We enslaved the women who were with us. Many of them were raped. We had a lot to be forgiven for.”“My gosh...” Carla squirmed uncomfortably on h...r rock.Tom saw a question in Carla’s eyes and added without thinking, “No, thank God I didn’t rape anyone.”Carla blinked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get that personal...” Carla felt momentarily confused. She was unsure whether she asked the question or not. She had no clear memory of speaking, but somehow she felt she had asked Tom if he had forced. That way, you can have an out." I explained."What do I always have to have an OUT? I love you!" She cried out."I loved Mary Belanger, and she loved me, but we CAN'T live together and we found out the hard way and now we have this friendship that at one time included sanity sex. Now there's still discomfort between us, but we are working it out. She and I have tried a lot of things, but she's too fucking flighty to make any man think she's stable, and don't EVER say that I told you that!" Is. Goldberg, Dr. Mann and Helen were standing at a distance, each looking attentive.Dr. Goldberg’s eyes were locked onto her slate. “Are you doing it?”“Yes!” Isabella snapped.“So, that’s another detector that doesn’t fucking work...” Helen muttered.“How do you detect, uh, paranatural energies?” Dr. Mann asked.“You mean mana?” Isabella asked – her voice sounding like it had been sharpened by a whetstone. “Why do you humans have to say a dozen words that you invented to avoid saying one that. Katy could see that she had stayed overlong and that her parents would be expecting her home by now. She lived on the twelfth floor and, since there were no elevators, she had better get going!Saying goodnight to her friends, she scampered up the stairs and began the long climb back to her floor. Arriving at her door, out of breath from the many sets of stairs, she once again extracted her key and opened the lock. Stepping inside she turned to lock the door behind her and froze. Something was.