These crimes," the doctor answered, "have all the elements of a ghostly impulse.”
Charles Wadsworth Camp- "The Abandoned Room: A Mystery Solved”
Officer Melanie O’Shea whirled around at the sound of electronic beeping. She didn’t know what the hell was going on, but she knew that there was something weird about the whole feel of this serology lab. A charge in the air had the small hairs on her arms standing up. Melanie’s deep brown eyes swept around the messy interior of the office, cataloging every scattered file and broken pencil.
She felt like she wasn’t alone.
Melanie saw the little radio a moment later, sitting on the edge of the overturned desk. She stepped forward to frown at the device. It was a walkie-talkie, just like the ones that the she’d found on the three weirdoes that she’d just handcuffed. Only it hadn’t been there a second before. Melanie was sure of it. Almost sure, anyway. Where the hell had it come from?
“Mel?” Sullivan Pryce, Melanie’s cousin and boss, called to her from the outer room. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Melanie said, automatically. She took a backwards step towards the door. “There’s nothing back here.”
“There’s not?” One of the blue-haired lunatics demanded. His undoubtedly fake drivers’ license said that his name was Tharsis Waterhouse. His gaze slid over to the curvy, little redhead in a “Hello Kitty” baseball cap. “Ty?”
She shrugged, her eyes warily fixed on Sullivan. Sullivan had that kind of effect on people. At 6 foot 6, with a massive scar on the side of his face, Mayport Beach’s chief of police looked like a badass. The scowl didn’t help matters. Sullivan was never in a great mood, but drug dealers really pissed him off. Since, it was a pretty good guess that the three nuts with Goth striped hair had broken into the hospital lab in order to steal any kind of happy pills they could find, Sullivan wasn’t exactly on his best behavior.
Melanie almost felt bad for the freaks.
“There’s another walkie-talkie back there. I think they had someone else working with them, but he got away.” She arched a brow at Tharsis. “Looks like your buddy left ya for dead, pal.”
His mouth actually curved. “Honor among thieves is such a crock.” All three of them had some kind of odd lyrical accent, but Tharsis’ was the least noticeable. His life of crime apparently paid well, since he wore an Armani suit with no shirt and there was a huge blue sapphire studded through his left ear. Amusement gleamed from his turquoise eyes, as if this entire bust was part of some grand joke.
“You didn’t see any bodies back there?” The other guy asked Melanie. His phony, unlamented ID listed him as Uriel Woods. Melanie couldn’t imagine any parents being cruel enough to saddle their kid with a name that sounded so much like ‘urinal.’ “Or are you just ignoring the dead Phases because they weren’t human?” He looked over at Tharsis. “Do humans even have laws about killing us?”
Tharsis cringed slightly and pretended not to hear that.
“Oh, God.” Sullivan gave his head a patented ‘why me?’ shake and pinched the bridge of his nose. “They think that they’re aliens. I can’t handle any more aliens this week, Mel.”
Melanie patted his shoulder sympathetically. Sullivan hated dealing with eccentrics. He’d really much rather have a gunfight or even do paperwork. And the aliens they usually picked up weren’t armed, either. Melanie rolled her eyes at the strange looking sword they’d taken from Uriel. The Lord of the Rings prop store must love these jokers.
“We aren’t aliens.” Tharsis said, swiftly.
“There are no aliens in this galaxy.” Uriel agreed, straight faced. “We’d have met them.”
“He’s going in your car, Melanie.” Sullivan gestured towards Uriel. “I’ll take these two and meet you back at the station.” He grabbed Tharsis with one hand and Ty with the other. “Just leave the other walkie-talkie and the rest of the scene as is and we’ll process it this afternoon.”
That perked Melanie up. Mayport Beach offered very few opportunities for processing crime scenes. Usually, it was just arresting the same clowns every weekend at the local bar and giving out some parking tickets.
Ty’s eyes went wide behind the lens of her cat’s eye glasses. Like her soon-to-be co-defendants, her hands were zip tied behind her back. “Thar?” Her voice sounded too high pitched as Sullivan dragged her forward. “Are we sure these are real humans and not working with the Reprisal or anything?”
