"Well, okay."

She turns back to their trail. Walk walk walk. "I'm glad it's clear today."

"Yeah, making this trek in the rain would be pretty annoying."

"Is that bad?"

"It's dull." She sighs. "Why couldn't he leave one more hex?"

"I don't think he expected me," says Alice. "I mean, people usually don't."

Bella laughs. "What if I was twins? Or just had a sibling? Two descendants could have conceivably fallen into his hole at the same time!"

"Yeah, but they probably wouldn't have been one person who's kind of a wuss but willing and able to take over the world and one person who doesn't really give a shit about ruling the world but really likes pain. And, you know, maybe he was kind of a wuss too. Although I gotta wonder how he fixed himself a star if he was."

"Considering what he wrote about stars, I bet he was going for a hex and overshot, and then freaked out and didn't try whatever that was again."

"Maybe. Oh hey, can I borrow the book while we're in the car?"

"Sure, why?"

"'Cause I wanna copy some parts," he says. "Now that I've got a big pile of little ones, I think I'm gonna go home and experiment."

Bella shudders involuntarily. "Okay," she says.

"...Does that bug you?"

"It's not the pleasantest of daydreams. It's your prerogative, though."

"Why not? I mean, I'm gonna like it."

"Yeah, I know, that doesn't affect the content of the mental image that much." She shrugs.

"It should," he chirps.

"I have a general idea, but not enough to edit the picture. Let alone be sure I care to."

"Well, which is worse: mental image of me hurting myself and not liking it, or mental image of me hurting myself and getting off?"

"I'm ending this thread of conversation," Bella announces.