And just as swiftly as it came, the pain was gone. In the middle of his palm a strange rune lay in a brilliant golden color, and Alex had just enough ...ime to give it a cursory glance before it seemed to melt into his skin. "What was that?" Protection rune." Pops said. "It keeps you from getting hit by your own whammy. Of course on the down side you can't alter your own body, because the amulet is protecting you from all its effects."Alex nodded and let a portion of his mind work around that. Nadia sat next to me, rubbing my back because I had bent over to hide my head. Her touch helped. I didn't think she knew how much the outfit was going to affect me, but then again, it could have been our merging earlier. I felt so much closer to her.When I felt better, I sat up and looked around. Laughter still edged everyone's eyes, but they were all quiet. I knew they didn't mean any harm and I even smiled at the silliness of the situation. I must have looked like an idiot and I wasn't sure I. She looked into my eyes as if she was studying them, trying to see some clue of suspicion. “What the hell was that all about, last night?” she asked. “I told you, honey, I was tired and didn’t want to take a chance at the wheel.” “Bull, that time of night you can make it in fifteen minutes. You would never spend a night away from me for a lousy fifteen minutes. Please honey, something is wrong, I know it, I can feel it. Please tell me what it is.” This was not going as I had planned. A rage. Reaping what he sowed, truly a good hearted man, his father lived by the simple fundamental golden rule principle of do unto others and you would have others do unto you. He also truly believed in what goes around comes around and Edward believed in that, too. ‘We don’t just make toys here, Edward,’ said his father. ‘We make friends. We make families. We make people happy by giving them a job they are proud to have. We make productive workers by giving them the opportunity to ply the skills.