“I’m sure. Chason wouldn’t even hire a human to scrub his toilet.” Tharsis glanced up at Sullivan, looking amazingly blasé about his upcoming trip to the slammer. “My cousin’s scared. Explain that you’re just an ordinary cop and that you’re not going to hurt her.” He spoke like he was used to having people listen.
Sullivan wasn’t exactly the world’s greatest listener. Melanie expected her cousin to blow him off, just on general principals. To her surprise Sullivan heaved another sigh, instead. He loosened his grip on Ty’s arm and spared her an annoyed glance. “We aren’t the Gestapo, kid. You’re just getting tossed in jail, not beaten with phonebooks or fed to attack dogs. Deal with it, okay? Because, I’m givin’ ya fair warning, you start crying and I might rethink the rubber hoses.”
Ty seemed to believe Sullivan’s grudging, pseudo-reassurances. Melanie could see her relax a bit. Far from tears, Ty began to focus on the actual nuts and bolts of her arrest. “Will you fingerprint us like they do on TV? That could actually be interesting. I’m not sure we have fingerprints, do we, Thar?”
“Ty, honey, shhh!” Tharsis hissed back. “Let’s exercise our Constitutional right to remain silent. Haven’t you ever seen one of the human Law and Order shows?”
Sullivan rolled his eyes. “God, this really is just what I need today.” He muttered to no one in particular. “Alright, Trekkies, this way to the mothership. We’ll get you away from all the bad Earthlings.” He ushered them forward, out the door.
Uriel turned to Melanie. “Your leader detains his prisoners on a ship?”
Melanie really wished Sullivan had left her in charge of the other two whackos instead of this one. Uriel made her uncomfortable. Despite his better living through chemistry, the guy looked like the centerfold pinup image of All American maleness. There was something so wrong about lusting after the scumbag she’d just busted for stealing drugs from a hospital lab. Melanie had been a cop for six years and she’d never been attracted to a prisoner before.
“Sullivan’s not my leader. He’s my boss.” Melanie muttered, since there really wasn’t another response to his craziness.
Uriel nodded. “Ah, I didn’t know that there was distinction between those words. I’m sorry. Human isn’t my first language.” His earnest smile should have been bottled and sold to men everywhere.
Melanie made a face. “Whatever. Let’s just go.” She took hold of his arm and refused to notice the size of his bicep.
Uriel was definitely the best looking man she’d ever arrested. Or, okay, ever seen. Ever. Like some kind of refugee from Soap Opera Land, where all the men were designed to live their lives in bath towels. His blond hair was cut in a short, military style with a mahogany streak at his temple. For some reason, he wore a watermelon colored t-shirt with “World’s Sexiest Grandma” written across the front in sparkly, cursive letters. Maybe it was the name of his band. In any case, Melanie wasn’t sure how he managed to look so ready to try out for the Navy Seals in it. It must’ve been his stance.
The guy dressed like a freak from a bad rave, but he stood like a warrior.
Uriel didn’t try to struggle free of her grasp or challenge her authority. With fluid athleticism, he calmly strode beside her as she led him out into the South Florida heat. Melanie immediately cringed at the Indian summer humidity that pressed down on her like a sweltering wave of mugginess.
God, it was days like this that questioned her sanity living so close to the Equator.
Melanie knew it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help but squint up into the sun bleached sky as she stepped off the sidewalk. For the past few days, she’d been staring at it more and more. Something just looked... wrong. As usual, there were darkening storm clouds forming in the otherwise clear, blue expanse. If you lived in South Florida, you got used to evening downpours. Still, it just looked different up there today. Weird and somehow… empty.
“Do the clouds…” She hesitated and glanced up at her prisoner. “Never mind.” She herded him towards her police car. “Forget it.” Her gaze strayed to the sky again as she opened the back door for him and she gave into impulse. “Alright, seriously, do the clouds look weird to you?” Sullivan had claimed that she was imagining things, but Melanie couldn’t get the idea out of her head.
“Weird?” Uriel repeated. “In what way?”
