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“As long as you don’t end up with your neck on a guillotine. What happened to the old entrance?”

“Too many hikers. People,” she scoffed. “When will they ever stop expanding?”

“Guess it was lucky I found you then.”

“Nothing lucky about it. You’re wired to find me.”

“I assumed I lost that ability once I broke free.”

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Reimu motioned to a glass table with gilded edges. “Tea?”

“Always.”

She turned her back to use the hot water dispenser.

“I guess it wasn’t easy to find another access point to the bridge realm,” I said.

“Not as difficult as you’d think. I’m spoiled for choice in the desert. It would be much harder in a more populated area like the northeast.”

She carried a tray to the table, having filled each delicate cup to the brim with tea. I inhaled the aroma of green tea. I didn’t realize how much I missed Reimu’s legendary brew until now.

“When did you get your eighth tail?”

“About four years ago. Woke up one morning and noticed it. Must’ve sprouted overnight.”

“Only one more to go and you’ll be the Gandalf of kitsunes.”

“It would take something monumental for that to happen.” She examined her gold-tipped fingernails. “The world isn’t what it used to be.”

“This is far too dainty for me,” I said, examining the teacup. “I feel like a giant trying to use human-sized accessories.”

“You don’t drink tea anymore?”

“I do, but I use a mug the size of a basketball.”

She snorted. “So, tell me. I’m dying to know. What happened to you?”

I averted my eyes. “I retired.”

“You’re a fury, not a flight attendant. You can’t retire from who you are.”

“It was never who I was. It was who the Fates wanted me to be.”

Her eyes darkened to two smudges of ink. “I thought they only retired furies who’ve been injured beyond repair.”

“Retirement was my idea.”

“And do you like your new life?”

“I’m used to it now. It took time.” I sipped the bitter tea. “Just out of curiosity, what were you told about me?”

“That you were reassigned to a different region after the Pinto debacle. I assumed they killed you as punishment and were trying to cover it up.”

“Why would the Fates attempt to cover up the death of a fury?”

Her pencil-thin eyebrows rose. “The murder of their most feared and famous fury? Trust me. They would not want that information known.”

“They wouldn’t want it known that a fury escaped, either.”