A half hour later, Amanda was strapped into her bed and Rachel was sitting beside her.

"I don't know what got into me," Rachel laughed. "It was like I was an actress having lines fed to her through an ear piece."

"You've been hanging around me too much, Rache. First, you learn how to establish a link with your quarry and now you're taking on aspects. It might be a good thing that I won't be an influence on you much longer. Of course, once you start wearing my skin, who knows what might happen?"

"I wonder if it might work that way," Rachel pondered. "Amanda, when you eat a woman, of course, she becomes a part of you, physically speaking. But do you think the people you eat, well, change you in any way? You know, DNA and RNA and all that?"

"I don't know," Amanda said. "I'm sure that I would be a much nicer person if there was very much to that sort of thing."

"Well, we had best get some sleep."

"Yes. But before I drift off into cloud cuckoo land, I want to tell you again: this was the most fun I've ever had, Rache. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"I hope I don't keep you awake with the rantings of a madwoman."

"Don't worry about it. Good night."

"Good night."

Amanda went to sleep very quickly and Rachel soon followed suit.

Ding!

Rachel awoke. Amanda was stirring, moaning.

Amanda's pulse was a little elevated. Her temperature was 101.8. IV bag still full.

As Rachel drifted off to sleep again, she heard or imagined she heard Amanda speaking in a sing-song voice.

"Mandy, Mandy, Mandy -

"Thinks that girls are candy."

Rachel found herself sitting across from Carol, who seemed happy and cheerful, and Vicky who was curled up, facing away from her.

"Congratulations," Carol said. "You're still here."

"I guess I am. Thanks," Rachel replied. "Doesn't Vicky want to congratulate me, too?"

"Vicky's been sort of sullen." Carol reached over and touched Vicky on the shoulder. Vicky recoiled from her touch. "See? Maybe if you said something to her."

"I'll try. Yoo-hoo, Vicky. It's me, Rachel. Don't you want to congratulate me?"

Vicky shook her head without turning around.

"Vicky? Is anything wrong?" Rachel asked. "Come on. It's my dream. If I tell you turn around, you have to. Look at me, Vicky."

Vicky faced Rachel, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Ding.

Pulse, same. Temp, 102.2. IV okay.

Amanda moaning. "I wouldn't do that. That's a terrible thing to say. I'd never do that."

"Of course, you wouldn't Amanda," Rachel comforted her.

Colonel Stoneridge appeared, notebooks in hand.

"Did you come here to look for your children, Rachel? Sorry about that. Biblical reference, you know. Also, Melville. Don't suppose you've read any Melville, though."

"I don't have any children, sir," Rachel said. "And I'm afraid I haven't read Moby Dick."

"Why would you want to read Melville?" Carol asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said. "I'll get around to it later. Let's find out what's wrong with Vicky. Vicky, what's the matter? Why are you crying?"

"Don't you know?" Vicky sobbed.

Ding.

Pulse dropped slightly. 102.4. IV okay.

Amanda saying, in a young-sounding voice, "It's my favorite book."

Stone asked, "You don't suppose her favorite book is Moby Dick, do you? Young people really don't read much of that sort of thing today."

"Never mind that, sir. I have to find out what's wrong with Vicky." Rachel wished she could touch the sobbing woman. "Vicky, I would think you of all people would be happy that I won."

"Why would you think that?" There was now some anger in Vicky's voice. "You're just an ignorant bitch!"

"Oh, come, come now," said Stone. "Just because she hasn't read Melville, that doesn't mean she's ignorant."

Ding.

Amanda's temp keeps climbing. 102.5. She is sweating. Draining the IV bag steadily.

Amanda seemed to be pleading. "Christine, it's just a present. My favorite book. No, accepting it won't make you my girlfriend."

"Rachel, I must know," Stone insisted. "Have you come here to look for your children or not?"

"I don't think so." Rachel was confused. "Let me deal with Vicky. Vicky, you should be glad I won. You hate Amanda, don't you?"

"NO! Why would you think that?" Vicky shook with sobs.

Ding.

102.7. Might have to change the IV bag.

Amanda quiet but restless.

"If you don't hate Amanda, then why did you try to attack her? You wanted to kill her, didn't you?" Rachel asked.

"Is that what you think? God, that's what everybody thinks!" Vicky got up and ran away.

"Vicky come back here!" Rachel ordered.

"It's no good," Carol said. "You're going to have to chase her."

"Oh, bother!" said Rachel. "First Amanda chased me all day, and now I have to chase Vicky in my dreams." Rachel got up and was to about to leave, but took a moment to ask Carol, "Before I go, I don't suppose you can tell me, now that the hunt is over, what I'm supposed to be grateful to Amanda for that I don't already know about?"

"No," said Carol. "But now you should be able to figure it out."