“Well, not like hurricane weird.” That was always a concern in Florida. “Like -I don’t know- flat or something.” She knew it was an insane question, but if anyone could understand it, she had a feeling it was her doped-up, bodybuilding friend.
Uriel didn’t even turn to glance at the sky. Instead, he focused on her with a disturbing new intensity, like he’d suddenly noticed something unusual about her face. It seemed like he’d stopped breathing.
Melanie had always considered herself fairly average looking. She had no idea what the matinee idol standing in front of her found so interesting. Uriel leaned forward, bending down so his gaze was level with hers. Melanie didn’t back away, didn’t go for her pepper spray, or even threaten to throw him in prison forever. Instead, she just stared back, feeling strangely safe, even as the gigantic lobotomy patient focused on her with the intensity of a laser beam.
Or maybe a tractor beam, considering his sci-fi fanboy-ness.
“You have the eyes of a Wood Phase.” Uriel reported, softly. His own eyes met hers and, instead of drug induced lunacy, Melanie saw determined intelligence reflected in their brown depths.
“Uh-huh.” Melanie said, because there didn’t seem to be another answer for that statement, either. It was probably real unprofessional to notice that he smelled incredible. Cops shouldn’t notice a perp’s clean, woodsy scent.
“Eyes that shade of brown mean a Wood Phase.” Uriel insisted as if he thought she’d argue the point.
Melanie shrugged. “Well, it’s just the color I was born with, cowboy. So, I guess I’ll take your word for that.”
Uriel gave his head a puzzled shake. “The clouds are devoid of their pictures.” He finally reported, still keeping his attention on her. “It’s gone out of them now. I wasn’t sure that humans would notice. You’re special.”
The crazy talk and the really white gleam of his teeth distracted Melanie for a second. Then, her mouth dropped open as she realized what he’d said.
Holy shit.
The mental patient had actually pin-pointed exactly what was wrong with the flat, depressing looking clouds. Where there was usually a shifting display of images showcased in the sky, now there was just… space. Melanie swallowed hard. It was impossible. Nothing could erase the endless shapes and forms created by the different positions of clouds. They were put there by people’s imaginations. Losing them would be unbelievably tragic.
“So, how do we get the pictures back?” She demanded before she thought better of it.
“We can’t.” Uriel shook his head, sadly. “Not unless we find the Quintessence, anyway. It may be able to undo Parald’s betrayal.”
What the hell was he talking about, now? Some kind of comic book thing? “Get in the car.” She ordered, shortly. He was so tall that she had to help him duck into the backseat. “Just don’t say anything else.” She slammed the door shut and scowled up at the sky, again.
Damn it. She was going nuts. There were no friggin’ pictures in the clouds.
How could that happen?
Muttering to herself, Melanie rounded the car and got into the driver’s seat. Her eyes met Uriel’s in the rearview mirror. She wanted to accuse him of stealing the images, but that would make her just as insane as he was. He knew something, though. She could tell by the intent way he was staring at her.
“Alright, so what really happened to the clouds?” She demanded.
“You instructed me not to say anything more to you, Melanie. If I answer, you will only get annoyed. I don’t want you annoyed with me.”
He pronounced her name “Mal-ann-ee.” It was not adorable. His whole accent was completely un-swoon worthy. Melanie refused to be taken in. “I’m not capable of getting too much more annoyed, cowboy. It’s zooming towards Rodney King time, here.”
A frown puckered his brow. “I am unfamiliar with that temporal period.”
Melanie ground her teeth together. “What’s wrong with the clouds, Uriel?”
He hesitated for a long moment. Then, he leaned forward as far as his seatbelt would allow. “There was a tragic dune buggy accident. It killed the last of the Cloud House. Elementals everywhere mourned.”
“A dune buggy accident.” Melanie repeated, expressionlessly.
Uriel nodded. “I only say this because I sense something very special about you, Melanie.” He looked oddly hopeful. “Tell me, were any of your ancestors of a different species?”
Melanie turned further in her seat so she could glare at him through the wire mesh that separated the front of the car from the back. “Was that an insult or has the meth just completely trapped you in your X-Files fantasy?”
