But she does have those tusks.â
âNot to mention a great big sword, if weâre talking about the same personâthe one the councilor called Tash. Sheâs a half-half?â
âUh-huh. Thatâs what they call them, all the ones who arenât just one thing or another. Half-halfs.â
âWhoâs âtheyâ?â
âGnomes. Thatâs who I know about, anyway, but I guess everyone in Edge calls them that. Thereâs a lot of half-halfs in Edge because of all the magic.â
âYou been to Edge?â
Gan nodded, preening. âI can still cross.â That was rareâhardly any demons could cross between realms without being summoned, but Gan could. She hadnât lost the ability when she started growing her soul, either. This made her very special.
Cynna Weaver recognized that. Gan could see the admiration in her face and hear it in her voice. âI wish I could cross like that. Is it harder to do now?â
âWell, I donât have as much juice, butâ¦hey, do you have any candy? Chocolate candy.â
âMy, you have changed. Not gobbling live bugs these days?â
Gan sighed. âI canât eat ymu anymore, so I have to eat dead things. But chocolateâs different. I like chocolate.â
âI think Iâve got some.â Cynna Weaver pulled her big bag up into her lap and started digging around in it. âYouâve been staying with the gnomes.â
âUh-huh. What kind of chocolate?â
âHow did you know that the councilor and the others were coming here?â She pulled out a candy bar. Gan tried to grab it, but Cynna Weaver held it up too high. âAnswer the question first.â
âIâm stronger than you. I can just take it.â
âDo you have money?â
Ganâs forehead scrunched up. âHuh?â
âIf you have money, you can buy your own chocolate. If you donât have money, youâll either have to steal thingsâwhich can get you in lots of troubleâor get someone to give you what you want. I might give you more chocolate later if you donât make me mad. If you make me mad,â she added, âI might zap you.â
Gan eyed her. Cynna Weaver was bigger than her, of course, but that didnât mean much. Even big humans were pretty puny. But sheâd seen Cynna Weaver kill a red-eye with a spell. Red-eyes were tough to kill. âLily Yu wouldnât like it if you killed me.â
âI have more than one spell. My zap spell hurts but doesnât kill. Usually.â
âYeah?â Gan perked up, interested. âShow me. Not on me,â she added hastily. âOn the half-half, maybe. Or the councilor.â
âNot now. How did you know the Edge people were coming here?â
âIâd like to know that, too,â Lily Yu said.
Gan looked up at her. It made her feel funny to see Lily Yu again. Good-funny and bad-funny all mixed up.
While Lily Yu was in Dis, she had died. Well, part of her had, since sheâd accidentally gotten herself split in twoâwhich wasnât Ganâs fault, or not all her fault, anyway. Being human, Lily Yu had a soul, so the part that died hooked up again with the part that lived, which was the Lily Yu sitting beside Gan now.
It was complicated, but Gan more or less understood what had happenedâas much as she understood anything about souls, anyway. The confusing part was the way she felt right now, as if sheâd eaten something bad, something she couldnât quite swallow all the way. âMost of you doesnât remember me, huh?â
âSome of me does.â
The way Lily Yu said that made the tight, unswallowed feeling in Ganâs throat feel better. âYou recognized me. Even though I look a lot different now, you knew who I was.â
âI did, right away. Are you going to answer Cynnaâs question?â
Gan stole a glance at the candy, but Cynna Weaver
Alice Ward, Jessica Blake