without Wyatt by my side.It could jog my memory, and I wanted Wyatt therewhen it did.He would understand without my giving him the details.Alex bless hisinnocent little heart needed everything painted in broad strokes.But as much as Ihated going, I couldn t just sit on my ass for four hours until the sun set. We go farther south, I said. Over the Anjean River, and follow the train tracks to theEast Side. What s over there? Alex asked, shifting the gear back into Drive. An abandoned train station
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