His cape had been draped over him like a blanket, and he pulled it off as he sat up, looking around for Kadal.“Caden!” she exclaimed, rushing to h...is side. “You are awake!”“What happened?” he grumbled, rubbing his temples as a dull ache permeated his head.“After you used the black stone, you passed out, and I carried you up to the observatory. You have slept for hours. I was starting to worry that you might never wake, that the stone had incurred some terrible cost.”“No,” he replied, “it was. Draper was in a town about twenty miles from our town. The C. Draper was right in town, so I decided to call it first. A man answered, and told me that he was Clarence Draper. For some reason, I didn't want to try the other number right away. I think I felt like I'd be too disappointed if it turned out not to be Audrey. I wrote the number down on the pad my mom kept near the phone, and returned to the dinner table. "Did you find her?" I've got a possible, but it's over in Hamilton. It's. "He didn't go on, but even so I picked up a vague sense of ... unease? Maybe even a little stronger, like a kind of concern that he might not be fully welcomed back when they came to get him. Or that maybe they wouldn't even want to come? It wasn't clear, but there was something there that didn't feel right.But he let it lie there and so did I. I let him back out for another bathroom trip; he was negotiating the steps all right now, and I simply left the door ajar. When he came back in I was. Um zu sehen, was es auslöste. Man könnte es eine Generalprobe vor der eigentlichen Vorstellung nennen. Es hat nicht immer geklappt, aber sie hatte versucht, es so viel wie möglich zu tun.Aber jetzt war es Zahltag und Crystal wartete, bis alle anderen Angestellten ihre Schecks abgeholt hatten und gegangen waren.In letzter Zeit hatte ihr Onkel an Zahltagen mit ihr gespielt. Er hielt ihren Scheck hoch und sagte etwas wie: "Was gibst du mir dafür?" Dann war es an ihr, ihn zu kitzeln.Vor zwei Wochen.