Re-l paused. She was aware that it would be easy to walk away now - to simply leave, and hurt him if he tried to follow. It would make her life much more uncomplicated.

What stopped her was partially the feeling that offending someone who could make objects out of nothing was stupid, but mostly it was guilt. Iggy, Deadalus, she'd failed them both. She wanted not to be the person they accused her of being.

She hunched over herself and pulled out her diary. This wasn't privacy: she could feel Gabriel hovering, but it was the best she was going to get.

She took about three quarters of an hour to get down everything she thought crucial. She focused mostly on the revelation of Gabriel's power, with a little on his world and less on the man himself. That strayed close to territory she found difficult, even in writing.

When she found that her words had moved off topic, dwelling more on her fears for Vincent than her present predicament, she shut her notebook with a snap, tucked it away, and stood up. The sun was climbing, but the tracks of the group still lay clear in the sand.

"Come on," she said, walking over to her unwanted companion. "Let's go find your real friends."