With an abrupt gasp, Lauren suddenly sat up.  She looked around, but everything was as it had been a moment before.  She was breathing hard, and could feel her pulse pound.  Her body was tingling, and felt like blood was returning after the circulation had been cut off for some time.  Her face flushed for a moment.

She checked the clock; it seemed to be about the right time.  For a moment she was very uncertain what had happened.

Oh, yes, she recalled.  It was the die.  Gives the illusion of its namesake, perhaps?  Had she appeared dead?  For how long?  A minute?  That must be it--a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, six different durations for the six sides of the die.  Thank God she hadn't pressed her finger on the six-pip side--she'd be waking up in a coffin somewhere, long forgotten.

That left only the acorn, and she had no clue about that but that Bethany had created it.  And so far she knew much less about Bethany than Bethany imagined.  But she would learn more when they brought down The Pit.

It was getting late.  She had time to get dinner before work, and soon she was out the door.  Jake had several boxes of shells for her new revolvers, and a couple of custom holsters for them.  She thanked him, but hadn't brought the guns to work with her, so she couldn't try them for fit.  She picked them up from the office on her way home.

Finally she had the chance to sleep, and sleep eluded her.  She was worried about everything.  Was the Tezcatta attractor having the desired effect?  A few madmen making regular appearances at the club could really spoil the mood and hopefully drive off those humans who were there for the image of the thing, but she didn't want to shut it down completely.  Did Arnie really leave, and did she do the right thing letting him go like that?  It was good to have someone spreading favorable lies about her, but he was still a danger.  She was also worried about Lauren Meyers, who was already in over her head.  The woman thought it was exciting to be part of a secret war; she hardly seemed to realize that she'd have been killed were it not for the alert attention of several others in that war.

And of course it was already Wednesday morning, and a week from Sunday they would be taking on the greatest stronghold the Vampires had in this city.  She worried about that.  But she wasn't getting any sleep.

But perhaps there was a solution.  Remembering the words, she declared, "I will both lie down and sleep," and felt her faith surge through her, relaxing her body and her mind.  Soon she drifted into slumber.

There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with five other sequential chapters of the novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #50:  Stories Progress.  Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter.

As to the old stories that have long been here:

The Online Games

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Books by the Author

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Go to Other Links

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M. J. Young Net