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I said none of this, of course I shut up and set h to die in aoff a horse

Froallop I abandoned ed the Gypsy man on the saddle in front of me who held the reins--so quickly that I didn’t have a chance to wave goodbye to the Gypsies who had gathered to see us off Which was just as well: goodbyes had never beensuit anyway, and lately oodbye, goodbye

We rode My thighs went nu the horse Bekhir led the pack, his peculiar boy riding with hiht and arms at his sides, confident and unafraid, such a contrast fro the Gypsies He didn’t need us These were his people

Eventually we slowed to a trot and I found the courage to un-burylandscape The forest had flattened into fields We were descending into a valley, in the er than a postage sta toward it fro ellipsis of puffy white dots: the smoky breath of a train

Bekhir stopped the horses just shy of the town gates "This is as far as we go," he said "We’re not much welcome in towns You don’t want the sort of attention we’d draw"

It was hard to iain, si the reasons peculiars had withdrawn from society Such was the way the sad world turned

The children and I dis no one would notice o, Bekhir’s boy sprang down from his father’s horse and cried, "Wait! Taketo talk to him," Emma said to Millard

"I did," Millard replied

The boy pulled a knapsack fro it over his shoulder He was packed and ready to go "I can cook," he said, "and chop wood, and ride a horse, and tie all sorts of knots!"

"Soe," said Enoch

"I’ently

"But I’an to unbuckle his pants "Look what’s happening to me!"

Before anyone could stop hiasped and looked away Hugh shouted, "Keep your trousers on, you depraved lunatic!"

But there was nothing to see--he was invisible from the mid-section down Morbid curiosity compelled me to peek at the underside of his visible half, which earned s of his bowels

"Look how much I’ve disappeared since yesterday," Radi said, his voice panicky "Soon I’ll be gone altogether!"

The Gypsy awked andaway froed!" said Enoch "He’s only half there"

"Oh, you poor thing," said Bronwyn "Can’t we keep hi circus you can join whenever the notion takes you," said Enoch "We’re on a dangerous mission to save our ymbryne, and in no position to play babysitter to a clueless new peculiar!"

The boy’s eyes greide and began to water, and he let his knapsack slide off his shoulder and fall to the road