"I know."

"But Diana . . ."

"Will be freed when we defeat the darkside."

Sam opened his mouth to ask what would happen if they didn't defeat the darkside, but he closed it again when he realized he already knew the answer. And he didn't like it much.

"What a lovely cat."

Dean glanced down in time to see Austin pointedly cross to the other side of the dining room, as far from Meryat as he could get and still be contained within the same four walls.

"I don't think he likes me."

"Foolish kitty," Dr. Rebik murmured, bringing the blackened tips of the mummy's fingers to his lips.

Trying not to shudder, Dean developed a sudden interest in cleaning nothing off a spotless floor. He was doing his best to be open-minded about this, he was involved with an older woman himself, but he just couldn't get past the reanimated corpse part of the relationship. When he straightened, all ancient digits were back within the masking folds of Meryat's cloak and Dr. Rebik was finishing his oatmeal.

"As Meryat would like to remain here until your Keeper returns," the archaeologist began, setting his spoon aside, "I was wondering, Mr. McIssac, if you could do me a favor."

Ignoring Austin's warning twitch, Dean nodded. "I'd be happy to."

"It's just I don't have a lot of clothes with me and, were I to go out to a coin laundry, I'd have a choice of either not washing my trousers or not wearing them while they washed. And they do need washing."

From what he could see of the cream-colored chinos, that was an unfortunately accurate observation. "I'd be happy to do a load for you. Put everything you want washed in one of the pillowcases and set it out in the hall."

"Thank you, Mr. McIssac." He set both palms against the tabletop and pushed himself to his feet, then tucked a hand under Meryat's elbow to help her stand.

"Yes, Mr. McIssac." The morning light illuminated the depths of her hood as she turned and Dean got an unwelcome education in what bits rotted away even in a very dry climate. The dark eyes looked out of place amidst the lack of cartilage and fat. "Thank you."

He a.s.sumed she was smiling although the words "rictus grin" couldn't help but come to mind. "You're welcome."

"You know, I was wondering something myself."

All three heads rotated toward the cat, the new angle throwing Meryat's face back into shadow.

"Why is it that you want to see the Keeper?" Austin continued, suddenly sitting at the end of the long table. Dr. Rebik looked startled, a ripple traveled the length of Meryat's cloak, and Dean tried to pretend that he didn't usually let the cat sit with the breakfast dishes. Not that "let the cat" was in any way pertinent to cats in general and this cat in particular. "She's on a.s.signment. You could have quite the wait."

"I am willing to wait." Meryat folded her hands into her sleeves. "I am hoping she will be able to give me back all I have lost."

"You seem to be doing fine without her."

"But so, so slowly. I look forward to the day when I can . . ."

"Rule the world?"

"Go out in public."

Shooting a "now see what you've done" look at Austin and another at Dean, Dr. Rebik slipped his arm around Meryat's bowed shoulders and led her from the room. During their slow shuffle down the hall and up the stairs, Dean loaded the dishwasher, swept the dining room floor, polished the table, and did his best to ignore the expression on Austin's face.

The distant sound of a door closing on the second floor brought the cat to his feet. "Convinced? It's going too slowly and she needs to suck the life out of Claire to finish rebuilding herself."

"I thought you said she was after sucking the life out of me."

"Yeah, but slowly. She doesn't want to spook Claire the moment she gets in the door. Trust me, Claire'd notice if you're a desiccated corpse propped up in the corner, but a couple of missing years'll slip on by."

"That's rea.s.suring."

"Yeah, well she's not going to be too happy that another woman's su . . ."

His ears scarlet, Dean clamped a hand over the cat's muzzle. "There was no one in the bedroom last night and you said Meryat was asleep when you heard something moving around the night before. Drop it. You're imagining things. You're some worried about Claire and it's stressing you out. Giving you nightmares."

He removed his hand.

Austin shook his whiskers back into place. "Cats don't have nightmares," he hissed. "Cats have premonitions of disaster, and I'm having one now. Gag me again, and you'll lose the hand."

"Stop touching me!"

"Sorry. It's just this is a little . . ." Lance waved a hand at the milling herd of purple hippopotamuses. ". . . weird."

"Yes, it is. But it's only weird because you seem to be incapable of doing what you're asked."

"You told me to think about nothing."

Claire slapped a hippo on the rump and moved it out of her way. "These aren't nothing."

"I tried to think about nothing, but that made me think of how difficult it was to think about nothing and that made me think about that whole 'don't think of a purple hippopotamus' thing."

"You know, I figured that out without the explanation."

"How?"

She exchanged an exasperated look with a lavender cow. "It wasn't hard. We're in a herd of purple hippopotamuses. Who usually live in water. And aren't purple."

"I don't see any doors."

"Shut up and keep walking." On the one hand, they were definitely back in the right Otherside so if nothing else, the last path took them closer to the mall. On the other hand, there was nothing like walking through a herd of herbivores in bare feet to put a person in a really, really bad mood.

"Where did you guys find armor in a department store?"

"Sporting Goods." Will flipped his braid out from under the edge of his shoulder pads. "There's enough hockey gear in there to outfit the entire NHL."

"In June."

The elf shrugged. "End of season sale?"

"Okay. That makes as much sense as anything else around here." Sam tucked his tail carefully out of the way as more and more elves wearing hockey equipment returned to the area by the fire pit. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but didn't you guys used to be twenty-first-century street kids?"

"Yeah. So?"