what got into me—”
“I do. Don’t concern yourself. It’s the usual reaction. One good reason why people with a lot of grimworld blood shouldn’t come into neighborhoods where the old customs are kept.”
“On the other hand,” Alastair said, “when I’m old and I’ve decided to die, this is the place and that’s the way I’ll do it.”
After eight flights, Gaby swore to herself that she was going to start running again. And that she’d never again wear the damned heeled pumps Noriko had found for her. Her toes felt as though mechanics had been at them with pliers and her back was already giving her trouble.
In the narrow hallway up nine, Doc knocked on an unmarked door. It opened to reveal a woman who couldn’t have been more than three and a half feet tall. She was middle-aged and heavily built, with a round, florid, happy face. She wore a bright red shawl and a dark green dress. Gaby decided that she looked like a large rose sprouting from an unusually hefty stem.
She beamed up at them. “Doc.”
“Hedda.” Doc stooped to kiss her. “I bring you Gabriela Donohue and Doctor Alastair Kornbock.”
“Gods’ graces on you.” She stepped back to allow them