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[quote][color=goldenrod]“[i]Zoey, don’t you ever fucking touch me[/i], I just need space.”[/color][/quote]

"S-sorry," Zoey backed up off of Penny after feeling the elbow dig into her. She felt a bit hurt by it but she knew that Penny needed space. They all did really after all of that. Zoey was still shivering but she was better with... and when the realization hit Zoey she stood there with her jaw slack, eyes wide open, grasping onto the hoodie she was wearing with both hands. She didn't even pay a single mind to whatever Penny and Odessa were talking about.

[quote][color=goldenrod]“He’s Death he comes when it’s your time to go, which means that wasn’t Caelea’s fate. However, just because she shouldn’t be dead doesn’t mean that she is alive. There are things that can interfere with the Hound and break his design. And there are ways to set it back on the right track.”[/color][/quote]

"Correct, correct, correct, [i]and[/i] correct," Odessa agreed with pretty much everything Penny said with a flat look on her face, that smile she always seemed to be sporting was gone. She couldn't smile not even feigning it, after what happened. Still, there were a few things that Penny didn't know (or left out, who cares). Odessa needed to say it "The Hound is also immensely powerful and I know [i]firsthand[/i] that you should [i]never[/i] under no circumstance make a deal with him." Odessa looked at Isla and the other kids just to give them a tip.

Just out of the kindness of her nonbeating heart.

Penny didn't catch Odessa's drift, but she should have known. Penny was too... bullheaded to see things that are beyond her immediate line of sight. And that was unlikely to ever change. Odessa figured that she had to enlighten her with no ambiguity, but also ensure that Penny doesn't turn hostile. The burning sun against her skin was warming but she was in no condition to fight, which she knew was going to happen if she didn't phrase her next few statements [i]very[/i] carefully.

"I didn't say there [i]was[/i] anything we could do or that she wasn't dead, but..." Odessa started. "... Awakened [i]always[/i] return as Apparitions. We'll see her again, I promise." 

That wrapped up that loose end in a satisfactory manner time to handle the Hound... Odessa sighed even though she didn't need to really. "And I think I need to be a bit more clear, I [i]know[/i] that the Hound almost [i]always[/i] shows up when someone dies unless something has gone wrong. Which means he'll be hot on the trail."

Odessa began her explanation but she tried to gauge Penny's reaction. "But, if he doesn't show up at all, not even to [i]investigate[/i]... well, there's only one place I know of where he won't go, and trust me; [i]we aren't there.[/i]"

That was a vague statement but she was happy about it and prayed that nobody made her explain.

"I'm saying we could potentially be trapped in a... shared dream? Or something else caused by an abstraction."

"... Or purgatory," Zoey added on.