At least nothing was broken.

She knew that. No. The savaging had been

so sudden, the imparting of pain so skilled,

that she knew precious little.

But nothing was broken, she sensed that.

And she so wanted it to be true. Because that would

mean she was looking on the bright side, the last words

her father had spoken to her, the last words and the first

advice. "Holly," he d said, " 1 can t leave you money

but I can give you gold: You be sure you always look

on the bright side. No matter how bad a thing is, there s

gotta be one part that s brighter than the other. There s

never yet been an all-black night. So you keep an eye

out for that bright side and you ll always be okay."

rn always be okay, Holly told herself.