"You always hated her," said Sealilly, taking the bottle out of his
pocket and sucking it. "She was too normal for you to stomach, I
guess."
"I would've got him if he hadn't run away like a yellow dog," Joseph
said. "The stingbats would have done it if she hadn't interfered. And
then this morning I had him, too." He was thoughtful for a moment. "Who
do you suppose tipped him off?"
And he watched his father's pasty face.
"_Who?_"
Sealilly laughed.
"All right," Joseph hissed. "I'll get you for that. You wanted to get
rid of _me_, I'll bet. But you got rid of her instead."
But Sealilly continued to laugh, inside, because this was almost as
good as getting rid of Joseph, having Laura out of his clutches at last.
"Me and my crew will fix you for that," Joseph said bitterly.
And with that, his avatars came crowding in behind him, squat, powerful
and ugly, their saucer eyes intent upon Sealilly.
He had been through it several times before, but this time he screamed
a little bit before it was over. He could not get away from Joseph, of
course. There was too many of him.