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Page 188
shoulder, and it flew open. The trick has nothing to do with leverage, power, or even technique. It was simply a flimsy, half-rotten door.
Apparently Glenna was still too busy to tend to her chores. The house was a mess. We sifted through the clutter until we uncovered the table with its starkly simple shrine. "There it is," I muttered, pointing to the brooding sarcophagus.
B.C. watched while I picked it up and rotated it in my hands. It was surprisingly heavy and intricately detailed.
"Elliott," she hissed, "are you going to tell me what this is all about?"
"Look! Look closely. What do you see?"
Brenda sighed. "Oh, all right, I'll play your little game. I see the same thing I saw the other dayan ugly little chunk of carved stone that's supposed to represent some sort of second-rate, half-forgotten deity. Okay?" B.C.'s voice was getting testier by the minute.
"More than that. Look again!"
The young woman must have detected something in my voice. She retrieved the sarcophagus and looked at it again, this time a little more critically. "All right, I'll admit I'm obviously missing something. Just what is it I'm supposed to be seeing?"
"But you were fascinated with it yesterday," I reminded her.
"That was yesterday. Now I just want to

 
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