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thinking this through. Unless you really want to stay out of everything, I'm going to at least
keep you informed."
"Right." Joe accepted that, and stowed the glove back in the box. "Ah where's Fox?"
"That " Tannim replied quietly " is a darned good question." And one he hadn't considered until
now.
He saw her coming. No he sensed her coming. He looked back over his shoulder before I knew
anything was up, said, "Uh oh," and vanished. And he hasn't been back.
Fox knew something. He had to. There was no other explanation for the way he'd acted.
Did he recognize her? There had to be something there that he knew, or sensed something that
slipped right by me, because I thought she was just some hot-rodder, or an obnoxious drunk, right
up until she rammed the rear of the Mach I. I had no clue she'd done anything with magic until
after she was gone. So what does Fox know about all this?
"You're thinking about something," Joe observed, watching his face alertly. "Something to do with
that woman and Fox."
"Yeah." He ran his tongue over dry lips. "He was with me right up until the moment she showed up,
then he just blinked out, and hasn't been back."
"Can you make him show up?" Joe asked hopefully. "It sounds like he might know something."
But Tannim had to shake his head with regret. "No. Not without violating a lot of trusts, as well
as protocols. My friends the ones like Fox wouldn't ever really trust me again if I forced him to
show up. That's part of the reason they like me. He knows I'm thinking about him, I'm sure. He'll
only show up if he wants to."
Joe shook his head sadly. "Sometimes it's really frustrating to be the good guy, you know? The bad
guys never have to think of things like this."
Despite the tension, Tannim had to chuckle at that. " 'Fraid so, Joe," he replied. "I'm afraid
so."
* * *
They reached the ranch without any kind of incident, but Tannim was not about to be lulled into
lowering his defenses. If this was a challenge, that would be precisely the sort of thing she
would be looking for. No, if anything, he had to redouble his efforts.
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But before he did that, he was going to have to refuel and get some real rest. He'd done
everything he could do to protect the innocent bystanders without having specific information on
his opponent. Now was the time to get himself back up to top shape.
Joe had already gotten breakfast with his guardian, but he showed no reluctance to eat when
presented with a second breakfast. Tannim marveled yet again at the way the young man could
dispose of food, as he munched his way dutifully through as much of the "farmhouse meal" as he
could handle at one time. One thing for sure, he's solved our leftover problem for awhile.
After breakfast, when his mother and father both mentioned work in the stables, he seized on the
excuse to get a little more sleep. "You guys go right ahead," he said, trying to sound relaxed. "I
have a ton of books with me I haven't had time to get to. I'll go read in my room, if you guys
don't mind, and I'll catch up with you at lunch."
That gives me another three hours to sleep. I can pack six hours worth into those three, with a
little hard mage-sleep. That should put me back up to par. Or at least as close to par as I've
been in the last couple of months.
After the exhibition of allergic reactions Tannim had shown the last time he'd entered the barn,
neither of his parents were eager to have him along. They accepted his statement with a minimum of
fuss and ushered Joe out the kitchen door, all three of them looking eager. The proprietary way
his parents flanked the young man made Tannim smile. They had definitely "adopted" him.
He shoved the dishes into the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen hastily, and practically ran into
his room. He spread a book open on the nightstand, to make it look as if he really had been
reading, but
But if they happen to come in and find me asleep, it's not that big a deal. They know I need rest,
they'll just think I'm actually getting it.
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