She returned her gaze to Buddenbaum, who had given up his theatrics and was now standing in the middle of the crossroads with his hands behind his back. She was still thirty yards from him, and, the only light being that of the distant conflagrations and a few uneasy stars, she could not confidently read his expression. Would he give her a signal, she wondered, when she'd brought the Jai-Wai close enou,,h that she could retreat? A nod? A wink? She silently berated herself for not prearranging some sign. Well, it was too late now.

"Buddenbaum?" she said.

He inclined his head a little. "What are you doing here?" he said.

Not bad, she thought. He was pretty convincing.

"I came to say... well, I guess to say goodbye."

"What a pity," Buddenbaum replied. "I'd rather hoped we'd have a chance to get to know each other."

Tesia glanced back at Rare Utu. "It's up to you now," she said, studying the Jai-Wai's face in the gloom. She could see no sign of suspicion, but that didn't mean much. The features were a mas@ after all. "Maybe I should just head off and leave you to it," she suggested.

"If that's what you'd prefer," Rare Utu replied, walking on past Tesla to Buddenbaum.

"I think she should stay," Yie said. "this isn't going to. take very long."

Tesla looked back at Buddenbaum, who seemed to be staring at his feet. His hands were at his sides now, and tightly clenched. He's holding something down, she thought, he's suppressing some evidence of what's going on here.

He wouldn't be able to do so much longer. Haheh had by now wandered on past Tesla, sloughing off his human form as he did so, and he seemed to have become aware that the street was simmering.

"Do you have some kind of surprise for us, Owen?" he asked mildly.

"I'm... always trying my best to... to keep you diveri.ed," Buddenbaum replied. The stress of his attempts at containment were audible in his voice. It had lost most of its music.

"You've done well for us over the years," Rare Utu said. She sounded almost sorrowful.

"Thank you," Owen replied. "I've always tried my best. I'm sure you know that."

"we also know that great stories have a shape to them," Utu went on.

"they bud, they come to flower, and then... inevitably-"

"Get on with it, will you?" Yie said from behind Tesla. She turned her head an inch of two, just glimpsing him from the corner of her eye. He had also given up his human skin in favor of his fleshy cocoon. Even in the murk, the blebs his empathy had nurtured gleamed. "We don't owe the man any niceties," he continued. "Tell him the truth and let's be done with it."

"What have you come to tell me?" Buddenbaum asked.

"That it's over," Haheh replied gently. "That we have body new to show us the wonders of the story tree."

Buddenbaum looked incredulous. "Just like that?" he aid, his voice rising a little. "You're replacing me without o much as a word of warning? Oh, that simply breaks my heart! "

Be careful, Tesla thought. The line about his heart breaking sounded a tad phoney.

"It was inevitable," Rare Utu said, taking a couple of steps towards Buddenbaum. Finally she too was giving up the illusion of humanity, her childish body swelling and glistening as it retrieved its strange divinity. "There are only so many stories in one head, Owen, and we've exhausted your supply."

"Oh you'd be surprised," Buddenbaum replied. "Amazed, even, if you knew how much I haven't shown YOU."

"Well it's too late now," Haheh said. "Our decision's made, and it's final. Tesla Bombeck will be our guide as we approach the millennium."

"Well, congratulations," Buddenbaum said to Tesla sourly, and as he spoke took a step towards her, sliding between Haheh and Rare Utu. He was close enough now that Tesla could see his face plainly, and she read the look in his eyes. He wanted her gone, and quickly.

She retreated from him, as though his proximity distressed her. "It wasn't planned this way," she protested. "I didn't seek this out."

"Frankly," he replied, "I don't care one way or the other." He reached out and casually caught hold of Rare Utu's frail arm as he spoke. This was plainly an unusual, perhaps even unique, contact, because the Jai-Wai shuddered, staring down at his hand in some distress. "What are you doing, Owen?" she said, the folds of her bejeweled flesh shuddering.

"Just making my farewells," Owen replied. Haheh's gaze was approaching the spot that Buddenbaum had vacated. The asphalt there was brightening and softening.

"What have you been up to?" he said, staring down.

Behind Tesla, Yie murmured, "Keep away but Haheh was deaf to the warning. He took another step, while the street continued to brighten. Rare Urn was meanwhile attempting to shake off Buddenbaum's hold, but he refused to let her go. Eyes fixed on Tesla, he smiled through clenched teeth and told her, "Goodbye."

She started to turn but as she did so the ground on which Haheh was standing suddenly blazed, and he was enveloped. Rare Utu loosed the word Owen like a shriek, and started to pull at her captor, while Haheh's body ran like butter in a furnace, the blebs bursting in wheels of colors and pouring off into the street.

Tesla had already seen too much. It was dangerous to stay, lethal, probably. But she'd never been good at averting her eyes, whatever the wisdom of it. She kept drinking down the scene in front of her, until Buddenbaum screamed, "Get the fiwk out of here!" and as he did so pitched Rare Utu back into the light that had claimed Haheh. She went shrieking, but her cry was cut short once the light sealed itself around her. Throwing back her head, she opened her arms as though surrendering to the sensation.

"I said. Go!" Buddenbaum yelled at Tesla, and this time she tore her eyes from the spectacle and turned, only to meet a rush of sour, cold air, and Yie, coming at her.

"You tricked us!" he said, his voice like scalpels. It cut her courage to ribbons. She froze, staring into his doll-like face, while at her back Rare Utu uttered a shivering sigh and murmured, "This... is... wonder.fuL"

"What have you done to her?" Yie demanded. The questions was directed at Buddenbaum, but he caught hold of Tesla as he asked it, and hauled her close to his body. His limbs were far from strong; she could have broken the hold if she'd wanted to. But she didn't. The influence of this flesh was like peyote. She felt it invade her, Lifting her out of her fear.

"Set them free!" Yie said to Buddenbaum.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that," said Owen.

"I'll kill your woman if you don't," the Jai-Wai warned.

"She's not mine," came the reply. "Do whatever you need to do." Dreamily, Tesla glanced back over her shoulder at Buddenbaum, and by the light pouring from the ground saw him plainly for the first time. He was pitifully cold; his humanity consumed long ago in the effort that had brought him to this place. No doubt all he'd boasted in the Nook was true: The years had made him wiser than the Jaff. But his wisdom would do him no good. The Art would break him the way it had broken Randolph. Snap his reason and melt his mind.

Beyond him, in the blaze, Rare Utu had almost disappeared, but even now, with her substance pouring off into the ground where Haheh had already gone, she spoke.

"What happens next... ?" she said.

"Take her out of there!" Yie yelled to Buddenbaum.

"I told you: It's too late," he replied. "Besides, I don't think she wants to go."

Rare Utu was laughing now. "What's next?" she kept saying, her laughter growing insubstantial. "What? What?"

The ground at her feet was as soft as she, ribbons of brightness running off along the streets.

"Stop this!" Yie demanded again, his din so brutal that this time Tesla's body simply surrendered beneath its assault. Her legs failed, her bladder gave out, and she stumbled from Yie's grip towards the blaze.