“How are you holding up, Andrew?” said Mandy quietly.
“Okay, I guess,” answered Andrew. “I miss her.”
“Yes, so do I.”
Chapter 53
Miri spent an hour in the infirmary with Mrs. Bumsqueak fussing over her. Finally, she gave Miri a draft of her disgusting pond water potion and dismissed her in time for supper.
Miri realized she was very hungry. She walked into the dining room, filled her tray with food, and joined Danny at a side table away from the others. She needed to tell him what had happened, but didn’t know where to begin.
Quietly, she explained her encounter with David and the monster.
“You should have called me.”
“I tried, but the wards around P.A.W.S. were too strong and there was something more; it felt like someone or something was actively blocking my communication, and in any case, I needed all my power to defeat Alistair.”
“We still don’t have all the parts to the puzzle,” said Danny. “Someone from within P.A.W.S. stole the charm to start off with, and I’m willing to bet that that same person was helping Alistair in his fight with you tonight. It was still Alistair, inside the charm, right? Inside David?”
“Yes, definitely,” confirmed Miri.
“And you think he’s actually gone this time? That now you’ve truly destroyed him?”
“No, not yet, but he will be.” She explained about Quentin. How he planned to remove Alistair’s soul fragments from the charm.
“That’s sounds dangerous,” said Danny, a worried look on his face. “Surely it would be better to destroy the amulet?”
“Quentin seems to think that would be a tragedy. It’s an ancient artifact and there are very few left in the world. When Quentin first said that, I thought, like you, that it nevertheless would be safer to destroy it, but while Mrs. Bumsqueak was patching me up just now I thought about it some more.
“I think he may be right. I have the book that’s associated with my charm, though I still can’t read it. It’s supposed to tell the stories of all those who wore it before me. What if there’s another out there, linked to my opapa’s charm? What if all those stories are not lost, but waiting for the right person to find them and share them?”
This reminded Miri of something. She still had her book in her pocket from her trip to see Sarah Sinclair. She took it out now and lay it on the table in front of her.
The front cover looked the same: “Argentum” written in silver on a rich purple background. Instinctively, she opened it. On the first page were still the same Hebrew words that Lilith had translated. Trembling very slightly, she turned the page. On the next page, which had previously been blank, there was now a picture: a grey cat with green eyes staring at her.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank all my friends and family for their continued support. Without you, Argentum would never have happened.
In particular, I extend thanks to my children, Bronia and Joey; my wonderful beta reader and friend, Larry Miller; the winners of my two contests—Misha Burnett, Rachel Gorin, and Ian Kupfer, for your wonderful magical elements; and Kerry Black for the monkey joke.
Finally, I’d like to thank Robin Tidwell of Rocking Horse Publishing, and all the members of the All on the Same Page writer’s group for your continued support.
And then, of course, there’s Miri Billie Joe, the kitty of our house. You continue to inspire me every day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debbie Manber Kupfer grew up in the UK in the East London suburb of Barking. She has lived in Israel, New York, and North Carolina, and somehow ended up in St. Louis, where she works as a writer and freelance constructor of word puzzles and logic problems.
She lives with her husband, two children, and a very opinionated feline. Her first novel, P.A.W.S., was published in 2013 by Rocking Horse Publishing. In addition, she has short stories in several anthologies including Fauxpocalypse, Shades of Fear, Sins of the Past, and Darkly Never After. She believes that with enough tea and dark chocolate you can achieve anything!
Connect with Debbie on her blog or on Facebook:
http://debbiemanberkupfer.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DebbieManberKupferAuthor.
Argentum (P.A.W.S. Book 2) Page 23
