’ He was quiet a second or two. ‘Shoot, Beverly. You seem ’bout as lost a girl as I ever met. But I reckon I ain’t gonna talk you into toodlin...’ on over to Atlanta with me, am I?’ Sarah lowered her head. She thought she wondered what Atlanta was like. Benett had been there five times in the last year. ‘Well, no,’ he said, ‘I guess not. I tell you what, though. When you find that boyfriend of yours, you tell him there’s men knows better than to drop you off in the middle of nowheres, if it ain’t. This annoyed her so she tried again. “What, or should I ask, who are you.” This time she sounded almost normal in her ears.“Ah good, you work to overcome fear.” A ripple raced up and down the watery surface, almost like laughter in the way it moved. “I am water sprite child, a being of nature, the last of my kind on this world.” As it spoke, Brena could see the ripples the sound made in the water more clearly now. “I was once a minor guardian of this wood, but now I am alone and no longer serve. The carpet rasped on my back as Allison and Korina dragged me across the living room. I struggled, wriggling my body and kicking my legs, trying to get the sluts to release me. My foot slipped out of Xiu's grasp and caught her in the face as she tried to hold onto my feet. Her head snapped back and she stumbled backwards, falling on her ass. I felt a momentarily surge of satisfaction, something primal and ancient, at seeing crimson blood stream from her nose. The satisfaction faded quickly as. Wednesday, I got down to making some phone calls. One that I'd been putting off was to Katherine's younger brother, Douglas. I can't say we'd been really close, but he was nearer my age than Katherine's and we'd got on quite well. I didn't know what to expect. What I got was genuine, sincere congratulations."You made my sister very happy, Ted, and no-one could have done more for her. I'm glad you've found someone, and I hope you're very happy together." Thanks, Doug, I really appreciate that..