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"We'd better not need it," she said as we parked a few blocks away and got out of the car. "It only
disrupts magic; it doesn't do squat on regular people. Well, humans, I mean."
"Oh."
"I've been meaning to ask," she whispered as we snuck up on the split-level and Cathie ran through
(literally through) snowbanks ahead imploring us to hurry, hurry, hurry! "I thank God every night that I
didn't hurt you, but, uh,why didn't my sword hurt you? It should have killed you."
I shrugged. "Got no idea, doll. But one thing at a time."
"Oh. All right."
"Now remember," I whispered as we peeked into the front window. "Fact-finding. And if the woman's
here, we'll save her."
"What if there's no woman here, just the bad guy?" Laura asked.
"You'll recognize him, right?" I asked Cathie.
"Too damned right I will."
"Okay, well, then we'll pull back and call the good guys and wait for them to come."
"What if he leaves before "
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"One thing at a time, okay? We don't even know if anybody's home."
"Nobody's in the living room," Laura observed.
"Just a minute," Cathie said, and flitted through the window. We hid (in plain sight, in the front yard),
feeling like idiots (at least I did) while she phased through the house. She popped out through the garage
and said, "He's not here. But there's a woman in the basement!"
"Pull up the garage door," Laura suggested.
"Everything's locked," Cathie fretted.
"I'm sure I can pull it up " I began.
"But you guys," Laura protested, "he'llsee it!"
"Who cares? Do him good to get a really big scare. Maybe he'll do something stupid."
"And maybe he'll run away and we won't catch him."
"Well, we can't just leave that poor woman down in the dark by herself, thinking she's going to die."
"Goddamned right!" Cathie said. "One of you break something and get in here! All I can do is float
around goingbooooooooo . Cross of Christ!"
I picked up one of the bricks lining the sidewalk and tossed it through the front window. The noise was
tremendous. Not to mention the mess. Cathie and Laura stared at me, shocked.
"Maybe this way, he'll think it's just kids." It was lame, but it was all I had. "Maybe he won't think the
cops are here if he just sees a broken window."
"Oh. Good one." Cathie floated approvingly away, and Laura carefully hoisted herself up and into the
living room.
"Watch the glass," I warned her and then cut myself a good one and cursed. Luckily, I bled as well as I
read: sluggishly.
"Down here!" Cathie called, and darted into a closed wooden door.
What's funny was, I was starting to get used to the smell of the refinery we'd been driving around the
neighborhood a good twenty minutes, after all. But Cathie was right, it blotted out everything else. If he
was killing women in the basement, I couldn't smell it from the kitchen. I couldn't even smell the kitchen
from the kitchen.
Laura and I hurried down the stairs, which were predictably dark and spooky until Laura found the light
switch. Banks of fluorescents winked on, and in the far corner, we could see a woman with messy, short
blond hair, tied up and gagged with electrician's tape. Her outfit was, needless to say, a mess.
"Ha!" Cathie screeched, phasing though the wood-burning furnace and zooming around in a tight circle.
"Told you, told you!"
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"It's all right," Laura said, going to her. "You're safe now. Er, this might sting a bit." And she ripped the
tape off the woman's mouth. "It's like a Band-Aid," she told her. "You can't do it little by little."
"He's coming back to kill me " Mrs. Scoman (I assume it was Mrs. Scoman) gasped. "He said
he was going to use his special friend and kill me " Then she leaned over and barfed all over
Laura's shoes.
"That's all right," Laura said, rubbing the terrified woman's back. "You've had a hard night."
"If those were my shoes," I muttered to Cathie, "I wouldn't be able to be so nice about it."
"Oh, your sister's a freak," Cathie said, dismissing ShoeGate with a wave of her hand. "I've only known
her a couple of days, and I figured that one out."
"She's different and nice," I said defensively, "but that doesn't make her a freak."
"Trust me. Having been killed by one, I recognize the breed."
"You take that back! You can't put someone like Laura in the same league as the Driveway Asshole."
"Will you two stop it?" Laura hissed, struggling with the tape. "You're scaring poor Mrs. Scoman! And I
am not in the same league as the Driveway Asshole."
"I just want to get out of here," she groaned. "I want to get out of here so bad. Just my feet. I don't care
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