The night before the hunt, Rachel had dream visit from Carol and Vicky, together this time.

Carol was sitting cross-legged, looking peaceful and content.

Vicky was laying on her side, braced up on her right elbow with her left leg bent, knee pointing skyward. She looked like was posing for a sun tan oil ad.

"Did you two come to wish me good luck?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I did." Carol looked askance at Vicky.

"Not me! I hope Mandy's digesting your filet by this time tomorrow," Vicky sneered.

"I thought you didn't like Amanda. I wouldn't think you would want her to beat and eat me." Rachel was puzzled.

"Oh, I don't want Mandy to miss any meals. I just want her to be miserable." Sensing incomprehension on Rachel's part, Vicky went on. "See, if Mandy don't get to eat, she's going to think about being hungry. I want her mind to be free to contemplate other things. More important things. Things like what sorry, doomed-to-walk-the-earth-in-pain-and-agony, sad sack of crap she is. That's where I'd like to see her put her focus."

Carol looked at Vicky with impatience, then turned to Rachel and said, "Vicky has issues where Amanda is concerned and they affect her perception of Amanda."

"Yeah, right." Vicky laughed. "And I suppose you think she's little Mary Sunshine because she was happy as the cat that ate the canary when she jammed a spit into you where babies are supposed to come out."

Carol shook her head as if giving up. "Anyway, Rachel, I am here to wish you good luck and also to give you a clue as to what Amanda has done for you that you've overlooked."

"Why don't you just tell me?" Rachel asked.

"Because if you don't figure it out for yourself, it won't mean as much."

"Look, Carol, I figure this poor bitch only has about a day to live. This is no time to send her on a quest for enlightenment," Vicky said.

"Vicky is not optimistic," Carol explained. "Anyway, here's the clue. Amanda has given you your heart's desire, what you wanted most in the world. It was her intention to do so, but your enjoyment of the gift was not her intention."

Vicky laughed heartily. "That's right, Carol. Give her puzzles to worry about while she's trying to save her butt! Oh, you're a real caring human being!"

"Well, Vicky, why don't you show what kind of human being you are and tell Rachel what it will take to make Amanda happy?"

Vicky sneered. "I'm not telling her a thing. I'm not even going to give her a clue."

"But you're supposed to. That's why we're here," Carol reminded her.

"Look, Carol of sweetness and light, if this bitch hasn't figured it out yet, she deserves to die in ignorance. She doesn't even deserve a clue," Vicky decreed.

"Oh, and why is that, Vicky?" Carol asked, looking sweetly at Vicky.

"Because it has been staring her in the face since the first moment she laid eyes on Mandy," Vicky snapped back. "If that has been long enough, then... Oh, shit!" Vicky realized that she had just given Rachel a clue. "Carol, you are a rat's ass!"

Carol poked out her tongue at Vicky, then turned to Rachel. "Well, Rache, that's all you get. Sorry it can't be more."

"That's okay," Rachel said. "It's my dream. If I can't control it, it's my fault. If you don't mind, though, I will put off solving these puzzles and try to concentrate on staying alive tomorrow."

"That's the spirit. Now, again, good luck." Carol turned to Vicky. "It's your turn."

"Oh, all right." Vicky scowled at Rachel, pointed at Carol, and said, "What she said. It goes for me, too."

"Thanks. Both of you. I mean it," Rachel said.

This brought a bright, beaming smile from Carol and a grudging half-smile, half-sneer from Vicky.

As the dream faded out, Rachel wondered if she would even have another one or if she would be a figure in some other woman's dream after tomorrow.