"Oh, you two are no help at all!" Rachel took off after Vicky.

"While you're looking for Vicky," Stone shouted after her, "see if you come across your children on the way!"

Ding.

102.9. Amanda's pulse is racing.

"No, no, no," Amanda kept repeating. She was sweating more than ever.

Rachel got up, took a towel and started to mop Amanda's forehead.

Amanda jerked. "Don't touch me!"

Rachel backed away. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault. It's not my fault. I didn't to do it." Amanda fell silent.

Rachel sat back down.

And ran after Vicky, who had vanished from sight.

"Where is she? Where did she go?"

The woods were so dark.

Suddenly, she came upon Bugs Bunny, chewing on a carrot.

"Eh, what's up, Rache?" Bugs asked.

"Did you see which way Vicky went?" Rachel asked.

"Well," said Bugs, "this is Albuquerque, so she took a left turn. She went thataway."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," said Bugs. "Oh, and thanks for the carrots."

"You're welcome."

Rachel ran and ran through the dark, tangled woods. Vicky was nowhere to be seen.

Ding.

103.1. Pulse normal again. Time to change the IV bag. Which she did and sank wearily to her chair.

Rachel had had enough of this. She picked Amanda up, light as a feather, and carried her outside and laid her down in the sun. It was a beautiful day. They belonged in the sun together.

Marsha Dillon strolled up. "Hi, Rachel. Nice day, huh?"

"Well, yes, it is," said Rachel, "except that Amanda's sick. I wish I could make her well."

"Oh, what's wrong with her?"

"She keeps tossing in her sleep at night,

"And she's lost her appetite."

Gently, Rachel raised one of Amanda's eyelids to examine her pupils.

"Stars that used to twinkle in the skies

"Now twinkle in her eyes.

"I wonder why.

"Oh, I wonder why!"

Marsha bent over and looked at Amanda carefully, then smiled and said:

"There's nothing she can take

"To relieve this pleasant ache.

"She's not sick, she's just in love."

"What?" asked Rachel.

"Amanda will be fine," Marsha assured her. "I'll watch out for her. You go and find Vicky. I passed her just left of Albuquerque."

"Thanks." Rachel got up and prepared to leave. "Oh, by the way, if Bugs comes along, give him some carrots."

"Don't worry. If he shows up, I'll serve him a whole salad," Marsha said. "There's no disgrace in being a waitress."

Rachel ran like the wind right to where Vicky was sitting by the stream, still crying.

Rachel knelt down beside her. "Vicky, tell me what's wrong?

Vicky turned to Rachel, clung to her, and continued to cry.

Ding.

103.5. The doctor had told Rachel to call him if Amanda's temperature reached 104. It looked like that was going to be necessary.

"Vicky, if you didn't hate Amanda, why did you attack her with a sword?" Rachel asked.

"I liked her and I wanted her to like me," Vicky explained.

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "That seems like a very odd way to make a pass at someone, even Amanda."

"Well, yes. In retrospect, it was a bad move. For one thing, I got killed. And I completely failed. I mean, she never understood. You know what really hurts?"

"Aside from being dead? No."

"She didn't even kill me herself. She just handed me over to a bunch of men, like she didn't even give a shit. A bunch of men and that runty little vixen from Yorkshire. You know, I think she really enjoyed killing me more than the men did. Oh, and I'm glad you and Amanda nailed that prick Richard. Him, I do hate. He's the main reason I'm dead. Thanks."

"You're welcome. But you say you're upset because Amanda didn't kill you? Is that what you wanted?"

"No, I didn't want her to kill me at all. But, you're missing the point. When I was on the spit, just about to give it up - I did kind of get into it a little - does Amanda stick around for my last moments? NO! She runs off with some little blonde spit muffin! Amanda can't stand spit muffins! Well, she might like them for eating and casual sex, but that's all."

"And you could - what? Offer her more than sex?"

"Well, yes. I wanted her to... love me."

Rachel shook her head. "I don't get this at all. How did you figure that attacking Amanda would get her to love you? Do you realize how little sense that makes?"

"I know. I fucked up. But, look at it like this: could you love somebody you don't respect?"

"Of course not."

"Well, do you think Amanda's any different? That she could love somebody she didn't respect."

"No. I mean, if she can love somebody, which I doubt, I'm sure she'd have to respect them." Yes, Rachel could see that there were some normal things about Amanda.

"Well, who is Amanda going to respect? Somebody who isn't afraid of her. Somebody who will stand up to her. Somebody who will take her on, if necessary. Not that anybody could expect to beat her in a physical contest, of course. But she would only respect someone who wasn't afraid to try."

"You may have a point, Vicky," Rachel agreed. "But I think you went about it the wrong way."

"Well, duh! Like, hello! I'm dead! I got the point. Got it right where it counts most, as a matter of fact."

