Kit sighed too, and Nita made a face at nothing in particular. On their first job, she and Kit had said something similar, about a hundred times. "I'll help," she said, and "Me too," said Kit, in about the same breath."But you're tired," Nita said, "and we're tired, and it's late, we ought to go home. …" "Come tomorrow, then, and I'll fill you in. Are you living on the Barrier?" Nita didn't recognize the name. "Over there," Kit said, pointing across the water at Tiana Beach. "Where the lights are.""By the old oyster beds," S'reee said. "Can you go out swimming a couple hours after the sun's high? I'll meet you and we'll go where we can talk.""Uh," Kit said, "if the sharks are still around—" Out on the water there was a splash of spray as a silvery form leaped, chattering shrilly, and hit the water again. "They won't be," S'reee said, sounding merry for the first time. "Hotshot and his people are one of the breeds the sharks hate worst; when there are enough of them around, few sharks would dare come into the area. Hotshot will be calling more of his people in tonight and tomorrow—that's part of the work I'm doing.""Okay," Nita said. "But what about you? You're stuck here." "Wake up!" Kit shouted playfully in Nita's ear, nudging her to look down at the sandbar. She found herself standing ankle-deep in salt water. "Tide's coming in. She'll be floated off here in no time."''Oh. Well then. . . ." Nita opened her book, found the word to kill the wizard's-wall spell, and said it. Then she looked up at S'reee. "Are you sure you're gonna be all right?"S'reee looked mildly at her from one huge eye. "We'll find out tomorrow," s he said. "Dai'stiho."
