and chestnut trees. It was a long, black transport chopper with two antitorque rotors mounted, one above the cockpit and one on the tail. The dark green fuselage showed no visible identification marks. Probably an out-of-service military aircraft.
Rosa heard feet moving quickly on the steps and retreated into the shadow of the wall. Two men picked up the bags and ran toward the helicopter with them. They didn’t notice that the cell phone was missing. Rosa was still holding it as she emerged from her hiding place. Her own clothes, left behind here after her first transformation, were lying on the roots of an olive tree. She quickly slipped into her clothing, and hurried up the steps to the terrace again.
The Hundinga were gone, and with them the bodies of their dead. They had even fished the dead man out of the pool. Rosa glimpsed the vague outlines of figures carrying their burdens at the south end of the terrace. Then she saw them one last time against the beam of the searchlight, black marks standing out in front of the bright light behind the trees.
A moment later the chopper took off vertically into the sky. The searchlight was switched off above the treetops. Rosa was dazzled for a few seconds, because she had been looking straight into it. When she could see again, the helicopter had merged with the night sky. The noise of its rotors moved away westward and was soon drowned out by the crackling of the flames.
Signora Falchi had moved over to the edge of the pool, as far as possible from the clouds of blood spreading through the water. She was pale as death herself. Rosa helped her up into the dry air, reassured herself that the tutor was unharmed, and shouted above the noise of the fire that she should run up the steps. “Can you make it?” she asked, gasping.
“Where’s Iole?”
“Safe.” No time for discussion. “Now get moving!”
“How about you?”
Something crashed inside the palazzo. An eruption of sparks and heat shot out of several windows at the same time.
“I’ll be right behind you,” yelled Rosa through the noise.
Coughing and dripping with water, the tutor set off.
Rosa ran across the terrace in the opposite direction, to the grassy space along the north wall. She could hardly breathe—the smell of soot was terrible, and so was the heat—but the wind from the plain drove the smoke eastward up the slope and into the pinewoods, saving her from the worst of it.
There was no one in sight outside the kitchen door now. A little farther away, firelight was reflected on the panes of the greenhouse. Smoke billowed out of its broken windows. Rosa hoped the snakes had escaped into the open air.
“Alessandro?” she called hoarsely. “Iole?”
She couldn’t see any corpses or anyone injured outside the door. If there had been dead bodies, the Hundinga had taken them away, too.
A dog barked to her left. Among the chestnut trees at the far end of the meadow, Sarcasmo was dancing around Iole, who was leaning against a tree and wearily raised one hand to wave to Rosa.
Where was Alessandro?
She searched her surroundings and saw him in his panther form when he vaulted up and over the stone balustrade of the terrace with a mighty leap. He must have searched for her down by the wall and missed seeing her. Now he was racing across the meadow toward her, and even as he ran he changed back into human form. His skin, stained with blood, gleamed in the firelight as he ran the last few feet, staggering slightly with exhaustion. Rosa hurried to meet him and caught him when he looked like he might fall.
Together, they dragged themselves into the chestnut trees, a good distance from the house, for a chance to catch their breath. They sank to the ground there among the trees. Blood was trickling from Alessandro’s wounds, and his strength was leaving him.
Rosa held him close while blazing light licked over the facade, and the rooftop of the palazzo went up in flames.
THE HUNGRY MAN
COPPERY LIGHT FELL THROUGH the hospital windows. The morning sun was still low in the sky over the sea, shining on the paths and lawns of the grounds, edging the top of the cliffs with gold.
“What happened to Valerie?” Alessandro asked.
Rosa shook her head. “No trace of her. Maybe she made it out; maybe she’s lying under the ruins of the palazzo.” To be honest, she didn’t know the answer and didn’t