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Chapter 50

Jack's gargoyle looked positively gaunt to Rhea. The creature gave her a listless wave as she went under the carport.

Her key slid smoothly into the lock and the back door swung easily on its hinges—Jack had fixed it after the second time she was locked out. Apparently in consequence, his microwave had gone on the blink and would now run only for two minutes and twenty-two seconds at a time.

Jack was in the living room, apportioning miscellaneous picnic paraphernalia between different bags and whistling Roger Whitaker's "New World in the Morning." He started as he heard her come up behind him. "Oh! Hi, Rhea." He glanced at his watch. "Right on time, I see." He did a double take as her outfit registered, then he did a long, slow inspection, starting at her toes and working upwards.

"Do I pass?" she asked.

"You know you do," he said, and hugged her, holding her close enough that she could feel the hard truth behind his words. She reached down and pinched.

He pinched back, but said, "Uh, uh, time for dessert later. First help me get this stuff out in the car, and then let's hit the road."

Rhea grabbed a bag and smiled at the fresh smells of bread and tortilla chips. "Where are we going?" she asked.

Jack fanned a pair of tickets in front of her face. "It took a bit of work to get these," he said. "It's not like Disney World. They don't let so many people in each day that it gets intolerable. We're going to Devil's Point."

The smile froze on Rhea's face. Oh, just great. The one place in North Carolina I least want to go. The place with the highest concentration of Unchained. She looked at Jack's face. He was grinning with triumph—those tickets really were hard to get. And certainly it would be the last place any of her pursuers would expect her to go. She tightened her shields. "That's wonderful," she said.

 

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Framed