Miss Virtue gently stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Bitter looked up at her. “What are you doing?” she asked. “I have to handle Vengeance.” Miss Virtue didn’t even look at her. “Not this time,” she replied, and there was something eerie about her voice. It was layered now, like the words were slipping and rasping against each other. Vengeance swiveled its scaled head in Miss Virtue’s direction, the eggshells along its spine clacking together in rattling succession.
