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I couldn't see her as Senna. Not the Senna I'd known. Too much had happened. I knew too
much, and suspected more.
"You know, I really want to thank you for bringing me to this party," I said. "So far I've been
hung from Loki's castle walls, chased, half-drowned, had to sing the "Battle Hymn of the
Republic" to keep from being killed by drunken Vikings, hunted by crazy Aztecs, and almost
had my heart cut out and fed to a big blue god. So, as vacations go, this one is great."
Senna said nothing in direct response. I'm pretty sure she detected the note of sarcasm in my
voice. She'd have had to be deaf not to detect the note of sarcasm.
She leaned to one side and opened a sort of shoulder bag I hadn't noticed before. She with-
drew a parcel wrapped in green leaves. Within the leaf wrapping, a small round cake.
She handed it over, I took it, our fingers touched accidentally. I felt a charge. Excitement. A
rush.
I stuffed the cake in my mouth. It tasted like corn bread.
Then I yelled, "Okay, you guys, it's okay."
"The others are alive?" Senna asked. A polite question. Sort of like, "And how is your grand-
mother doing after the surgery?"
"Oh, yeah, we're all fine. Time of our lives, Senna. We all love it here at the Everwoild Club
Med. It'll be a shame when we have to go home."
I swear I wanted to slap her. Not a glimmer of guilt. Nothing.
"You don't happen to know how we do that, I guess? Go home, I mean. North? South? Take a
left at the first lunatic god and go past three elves? Do we take the troll road?"
That brought a faint smile.
Then David stepped into the firelight. He stopped and stared at her. Not a happy stare. It was
too complex for that. I swear the first expression that crossed his face was disappointment.
I don't know what I expected from David. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd yelled, "Oh,
baby!" and run to her arms. Disappointment? Why? Didn't like her outfit?
Ah, no, no, of course. David was worried that maybe the big adventure was all over. Me, I
was worried it wasn't.
Neither of them said anything. But I could tell Senna was disappointed in her own way. I had
a feeling maybe she was looking for the big Hali-maik moment, too. Expecting her little love
puppy to come bounding over and lay his head down on her lap to have his ears scratched.
"Hello, David."
He nodded. Said nothing.
Then Jalil and April emerged into the light. Jalil went into cautious mode. He knew, just like I
did, that the Big Show, the Main Event, was between David and Senna. He was hanging back,
waiting to listen and understand.
April didn't hang back. She walked straight to Senna, stopped, leaned down, drew back her
right hand, and nailed Senna with a slap that echoed against the trees.
The two girls stared at each other. Fury from April. And what from Senna? Not rage. Not
guilt or remorse. Not fear, certainly.
Arrogance. That was it. The calm, superior, sneering look of the two-hundred-and-fifty-pound
linebacker who's just been punched by the ninety-five-pound gymnast. The look said, "Go
ahead, slap me again. I'll crush you in my own good time."
I guess April saw the look the same why I did. She didn't repeat the slap.
"You were happy enough to see me when I brought you weapons to escape Huitzalopoctli,"
Senna said.
"I can be ruthless, too, sister. I needed you then."
"So. You guys all know each other, right?" I said, breaking the ensuing silence. "Senna, that's
David, April, and Jalil. Everybody? I'd like you all to meet Senna. The witch. She brought
cake! A very nice gesture, I'd say."
CHAPTER XXXII
We sat down. We ate corn cake.
Of all the many weird moments we'd encountered since we made the mistake of going down
to Lake Michigan early one morning, this was one of the oddest.
Odd because it had such a superficial normalcy. Odd because we each had a million questions,
so many questions no one seemed to know where to start.
Fortunately, that's why Jalil is good to have around. He knew where to start.
"You going to tell us what this is all about, Senna?"
"What all of it is about? Who can ever answer that?"
Jalil was unimpressed. "You can. And you know, I don't want to hear a bunch of metaphysical
'who can say?' b.s., so how about you start at the beginning and tell us what you're doing get-
ting snatched off the pier by a mythical wolf and hauled into this alternate universe."
"You ask for simple answers to questions that even the wisest of the wise would "
"Senna, cut the crap," Jalil snapped.
Senna's eyes went wide. David tensed involuntarily and shot Jalil a dangerous look.
Me? I could have kissed him. Exactly! Cut the crap. Answer the question. Final Jeopardy,
Senna the Witch.
"I knew I would be taken," Senna said. "I had been resisting it for some time, but I knew
eventually my resistance would fail. I knew it might endanger people near me when it
happened. I found an isolated place and time, and allowed it to happen."
"Next question," I prompted Jalil.
"Femir was supposed to take you to Loki. What happened?"
Senna shrugged. "Loki is very clever. He is not all-powerful."
"Where did you go?" Jalil asked.
"Why bring us here with you?" David asked.
Senna chose David's question. "I didn't. That was an accident."
April snorted. "David told us how you asked him to save you, protect you. You set this all up.
We're not total idiots, Senna, although I know that's what you've always thought. Ever since
we were kids and you ..."
She stopped. Senna smirked. "Ever since what, April?"
Silence. They glared, eye to eye. Then April looked away. A red flush darkened her face.
Senna looked from one of us to the next, holding each of us in turn with her dark stare. "If you
follow your fate, don't blame me because your path and mine run together."
"I'm still getting gibberish here," Jalil said. "I don't need this Tolkien-lite, pseudoprofound
nonsense. I want more of that, I can go back and find what's his name. Merlin."
Senna jerked violently. I took a step back. It was like she'd been stabbed or something. Like
she'd been bitten by a snake. I was looking for attackers, back up, head turning, adrenaline
flooding into my muscles.
"Merlin," she whispered.
Suddenly I liked the old man a lot more. I liked the fact that the mention of his name could
wipe the smug, know-it-all look off Senna's face.
She stood up, started left, stopped, started right. Stopped. She wrung her hands, literally
"What did you tell him?" she demanded.
Jalil was liking this, too. "We told him we were looking for you, Senna."
Her face was pale in the golden firelight. "Do you think this is funny? Do you think Merlin is
some feeble old man? I knew an attack was coming, I felt it, but from him? From Merlin?"
"An attack?" Suddenly David was alert and ready, grabbing the hilt of his sword.
Senna went to him and cradled his face with one hand. David blinked. "Save me, David," she
said. "Save me, or he will kill us all."
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