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licking his cone and stepping backward toward the lake. At first Julia thought the boy’s butt would bump into the heavy, metal binoculars, but as he continued stepping backward, she realized he was headed for a rickety-looking spot in the little fence.
    She rushed over and scooped him up without a second thought. Toward the end of her time at group home, she’d been like an older sister to some of the kids, so grabbing him felt natural. As she hoisted him onto her hip, his brown eyes met hers, and he did the strangest thing. Staring way too intently for a kid, he dropped his ice cream cone  and swung his little hand out to slap her face.
    As his pudgy fingers touched her cheek, Julia felt a jolt of pain—as intense as a needle prick. The child stared at her as Julia’s mouth dropped open and then, before she could stop him, he slapped her again. Another sting, this time like sticking her tongue onto a 9-volt battery.
    He stared again, then his mouth opened and he let out a piercing shriek. Cayne was by her side, his hand on her shoulder. He was glancing around, clearly on edge. “Put the boy down.”
    “But—”
    “Something’s not right.”
    Julia was going to chastise Cayne for being overly paranoid—and overly bossy—but the child wailed even louder and started fighting to get out of her arms, his yellow balloon bobbing in the frenzy. Instinctively, Julia clung to him. Where were his parents? What if he fell into the freezing lake?
    Suddenly he kicked her—hard—and in her shock she let him go. He hit the ground running, taking a few steps toward the water before swerving back toward the parking lot. Before she could chase after him, she heard the slamming of a door and jerked around to— holy macaroni! That was Thierry coming out of the hotel!
    Julia saw Cayne’s wings materialize with a mighty whoosh, but before he got his hands on her, Thierry had her by the arm.
    “You’re coming with me!” he growled as he dragged her to his thin chest.
    Cayne smacked Thierry across the face, sending him tumbling across the boardwalk, and his blood dagger appeared in his hand. He lunged for Thierry, but Julia grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “We gotta go!”  
    Within a heartbeat, his arms were around her waist and he was lifting her off the ground. But Thierry lunged up, and to Julia’s shock, he grabbed her leg. It was horrible and freaky, pulling her off-balance, making her feel like she was being stretched in half… Making her feel like she would fall. His chilly fingers tightened their grip around her ankle and she gently kicked, wanting him off of her but frozen by the fact that dropping him would kill him. Right?
    The air was growing colder with the altitude as everything below them shrank, including the vast lake, and suddenly the mountain peaks were eye-level.
    “You…bitch!”
    Julia looked down in horror as he shut his eyes; surely he would fall and die, and it would be her fault. Fall and die? She should be kicking him! Better that than be spirited away!
    She kicked once, twice, and the awful deed was done: Thierry was falling. She hadn’t fully realized their height until she watched him fall for nearly two seconds. She waited for him to hit the water’s surface—surely a killing blow.
    She was watching the moment that it happened: The French Chosen boy simply disappeared into thin air.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    As Cayne flapped his charcoal wings and headed for the waterfront park where their van sat, idling, Julia clung to his green military jacket, swamped by a strange blend of terror, remorse, and anger.
    Her mind spun, terrified by the thought of what would have happened if Thierry had managed to spirit her away, anxious over whether her friends were safe, desperately wishing this would all just go away.
    After Thierry’s disappearing act, Julia had begged Cayne to return to the spa. He hadn’t, but he had flown high, high enough so that none of the