a8eb54fe2a7e7ca192cef2761fb9d6c0

Austin, who’d been lying on the windowsill, lifted his head from his front paws. “Something Dr. Rebik said isn’t right.”

“Yeah, three nipples. That’s justwrong.”

“Hey, I’ve got six!”

“My point exactly; nipples should come in even numbers.”

Austin shot him a suspicious look but let it go.“Something else…”

“Last night he had to translate for her; this morning, she understood what we were saying.”

The emerald eye blinked once in surprise.“You’re not as dumb as you look. But that wasn’t it.”

“You think Dr. Rebik was lying?” Dean asked as he gathered up the doctor’s empty mug and headed for the dishwasher.

“No, but I think there’s stuff he’s not telling us.”

“He said he’s sparing Meryat’s feelings. You can’t blame him for that.”

“Why not?” Austin’s tail carved a series of short jerky arcs through the air. “I wish Claire was here.”

“Me, too.”

*

“Elderly ninja assassins?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Well, you kind of implied it.”

“Sam…”

His ears bridled as he leaped to the top of Bozo’s School Bus and turned to glare. “You did. You said there were handrails around the skylights and, if the way to the roof was in the wrong area, we could expect an attempt on Arthur’s life. Then you said,‘but not ninjas’ and you’ve been mumbling about dangling old people ever since. So: elderly ninja assassins.”

“Okay, you win.” Claire scooped him off the ride and continued out into the main concourse with him tucked indignantly under one arm. “Just stop repeating it so I can stop thinking about it!”

“It’s not the worst thing you could be thinking about,” Sam muttered. “I mean if anything’s got to drop down from the roof, el…” He squeaked as she tightened her grip. “…that would at least be easy to beat. Right?”

“Wrong. The Otherside deals with subconscious imagery, it takes what you think you’re thinking about and warps it.”

“So if I was thinking about a nice, juicy, unattended salmon?”

“Nothing would happen. When I say it takes what you’re thinking, I don’t mean you specifically. Cats live in the now, there’s nothing in your thoughts the Otherside can use.”

“Fine. Ifyou thought about a nice, juicy salmon?”

“We’d probably get grizzlies.”

Back feet braced against her hip, he squirmed around until he could stare up at her.“You’re kidding?”

“Or a rain of frozen peas. Maybe even big, green, frozen grizzlies.”

“Why would the Otherside want anything to do with what’s in your head?” he demanded as Claire set him down. “Things aren’t weird enough around here without your two cents’ worth?”

“Apparently not.”

“Hey, what if you thought about big, green, frozen grizzlies?”

“You wouldn’t get salmon.” She stroked a hand down his back. “Wait here.” Kith and Teemo glanced around as she approached the barricade and then returned to staring down the stairs into the lower level. As far as Claire could tell, it looked like the lower level of the West Gardner’s Mall. No eldritch mists. No skulking shadows. No shambling hulks of darkside muscle.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

That wasn’t good.

“Any sign of Diana and Kris?”

“Nada.” Teemo scratched in through the ripped armpit of his now sleeveless Spider-man T-shirt—looking less like the semimythical creature he was becoming and more like the fifteen-year-old he’d been. “There was some crap-ass music playing, but it stopped a while ago. Don’t worry about your blood, Keeper, Kris’ll keep her safe. She’s one sneaky bi…Ow!” He shot a pained glance over his shoulder at Kith. “I wasn’t gonna say bitch!” he protested. “I was gonna say…uh…”

Kith raised a remarkably sardonic eyebrow.

“Never mind what I was gonna say. I wasn’t talkin’ to you nohow.” He turned his back on the other elf with such exaggerated indignation, he reminded Claire of Austin. “Kris’ll keep your sister safe,” he repeated. “Arthur already said that if we see any shit happening, we should let you know.”

“Thank you.” She didn’t recognize the elf on guard at the hexagonal opening until she got close enough to see the features under the lime-green hair. “Daniel?”

“Hey, Keeper.”

She’d only walked down to the end of the small corridor, been outside for a minute, two at the most. Three on the absolute outside. How had he had time to…? “What did you do to your hair?”

He pulled a strand forward, looked at it, looked at her like she was asking a trick question.“Uh, dyed it. Wicked look, right?”

The second hand on her watch zipped around from the eight to the two, then slowed.

She hated time distortions.

“Right. It’s very…green.” Andnot something she was responsible for.“Listen, I was wondering, do you know where the access to the roof is?”

“The roof?”

Claire leaned back and pointed up.“There’s got to be an access. There’s parking and there’s handrails.”

“Okay.” Daniel squinted into the gray light currently substituting for actual sky. “I never seen any stairs, but there’s an elevator down by the security office. I seen the sign on food court runs.”

“Where’s the security office?”