” Wayne shrugged. “So, three girls, one of you. How’re you going to handle that?”“Viagra and Red Bull for the first few days, cyanide capsul... by the weekend,” Peter said. Wayne and I both stared at him. “Too much? Okay, I guess that was too much. Sorry, Gene, you’ve got me a tiny bit stressed here. Gallows humor, y’know? Gallows over a boiling tank of poisonous sharks.” Peter’s tone told me I was tolerated but not quite welcome yet. That lifted a frightening weight from my shoulders. I took a. "I called ahead while you were in the changing room and explained thesituation, so Meg here knows exactly what is happening and is pleased tohelp," explained Jess."Right," said Meg after she had taken her measurements, "Now I canselect some outfits and you can see which ones you like. I know thatyour Mum will want to take you clothes shopping herself, so today isjust to get you started. We are looking at about 10 days so I think youwill need 3 skirts and some tops, plus at least one dress. Go. Her youthful face glanced up at me. “What? Are you ... going somewhere?”I sucked in a deep breath, my heart racing from dragging Sven back to the fire where the others lay trembling and quivering, the poison raging through their bodies. My entire body trembled, fear clawing through my guts. They couldn’t die.My family couldn’t die.“We’ll keep them ... alive, Your Highness,” croaked Nathalie, the only one still conscious, her face wan, and her body wrapped up in a blanket.“But where are you. Like I wasn't just some desperatelyfleeing animal. It was very good coffee.You sat your little briefcase thing down and started fiddled with thelocks, taking out some papers once you'd gotten it all open. You lookedat me expectantly. I frowned and glanced down into my cup."Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" Look, I'm sorry, you've been very nice and all, but I don't even knowyou and it's... it's all such a mess," I sighed. "I don't even reallyknow what's going on. You'd probably.