“Insult?” Uriel frowned. “I would never insult you. Please, if I said something wrong, accept my apologies. Your culture is… difficult for me. The last thing I want to do is offend you. I have a great deal of respect for you and the job you do keeping law for your people.” He sounded so contrite that Melanie actually believed him.
“It’s alright. You can’t help being delusional.” She decided that she was being crazy about the clouds and started the car. “Or, I guess, you could help it, if you went into some kind of treatment.” She cleared her throat and tried to sound like a totally unbiased civil servant. “Maybe if you checked into rehab and straightened out your life, you could actually –well-- have a life. A girlfriend or whatever.” Her eyes flicked to the rearview mirror again. “I’m just saying.”
He continued to watch her with an unnerving sort of intensity. “This might be hard for you to accept, Melanie, but I need to tell you some things. I won’t be here in your realm for very long.”
“Yeah, well, that’s sort of up to a jury of your peers, cowboy.”
“I’m part of a rebellion. We’re here in Florida looking for something human, but not.”
“Robocop?” Melanie was almost enjoying herself, now. It was Uriel’s accent. Despite her best efforts, it was getting to her. She could’ve listened to him rattle off ingredients from the side of a cereal box and been reluctantly charmed. Flur-aid-da. They should change the way the rest of the world said “Florida,” so it always sounded like Uriel’s more musical pronunciation. “Where exactly are you from, again?”
He didn’t answer that. “We are not sure of the name of the person we seek. Maybe you could help, in fact. Is there anyone in your realm who seems…Divine? Like they may have unique powers?”
“Well, there was that psychic hotline lady on TV, but I think they shut her down for tax evasion.” Melanie grinned. “Let’s see… who else? Hey, how about those Olympic gymnasts? That level of flexibility seems unnatural to me. And my 10th grade math teacher was some kind of cyborg. Seriously, he could add fifty-nine numbers at a time, all in his head. Oh and my grandpa was really good at growing ferns.”
“Ferns.” Uriel barley breathed the word. The force of his gaze reached a level high enough to nearly burn the back of her neck.
“Yep. And rosebushes. On the beach. He had a green thumb. Are we counting gardening as a unique power or do you want –like-- the ability to see through steel?”
Uriel licked his lower lip. “How do human men approach the women they mean to Phaze with?” He asked, abruptly.
“Usually in bars.” Melanie muttered. “If you’re talking about sex, anyway. That’s how I met my last boyfriend, Brad.”
Uriel’s eyes narrowed, slightly. “You have a Match?” He didn’t sound happy. In fact, he sounded ready to hunt Brad down and do a lot of bodily harm. Melanie was not kind of turned on by that.
“Not anymore. He left me for a bikini waitress down on the pier.” Melanie gestured in the direction of the beach. “Bastard. Let’s see how he likes his precious truck living in the impound lot from now on.” She grinned. “Never dump a vindictive police officer. Words of wisdom.”
“I don’t plan to.” Uriel assured her, seriously. The anger faded from his voice. Now, there was dawning light to his expression, as if he’d been suddenly been let in on a cosmic revelation. “These feelings I’m having for you are interesting. Possessive. Caring. That’s… unusual. And you have the eyes of a Wood Phase. And the ferns…” He shook his head. “But, a Phase-Match is between Phases.”
“Makes sense.” Melanie lied.
There was a long pause, like Uriel was doing some deep thinking. Probably plotting out some wicked Dungeons and Dragons maneuvers to try on his space cadet, gamer buddies. Or maybe mentally debating the merits of Babylon 5 versus Battlestar Galactica. The guy was a nerd trapped in the body of an action hero.
“There are laws against interbreeding with humans.” Uriel reported, at length.
“Seriously? Well, shit.” Melanie gave her head a shake. “There go my plans to horribly abuse my power and ravish you on the way to the station, then. You’ve broken enough laws today. No interbreeding for us.”
A predatory light entered his eyes. “I very much want you to ravish me.” He said, straight faced. “This is more than just your beauty at work.”
She snorted at that idea. “You love me for my mind, huh?”
