I started to
phrase formal thanks, then broke off in astonishment. The cafe had
emptied and we were entirely alone. Even the _chaks_ had leaped through
an open window--I saw the whisk of a disappearing tail.
We stood frozen, looking at one another while the Toad God sprawled
across her breasts rose and fell for half a dozen breaths.
Then I took one step forward, and she took one step backward, at the
same instant. In one swift movement she was outside in the dark street.
It took me only an instant to get into the street after her, but as I
stepped across the door there was a little stirring in the air, like the
rising of heat waves across the salt flats at noon. Then the
street-shrine was empty, and nowhere was there any sign of the girl. She
had vanished. She simply was not there.
I gaped at the empty shrine. She had stepped inside and vanished, like a
wraith of smoke, like--
--Like the little toy-seller they had hunted out of the Kharsa.
There were eyes in the street again and, becoming aware of where I was,
I moved away.
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