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Page 319
swamp filled with high grasses. The place smelled strongly of something pungent that gave Abby an excuse for the tears in her eyes. Instead of water and mud, the wetness was caused by an oozing, black substance.
"I do not have a name for this," Hunwet said. "But it is a place of magic. Look. There are bones of animals from many years past."
The material seemed to be similar to the pitch with which Abby had once filled cracks between the boards in their shed at home, but more viscous, even bubbling from beneath the earth. She saw the bones to which Hunwet referred, a few sticking straight out of the oozing mass.
Abby found a solid area on which to dismount. She looked up at her sister and her friend, feeling her eyes moisten again. Her voice was thick. "Thank you both. I'll miss you terribly."
Lucy slid down beside her, holding her tightly against her small body. "Oh, Abby." Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Please give my farewells to Arlen," Abby told her.
Hunwet held Abby's shoulder awkwardly. "I wish you much luck in your place of tomorrow, Abby."
Lucy and Hunwet promised to wait over the nearest ridge for a while, in case the magic failed to work. She watched Lucy and Hunwet mount and ride off, one riderless horse led behind. As much as Abby loved them, she hoped not to see them again. But although she tried to be optimistic, she could not help but recall her failure

 
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