Clay Griffith

“What did you do?" Kate asked."Nothing. We're inside the wards." Simon laughed and drank the elixir.She looked around with surprise. "How can you tell? At night? In the snow?""That tree." He indicated an ash tree standing amidst other ash trees."It looks like a thousand other trees.""No, it looks like you." Simon took a shallow, pained breath, but smiled. "It's my marker."Both Kate and Malcolm stared at the tree. Kate cocked her hip. "It looks like me? A tree? That's flattering.""Yes. See how the curves--" Simon worked his hands in an hourglass shape. "It looks like you.”

“There are springs in the mind from which others cannot drink.”

“Charlotte." Kate attempted to distract the child from her endless questions and held up the glass tube. "This is wulfsyl. I can't be sure it's correct."The girl looked at Kate with excitement, then asked hopefully, "Will it stop me from eating someone?"Kate looked uncomfortable. "We believe that if you take it now, you will n ever have to eat someone.""But what if I do?""Eat Malcolm," Simon suggested.”

“Kate grasped her small handbag and pulled a small blue vial and threw it into the grinding mass. It shattered harmlessly, causing two creatures to pause with a look of confusion."What is that potion?" Simon asked.Kate stared as the two undead things began to shuffle forward again. She glanced into her purse. "Damn it! That was my perfume.”