~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As Jill smiled and pulled her oversized suitcase I felt my heart soar with happiness. Every little corner an...d nook and cranny of my body flooding with adrenaline in a feeling I don’t think I’d ever quite known before. I couldn’t help but think how good she looked, her legs shown off by the swishing short skirt and heels she was sporting. Her top business-like but tight enough and showing enough cleavage to give me the first stirrings of a welcome home. ‘Harker Matheson,’ stressing his last name like it was important. ‘Oh yeah, Harker Matheson –‘ she said, taking the cue. Hey, weren’t you in my freshman comp class? I think I remember you.’ He looked at her. ‘May have been. Stupid waste of time, though.’ ‘Oh, it wasn’t for me,’ she said, and took the plunge. ‘I guess it would be for someone like you. I could tell you already knew what was going on.’ ‘I don’t know why they don’t let us AP out of it.’ ‘I guess,’ she said, ‘but I didn’t have a. "No Ms. Tanner, you don't, although I wish you did. But Mr. Brooks said you'd be the prettiest little redhead I've ever seen, so I took a guess. He wasn't lying." His smile widened as I thanked him."You and Mr. Brooks are dining the conservatory tonight," he said with a shake of his head as if to clear it. I grinned. "Right this way." The conservatory?" I echoed. I'd never been to La Langoustine before and every sight was new. The floors were dark and gleaming hardwood, the chandelier in the. I just told him I was a friend of Winder's. He was sure surprised!"Normally, assassination turns my stomach, but in this instance, I felt their temporary inconvenience in dying was more than overweighed by our need. After all... the enemy was having no trouble getting resurrected.I hesitated to draw the sword. Although it looked like an ordinary short sword, in the hand of Spellblaster, who wore only one of the God's gloves to control it, the sword summoned Zibong and controlled spirits and.