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Otis chortled at the crowd.

“Look, there’s the dust bunny,” a man observed. “Must be the same one that destroyed the fancy engagement party cake last night.”

“The article in theCurtainsaid that cake cost a couple of thousand dollars,” a woman announced.

Lucy stared at her. “A couple of thousand dollars?”

She sounded as if she had just had the breath knocked out of her lungs.

The woman who had quoted the price spoke up again. “Well, it was a Covenant Wedding engagement party, not some cheap Marriage of Convenience affair.”

Lucy looked as if she was in a trance. “A couple of thousand dollars?”

This time her voice was a thin whisper.

“Forget the cake,” Gabriel said. He took a firm grip on her arm. “Let’s get our packs. It’s been a long day, and we’ve got a hike ahead of us.”

“A couple of thousand dollars.”

Now she sounded numb.

“Don’t worry about the damn cake,” Gabriel said. “Put it down as a business expense when you submit your invoice to the Guild.”

Lucy snapped out of her trance. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“But it wasn’t really a business expense—”

“Call it collateral damage.”

“Well, if you insist.”

“I insist.”

He opened the door of the vehicle, hauled out her pack, and handed it to her. A thought occurred to him. He took out one of the amber pendants he had taken off the attackers. It glowed a deep blue.

“Check your pendant, Lucy,” he said.

She pulled it out from under her shirt. It was illuminated. “It’s still hot,” she said. “What does that tell us?”

“That it’s not standard rez amber. It isn’t affected by whatever shut down the Strip. Interesting.”

Before he could pursue the matter, the lights of the casinos and cars flared. Loud cheers went up the length of the Strip.

“Look,” Lucy said. “The signs, the casinos, and the hotels. Everything is working again. The power company fixed the problem. Thank goodness. We won’t have to walk all the way back to my apartment.”

Car engines hummed. Headlights blinked back to life. The Alien Storm Roller Coaster lurched forward. The casinos blazed and sparkled in the night.

Gabriel dropped his pack on the floor of the car and surveyed the brilliantly illuminated Strip.

“This should take us off the front page of theCurtaintomorrow morning,” he said. “I’ll be interested to know what went wrong at the power station.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lucy rezzed the lock of her front door, walked into the hall, and rezzed the lights. With a cheerful chortle, Otis bounced down to the floor and zipped into the living room. He stopped in front of the sliding glass doors that opened onto the balcony and chortled again.

Lucy opened the door for him. He bounded across the small balcony, hopped up onto the railing, and then disappeared over the side.