.. but how?" He latches onto my blindfold with his teeth and tugs it from my eyes. I blink my way to focus and see his lean physique leaning over me w...th arms pinned behind his back. A wide black band of cloth leers down at me. The perfume of his perruque tickles my nose. I study the pursing of his sweet mouth as it sets up the next kiss. "I hope my magnificent form inspires you to aspiring toward the preferred state of titillation." My eyes beg for his beauty from within and without, but he. Everything seemed awkward as I watched itchange. Arms, shoulders, collarbone, ribcage, stomach and hips were alldecreasing unevenly from each other. As I watched, transfixed, they allgrew smaller and began to even out in their rate of change. For amoment, I felt a tug in my groin again and small folds of skin took shapeas where there had been seemingly nothing moments before. I feltexcitement that almost covered over the terror that had been growing inme. It took me what felt like a few. The executioner wiped the sweat off his face, and dropped the bar. He pulled the triangular beam away, and her once-pretty legs fell between the spokes of her wheel, sagging like shapeless limp sausages.First one ankle was undone, gently, then the other. The girl had no more use of her legs, and her heels dropped uselessly to the ground underneath them. Maria watched with horror as the executioner pulled her knee under the spoke, and led her broken leg out from the other side. He wrapped it. I’ve just never spent any significant amount of time in the woods. I grew up in the suburbs. To me, wilderness is the local park before they mow it.”“So did John Carter, but he hiked every chance that he had. Even today, he likes to take off and hike for days. It’s a shame that his responsibilities at the College don’t allow him to hike as often as he would like.”The idea that John Carter was sacrificing himself for the sake of the students was a total surprise to Howard. Glancing over at Ling,.