"Parick O'Leary - The Witch's hand" - читать интересную книгу автора (O'leary Patrick)

"How'd it get here?"

"Fell out of the sky. It probably grabbed a hawk by the talons and wouldn't let go."

"Talons?"

"Talons are bird claws."

One boy shivered. He had once touched the waxy sheath of skin on a yellow chicken claw. "Why's it
come back?"

"It's just something you can't get rid of. You know, like a weed, or a little sister. Even if you try to lose it,
it keeps coming back."

They realized he hadn't answered their question. "But Why?"

Jimmy smiled and pointed the beam at his friend's face and said, "Why what?"

The boy squinched his eyes closed. "Why's it keep coming back?"

Jimmy turned the light away. "It's looking for something."

"Wha?"

"The knight who chopped it off."

"He's dead by now."

"No, he's immortal."

"So what's he got to worry about?"

"Yeah, if he's immortal he's gonna live forever."

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"What do you mean No? What are you talking about?"

"He's human. He's not angelic or demonic. He bleeds, he sins, he hurts, he hungers."

His guests looked at each other then, each trying not to frown.

"I'm saying the knight can't die of natural causes. Only unnatural. Like bad luck. Or magic hands."

The boys were frowning. It broke the rules, you see. All the immortals they'd ever heard about were
indestructible. In movies, comics, cartoons and books even, "Immortal" meant "Invincible." What was the