35
Flotsam and Jetsam
Julian stood there, speechless. What could he say? His mind struggled to wrap itself around what had just happened, but it could not get there. He swallowed and tried a different tack. The Out-Dweller was gone. That much seemed certain.
That reality crept into his psyche, and all of a sudden relief flooded through him like a river past a dam that had been breeched. When he charged that thing with only his little dagger for a weapon, he truly had not though he would see the next hour, let alone the next ten minutes. And yet, here he stood, and the Out-Dweller had, apparently, been vanquished.
He was on his knees. When that happened, Julian could not say. But right then, it did not seem inappropriate.
"It worked." Melanie sounded just as relieved as he did, but whe