"Why didn't you just tell Amanda how you felt?"

"Why didn't you?" Vicky retorted.

"What?"

"Well, you've got her now, don't you?"

"What? You think Amanda loves me? Oh, come on!"

"Well, maybe not. From the way things went for me, I'm obviously not the best person to ask about Amanda. Maybe she doesn't love you. But, at least, you've shown her that a woman can be not afraid of her."

"What do you mean? I was scared shitless of her!" Rachel protested.

"Were you really?"

"Well, until I came up with my plan."

"Look, Amanda may not be in love with you, but she couldn't be in love with a woman who wasn't willing to take her on. You've not only taken her on, but you've beaten her. So, now she knows there are women out there who can be a match for her. It's sort of like that comic book character, Red Sonya."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Well, Red Sonya could never fully give herself to a lover who had not bested her on the battlefield."

Something flashed within Rachel. "Now, I know what you meant by saying, it has been staring me in the face since the first moment I laid eyes on Amanda. In my mind's eye, I compared her with Red Sonya the moment I saw her!"

"Well, Carol wormed that out of me," Vicky said.

"But, god! Do I want Amanda in love with me? When she likes a woman, she wants to kill her and eat her. Can you imagine what she would want to do to somebody she loved?" Rachel shook her head. "No, I don't want Amanda to be in love with me? At least, I don't think so."

"Then why did you propose this hunt in the first place? And then, why did you go through with it?" Vicky asked.

"I'm not sure. I suppose I have to go back and talk to Carol about that. Oh, and the bell is going to ding in a moment. Can I leave you here? Are you okay?"

"Oh, sure. Other than being dead, roasted, ignored by Amanda, and bitter, I'm fine." Vicky laughed. "Good luck. And I really mean it this time."

Ding.

Pulse steady. Temp still 103.5. Good, maybe she stabilized.

Rachel shut her eyes again.

On her way back to Carol, Rachel ran into Bugs and Stone walking side by side.

"I'm telling you, Doc," Bugs was saying, "The places I've been, the things I've seen. I could write a book."

"I'm sure," the colonel agreed. "Oh, Rachel! Nice to run into you. Tell me, did you find your children?"

"No, but I did find Vicky," Rachel responded. "Besides, I don't think there are any children here."

"Oh, you're mistaken," the colonel said. "Mr. Bunny and I just ran across one. You'll probably stumble into her on your way back to Carol."

"Yeah," said Bugs. "See if you can cheer her up a little. Tell her a joke or sing her a song or something."

"I'll see what I can do. You two enjoy each other's company," Rachel took off down the path the colonel and the rabbit had been traveling.

Jeez, thought Rachel, I'll probably run into my inner child or something. That's what Aunt Jayne says happens in her dreams.

Instead of herself, however, Rachel came upon a little red-headed girl who was crying over a broken doll.

"Hi. What's the matter?" Rachel asked, kneeling down beside the dream child.

"I broke my doll," the dream child said.

"Well, maybe we can fix it."

"Nobody can fix my dolls when I break them," the dream child lamented. "I always break the dolls that I like the most. Does that make me bad?"

"No, I'm sure you're not bad. I mean, you won't do that to people when you grow up, will you?"

The dream child seemed unwilling to commit herself on that. Instead, she said, "I wish they made dolls that couldn't be broken."

"Well, if they did that, doll makers would be out of work. It would be like the movie, THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT, with Alec Guinness. Cloth that won't wear out means that the textile workers don't have jobs."

"Alec Guinness? I thought he was Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi. And he didn't have a white suit."

"Well, he was an actor. And actors can be many different people. Especially someone like Sir Alec - he could be as seven or eight characters in the same movie. Actors just have to know how to keep the roles they play separate from their real lives. Separate the fantasy from the reality. If they don't do that, then they wind up in a lot of trouble, like Ronald Colman in DOUBLE LIFE."

"What does that have to do with dolls?" The dream child asked.

"I don't know. I just thought it was important to say that."

"Well, I just hope, someday, I find a doll that I can't break."

"I hope you do, too." Rachel tried to be encouraging.

"But, I don't think I ever will!" The dream child put her face in her hands and started to cry harder than ever.

Rachel was desperate. "You know, it isn't always bad when things break."

"It isn't?" The dream child looked up hopefully.

"No. Why, sometimes things can be even more fun when they break." Rachel groped for someplace to go with this and found something. "Like when merry-go-rounds break down. I know a really silly song about that. Would you like to hear it?

"Sure!"

"Oh, the merry-go-round broke down
"And we went round and round.
"Each time 'twould miss we'd steal a kiss,
"And the merry-go-round went
"Um pah-pah, um pah-pah. Um pah, um pah, um-pah-pah-pah."

The dream child laughed. "That is a silly song!"

