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court?"
    Cynna shook her head. "We'd better head back and get Rule's card. I don't trust that clerk."
    "Okay." They reversed direction. "Did you mean it about trying on a skirt?"
    "No."
    Lily grinned. "Temporary insanity does not constitute—oh, my God." She stopped moving. "What's she doing here?"
    Cynna couldn't figure out who Lily was talking about. There were a number of " she's" directly ahead—an older woman with a Talbot's bag, a young mom with a toddler, two teens who should have been in school.
    All at once a runty bald something was standing ten feet away. It had breasts, orange skin, and pointy teeth. It—she?—wore a tight yellow dress with purple polka dots, and it was grinning at them. "Hi, Lily Yu!"
    The teens screamed. A nearby man in a suit gaped, then swung his briefcase at it.
    "Hey!" It grabbed the case with both hands. That's when Cynna saw the tail—long and prehensile, it lashed around to grab the man's ankle. "Did you see that? He tried to hit me! Can I—"
    "No," Lily said loudly, hurrying forward. "Turn loose of him and give him back his briefcase."
    "But he—"
    "Wasn't expecting you," Lily said, tugging on the briefcase. "You startled him."
    "What in the hell is that thing?" the man demanded.
    My words exactly . Cynna didn't say them, though. Lily seemed to have the whatsit situation under control, so she dealt with the teens. One of them was sobbing and clinging to the other, who glared at Cynna suspiciously.
    "Great effect, isn't it?" Cynna said cheerfully. "You didn't see… ah, her coming, did you?"
    The dark-haired one frowned harder. "No."
    "Great! And your name is—?"
    "Shauna. And this is Deanna." Shauna was still suspicious, but her friend stopped crying long enough to protest Shauna's making free with their names, which Mom had told them never, ever to do.
    Probably Mom had also told them not to cut school, but never mind that. The girls weren't hysterical anymore.
    Lily recovered the briefcase and restored it to its owner. "Sorry for the shock, sir."
    "But he tried to hit me!" the orange whatsit exclaimed. It was child-size, but built like a squashed sumo wrestler. With breasts. Big breasts. And that tail. "Can't you shoot him or something?"
    "No," Lily said shortly. "Gan, what are you doing here?"
    Gan? Cynna looked closer. The body had changed the most, but the face was different, too. Same orange skin and bald head, same ridiculously wide eyes with Maybelline lashes, but the rest of the features were… well, you couldn't call them normal, but it was amazing what a difference a nose could make. Cynna would never have recognized the little demon.
    Former demon, she supposed. Gan had been staying with the gnomes while she underwent some kind of mysterious transformation. Cynna ought to have recognized the voice, though—high-pitched and squeaky, as if one of those yappy little dogs decided to talk.
    A crowd was gathering. "I'm calling the police," Briefcase Man announced.
    Gan ignored him. "I'm going with you, of course. Didn't they tell you I was coming?"
    "They?" Lily said. "Who?"
    Gan looked around, frowning—an interesting sight, given the lack of eyebrows. Then she rolled her eyes. "Great. They got the timing wrong. Wouldn't you know it! They're supposed to be such hotshot gaters, but they couldn't even sync the—"
    The screaming interrupted her.
    Cynna and Lily locked glances for a split second, then took off running. The screams were coming from back near the fountain.
    The China Doll was smart, she was tough, but Cynna's legs were a lot longer and she knew how to run. As Cynna pulled ahead, she heard the little demon piping away—somehow, despite her runty legs, Gan was keeping up with Lily. "Are you going to shoot someone? Who? I want a gun, too."
    Gun. Right. Probably a good idea, so Cynna fished in her purse for her weapon without breaking stride. She had only two offensive spells—one that worked only on demons, and one that required physical contact. If whatever