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.I step out of the bathroom, letting out a cloud of steam with me from my extra-hot shower…And Carly’s right at the door.“Hi,” I tell her, placing my hands on my hips.“Okay, seriously, there’s something up.What’s going on?”“Absolutely nothing,” she says, but the corners of her mouth are twitching something fierce, and when she actually places her hand over her mouth to hide her smile, I frown at her.“What,” I say as sternly as I’m capable, “is going on?”“I told her!” she blurts out then with a wail.“I told her you’d never go for it! I know you, I told her, but—”I raise a single eyebrow, cross my arms in front of me.“Virago?” I call out.There’s no answer.“Virago’s gone,” says Carly quietly.I feel my world fall away from me.I feel such pain rend my heart in two that I can’t breathe.“What?” I whisper, pressing my hand to my heart, willing the pain to stop.“Where? Why?”Carly bites her lip, shakes her head.“She made me promise not to tell you.”“Carly—”“Hey,” says Carly gently, stepping forward and gripping my elbows with fierce fingers.“It’s okay.I promise it’s okay, all right?” Her eyes are flashing with happiness, so maybe it’s not really all that bad.“She wanted me to take you somewhere.It’ll all make sense, soon, but don’t be upset, okay?”“I don’t understand,” I begin, but she shakes her head.“Get dressed.We have to go,” she says, smiling as she presses her hands to the small of my back and all but shoves me into my bedroom.“Carly, I am dressed,” I tell her testily.My level of patience is beginning to wane.“Well,” says Carly carefully, glancing me up and down.“Where we’re going? You’re a little under-dressed, my dear.”Mystified, I take what she hands me, and she closes the bedroom door behind her as she all but waltzes out of my bedroom.I stare down at the bundle of clothes in my hands.It’s the dress I always wear to the Renaissance Festival.---“I feel like I’m being kidnapped,” I tell Carly when we’re in her car, driving to an undisclosed destination.I thought we were headed to the Knights of Valor Festival, but we’re not taking the usual way, so I guess not?I have no idea what’s going on, and it’s got me more than a little flustered.“Drink your latte.Do kidnap victims have lattes? I highly doubt it,” Carly answers confidently, making a right hand turn onto a road I’ve never been on leading more toward the heart of Boston.“Carly, if you could just tell me—”“I,” she says with a sniff, “have been sworn to the utmost of secrecies.So shush and drink your latte.”“Carly,” I tell her patiently, drawing out the syllables of her name, “we don’t have time for whatever…well, whatever this is.We have to find the beast, and—”“Don’t worry about the beast,” says Carly with conviction, her eyebrows up.I blink at her, splutter: “Don’t worry about it? Are you crazy? This is the fate of the world in our hands, and you—”“There’s no reason to worry about it—we know where the beast is,” she says quietly, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.I stare at her.She casts me a sidelong glance as she makes a left hand turn and shrugs.“I was going to tell you about it, but this morning has been a little…well, I’ve been distracted,” she mutters vaguely.“Anyway, the beast hasn’t moved from the same spot for about twelve hours, and we know exactly where it is, and it’s not moving, so—”“And where,” I say, gritting my teeth as I take a deep breath, “is it exactly?”“About a mile off-shore.It’s in an underwater cave, and it’s not leaving,” says Carly with another shrug.“Virago thinks she may have hurt the beast a little more than she thought, and it’s taking longer for the creature to heal or something, and it needs a little time out to regroup.I don’t know.I just know that it hasn’t moved, so we’re good.”“But—but…” I splutter, trying to piece everything together in my head.“That’s great! But how are we going to get the beast from there to Aidan’s store?”“Well,” says Carly carefully, “Virago had an idea that maybe we should take the whole coven on a night boat ride [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]