081413 #worm Ltiky itches to go into the fire after Krim, but the itch is scratched by Ella. Where is the willow-haired girl? The child is growing fast; overnight she changes. She is sharply beautiful. She is almost translucent with grace. She kills Ltiky every time she looks at him. The pride he cannot help feeling when he looks at her is the very shrapnel shard that pierces itself, because she is not his. He is reduced to a wrinkled sac--around which Ella inevitably tightens her fierce grip. Ltiky begins to tighten and tremulate.