"Sure is," said Rachel. "Would you like to sing it with me?"

"Sure!"

"Okay, we'll start at the sound of the bell. Ready?"

Ding.

Amanda's temp was still hanging in at 103.5. Good. IV is okay, too.

Rachel shut her eyes again.

She found Carol in deep conversation with Bugs Bunny.

"Carol, I'm telling you, the entertainment industry is a jungle," Bugs was explaining, "if you don't have a really good agent to go over your contracts and look out for you, those studio bosses will murder you."

"Tell me about it," said Carol.

"Bugs, could I have a word with Carol?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, sure." Bugs got up. "I've gotta go catch up with Doc. He's got a tortoise he wants me to race with."

As soon as the rabbit had left, Rachel took his place beside Carol.

"I found Vicky. She thinks that Amanda might fall in love with me because I beat her today."

"Is that what you want?" Carol asked.

"I don't know. Is it? You're the one who's supposed to know why I'm doing this."

"Well, okay," Carol admitted. "That isn't it. You aren't here because you want Amanda to fall in love with you. You had it right when you told Scott and Jane that Amanda had done something nice for you and you wanted to do something nice for her. Now, you've done something nice for her."

"Yes, but I don't know what it is that she's done for me that's so important. I mean, she did save my life."

"And now you've saved your own life. If you ever felt that you owed your life to Amanda, you've claimed it back from her. You're alive now because of yourself, not just because of her."

"And there is the way that she's broadened my sexual horizons."

"And now you've expanded them even further, yourself."

"And yet there's something more. There's something else that Amanda has done for me. And it's that something that makes me feel so strongly that I want to do something for her?"

"Yes," said Carol.

"The clue that you gave me was that Amanda intended to do this for me, but she didn't intend for me to enjoy it."

"Yes."

"I'm stumped," Rachel confessed. "I've got Amanda's life in my hands. I don't want to kill her. I don't know why I even went to see her when she invited me for dinner. It isn't like she lured me there with some kind of magick or something. She isn't out to control me."

"No," Carol said patiently. "If Amanda has magic, she doesn't use it like that."

"This experience has changed me, transformed me. I couldn't believe the way I faced down those hunters tonight. I can't believe the way I changed when I felt I had to protect Amanda when she was being attacked. I mean, I'd stand up for any woman and I'm glad I was able to tonight. But that transformation is something I just became aware of. Is that a part of it?"

"Well, magick is about transformation."

"You mean Amanda has transformed me into a warrior princess?"

"Rachel," Carol said with compassion, "it's more than that. It's deeper than that. The warrior princess is only a part of it. It's much more important than that. It's why you were drawn to Amanda in the first place."

"Drawn to her? How could I have been drawn to her? I didn't even know she would be my hunter in the first hunt. This doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense," Carol assured her. "I'll tell you what. Try to step out of your reality and look at it like this: Suppose Amanda wasn't a real person."

"Amanda not real?" Rachel was truly puzzled.

"Yes," Carol explained. "Suppose Amanda were, say, just a character in a story. And suppose she symbolized something."

"Like what?"

"Whatever is most appropriate. Let's say Amanda symbolized danger, or the hunger or even more general needs of another person. Or, say, Amanda, symbolized a fatal fantasy that a woman might have. She's perfect for that: She functions according to her own principles and logic that are hard for someone else to understand, and she's beautiful, exciting, erotic, intense, and, if she isn't controlled, dangerous as hell."

"Oh, Amanda's all that, all right," Rachel agreed.

"What would be the point of trying to keep something like whatever Amanda symbolized in your life? What good would it do to, say, learn how to deal with a fatal fantasy and keep it in your life? Why not just turn your back on it and ignore it or deny it or suppress it or stay the hell away from it? What's the benefit of learning to relate to, say, a fatal fantasy."

"Hm. That sounds a little like some kind of explicit statement of a moral or a theme or something that a writer might throw in to make sure that a reader got the point. Not the sort of thing that happens in real life at all." Rachel observed.

"Well, if that were the case," Carol sighed, "I could get away with it because I'm only a character in your dream. I'd be one more remove from reality myself. It would be an accepted literary device."

"Okay. I'll see if I can still think in those terms when I wake up. I'm not sure I can do that. And I think I may need to get help to figure this out. At least something that will trigger a line of thought that I haven't explored consciously."

"Listen. Amanda may help you find the answer herself."

"Am I supposed to ask her what it is that she's done for me that I don't even know?"

"Ask Amanda what comes most naturally for you to ask her. You'll get your answer."

Ding.

Rachel looked at the monitor. Amanda's fever had gone down to 103.2. She had turned the corner. Her IV bag might need changing once more before morning, but there was nothing more to worry about.

Amanda was quiet.

Rachel drifted off into a peaceful, if frequently interrupted sleep.