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“Actually,” Claire announced in a tone that suggested she’d neither forgotten nor forgiven the earliertoo old and too well fed observation,“we’ve got to get back to the other end of the mall. We appreciate your assistance, but we have a job to do here.”

Kris shrugged.“So do I. And my job says I take new people in to see Arthur.”

“Claire…”

“Diana?”

She flashed Kris a smile, grabbed Claire’s arm, and yanked her close enough to mutter into her ear. “I know that time is a factor, I mean, it ismy Summons and all, but these guys are a factor, too, because whoever’s running this segue isn’t going to be able to finish it while they’re still here. I mean, we weren’t expecting indigenous life.”

“They aren’t indigenous!”

“Maybe they didn’t used to be, but they are now.”’

“All right, fine.” Claire pulled her arm free. “But if this thing goes critical while we’re talking…”

“Then we’ll be in the right place because it can’t go critical until the forces of darkness attack and destroy this last bastion of the light.”

“The forces of darkness are throwing scented candles!”

“Yeah, but they’re throwing them really hard. And besides, you know as well as I do how fast things can change on the Otherside.” Diana patted Claire’s bare shoulder in a comforting sort of way and turned back to Kris. “So, take us to your leader. Heis your leader, right?”

Claire sighed.“Well, if he isn’t, you’ve just wasted that line.”

“Heis our leader,” Kris told them, and this time when she indicated they should start moving, there was very little room for arguing with the gesture.

As the Keepers stepped away from the barricade and Sam jumped down to walk between them, Will fell in on one side, Kris on the other. They were clearly being escorted. Diana decided to think of it as an honor guard.

“So,” she prodded after a moment. “This Arthur; what’s he like?”

Kris glanced over at her and shrugged.“Not like us.”

“Like you are or like you were?”

“What’s the diff?”

“You know; the whole ears, thick flowing tresses thing.”

“The what?”

Bystanders could lie to Keepers; they just couldn’t get away with it. Kris honestly didn’t know what Diana was talking about. Apparently their perception of themselves had changed as they had changed. Now why they’d changed the way they had; that was a whole different question without an answer. “Never mind, it’s not important. So, howis Arthur different from you?”

“He came from outside.”

“Outside?” Diana was beginning to have a bad feeling about this.

“Yeah, outside the mall.” Kris waved to the tall, slender girl standing guard at the intersection of the main concourse and the short hall leading to one of the outside doors. “We don’t know how he got in, ’cause we can’t get out, but he understands this place. He keeps us together; he made us strong. We were getting our asses kicked by all sorts of strange shit until he showed up.”

“And he made you the captain of his guard?”

“Yeah. He did. You got a problem with that?”

“No. Of course not. You’re obviously really good at it and you, you know, you’re in charge and um…”Babble much? She’s going to think you’re an idiot. Get a grip! Diana took a deep breath and ignored Claire’s raised eyebrow. “So, were you the first one who crossed over?”

A muscle jumped in Kris’ jaw. “Second.”

Something in her tone made Diana remember all the things Austin had listed that were worse than BAM. Splat. Crunch. Grind. Chew. For some reason, especially chew.

They were heading toward the large department store at what had been the west end of the mall. Cosmetic counters had been stacked on their sides to make a solid wall across all but a small section of the store’s wide entrance. A nod of Kris’s head and Will lounged in the opening.

“Just so you know,” Claire said, delivering a speaking look to her sister, “you can’t hold us.”

Kris shrugged.“Just so’syou know, I’m not planning on it. But I believe in coverin’ my ass, just in case.”

“Of what?”

“Whatever.” She led Diana, Claire, and Sam into a large open area where the faint, antagonistic scents of a dozen different perfumes lingered, told them to wait, and disappeared between two racks of plus size winter coats.

“You know they might be able to hold us,” Diana murmured, with a quick glance at Will’s back. “This being the Otherside and all. If there’s enough of them wanting us held…”

“You were the one who wanted to see their leader. I just think we should go in from a position of strength.”

“They had to rescue us from walking cat food throwing scented candles,” Sam pointed out, tail lashing as he paced the perimeter. “Oh, yeah, that’s a position of strength.”

Claire glared at the cat.

Diana punched her lightly on the arm.“Missing Austin?”

Claire shifted her glare up and over. After a moment, she sighed.“Yes. A lot. I hope he’s all right.”

“Don’t worry, he’s with Dean. On second thought, worry about Dean.”

“Very funny. I’m sure Austin will be a huge help to Dean at the guest house.”

“You’re delusional. You know that, right?”

Claire smiled tightly.“It helps when you work with cats.”