a8eb54fe2a7e7ca192cef2761fb9d6c0

“Good.” They began walking again, skirting the edge of Giftware and cutting through Leather Goods. Given what the elves considered party clothes, Claire wasn’t surprised that particular section had been emptied out. “Where was I? Rhetorical question,” she added quickly as Lance made anI know, I know! kind of noise.“The whole Mordred thing is irrelevant. You’re the archetypal symbol for one side, and if you face the archetypal symbol for the other side—we can call it Big Bird if we want to, but it won’t make a difference—you’ll die. This is the Otherside. I am a Keeper. I believe this, so itwill happen. If it makes you feel any better, you can blame Mrs. Saint-Germaine and grade eleven English.”

“But…”

“No.”

“If I…”

“No.”

“It isn’t…”

“What part of ‘no’ are you having trouble understanding? Youmust not face the leader of the darkside in combat.” Claire ran both hands up through her hair and sighed again. “All at once, I understand exactly how Yoda felt.”

“Who?”

“Not important.”

Arthur looked as though he was about to protest, then clearly thought better of it.“Okay.”

“I’m going to go get changed.”

“Petite Sportswear is against the far right-hand wall.”

“Thank you. Lance…” A half turn to find him smiling down at her. She had a sudden vision of him let loose in the mall and shuddered. “…you’d better stay with me.”

“Sure! Hang on a minute!”

Since she didn’t have a hope of moving him, she folded her arms and waited as he stepped forward, his pale blue eyes locking onto Arthur’s azure ones.

“You’re the actual Arthur?” he asked.

“I’m a version of the archetypal Arthur.”

“Cool! Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

The broad brow under the silver band wrinkled.“I am making a fractured people one. I am a leader where there is need.”

“But here? In a shopping mall?”

“Yes.”

“With elves?”

“Yes.”

Lance frowned.“I’m confused.”

“You’re not the only one.” Claire patted him reassuringly on a sunburned forearm. “Come on…”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_5]

Black stretch pants, black tank, black hood, black running shoes, black belt pouch…Claire had no idea if the real-world store carried the same selection, but on the Otherside this was clearly the place for one stop skulking. She either looked like she was going to a very casual funeral or about to fill her evening with a little B&E—she couldn’t decide. Maybe both; B&E at a casual funeral…

Stop it. Do not think of funerals. You’ll get Diana back.

Her hands were shaking as she dropped to tie her laces.“Is this really necessary? Ninja dressing didn’t keep Kris and Diana from being captured.”

“I totally doubt it was the clothes that got them snagged,” Kith snorted, tying off the end of her braid with a black elastic. “You walk the walk, you wear the cloth.”

“Excuse me?”

“You gotta dress like you do.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Communication between seventeen and twenty-seven occasionally took place in two distinct languages. Buckling on the belt pouch, she hurried out of the dressing room in time to smack a piece of chocolate away from Lance’s mouth.

“Hey!”

“If you ever want to go back, you can’t eat or drinkanything on this side that you didn’t bring with you.”

“But I’m hungry!”

Actually, so was she.“I’ve got food in my pack. Come on.”

Her pack was with Diana’s, just inside the front door. Claire dragged Lance through the milling crowd of mall elves, tossed him a power bar and a bottle of water, and began filling her belt pouch with preset possibilities.

“I’d send you back to Kingston if I could,” she told him, tucking a folded piece of paper behind three glass marbles, “but with the darkside influencing the paths, I can’t guarantee where you’d end up.”

“I’m willing to take that chance in order to stop Meryat!”

“Since you’re the only one whocan stop Meryat and since she’s with Dean, I’m not. We rescue Kris and Diana, we stop the darkside, we stop its influence, I send you to the guest house, you stop Meryat, and…”

“We all live happily ever after!”

“Sure. Why not.” The small plastic packet of cayenne pepper got slid very carefully up against the flat side of the pouch. “But for now, you’ll have to stay here in the store where you’ll be safe.”

“I’m not afraid to fight!”

“Good. If the store gets attacked, you’ll have to.” Fortunately, with Arthur out in the mall, there’d be no chance of that. Claire unzipped an outside pocket on Diana’s pack, reached into it, and froze as her fingers closed around air. “The wand. Diana took the wand.”

“That’s bad?”

“When she used it against a minion, it nearly killed her. If she uses it against the darkside…”

“But I thought she was captured?”

“So?” It took all of Claire’s strength to push that single syllable out against the certain knowledge that her little sister was as good as dead.

“So if it’s that powerful, then she didn’t get to use it before she was captured. After, well, they’ll have taken it away from her so shecan’t use it. Right?”