“I love you for who you are.” He took a deep breath. “You are my Match. I know it with everything that I am.”
Melanie fingers drummed on the steering wheel. Uriel saying he loved her wasn’t nearly as funny as it should be. In fact, it sort of made her angry and hurt that he’d lie like that. Even if he was a psycho. “I think you’d better just shut-up for a while, Mr. Woods.”
“Listen to me. Please.” He implored. “I don’t wish to overstep. Cross has an easier job with this, since I’m not sure how Matches are decided in your culture, but… You’re mine. I don’t need to know your species to be sure of who you are. You cannot be with another man.”
Melanie hadn’t had a date in six months, but she wasn’t telling him that. “Uriel, you’re high.” She told him, bluntly. “You have no idea what you’re saying. Focus on how we can’t breed. That’ll douse the flames of your passion, I bet.”
“The law is very clear.” Uriel agreed. “I am a solider for Elementals. I wouldn’t disobey our most ancient rule on a whim. Only the will of Gaia can overrule the laws of the Council.”
“Well, there ya go.” Melanie was not kind of disappointed in his easy acceptance of their doomed romance. “Love affair over.”
“And yet, Gaia has put me here with you and I know that…” He smiled as if one thought was leading to another in his mind so fast he couldn’t keep up. “I know that you are part Wood Phase. You must be. So, interbreeding must have occurred, no matter what the Council decreed. That explains my feelings. Yes!” He might as well have just found dark matter he sounded so “Eureka!-y” at that moment. “You’re part Elemental, Melanie.”
“I’m Irish American, actually, with a little Spanish tossed in for flavor.”
Uriel shook his head, looking thrilled and happy and dazed. “We are meant to be. Gaia has led me to you. You are mine. My Match.”
Melanie spared him another quick mirror glance. “I don’t go out with the guys I arrest.” She said it forcefully for both of their benefits. “If there’s a Miranda warning on the first date, it just sours the whole relationship for me.”
“I’m different from the prisoners you usually capture.”
“You’re prettier than most, but you’re still a criminal.”
“I’m a solider.” He corrected, sitting up straighter and angling his jaw. “Like you. I serve my House and I protect all those weaker than myself.”
Melanie almost made a sarcastic retort to that, but Uriel looked really serious. Drug induced hallucination or not, he really was buying into his own 300 image. And the mental picture of him in a loincloth was enough to distract Melanie from any other intelligible response.
Uriel apparently took her silence as encouragement. “According to tradition, I have to disclose certain things to you at this point. So, if you accept me as your Match, you’ll be in danger. I need you to understand that I have enemies.”
“Persia?” Melanie guessed, dryly. “No. Wait, who do they fight in Game of Thrones?”
He frowned over that. “Melanie, I can tell you are joking, but I can’t protect you if I’m restrained like this. And if my enemies discover that you’re mine, they’ll seek to take you from me. And the Council themselves will not approve our Match without my explanation. So, I’d appreciate it if you’d…”
“What? Let you go, right?” Melanie finished for him, cutting him off. “Oh pha-leeeze. Like I haven’t had guys try to sweet talk themselves outta handcuffs before.” She shook her head, feeling strangely disappointed that Uriel would go for that tactic. “Just be quiet until we get to the station and you can call your lawyer.”
He disregarded that. “I think it’s important that we don’t waste time. These ties are plastic, so I can’t manipulate them. The Air House could attack, again. You need to know the truth.” He paused for dramatic effect. “I am not human.”
“Uh-huh.” Melanie reached over and turned on the radio to the ‘80s rock station in an effort to drown him out. AC/DC began screaming about shaking all night long.
Uriel’s face creased into pained lines at the noise. “Torture isn’t necessary. Just try to open your mind to the truth.”
“Hey, watch it, Alf. I like this song.”
He ignored that too and began speaking louder so he could be heard over the pounding drums. “I am an Elemental of the Wood House. I control the forces of the universe and I need your help.”
“My help? Wow, I’m flattered. What with your universal power and all.”
“I don’t have universal powers. I get power from the universe. My energy is mainly drawn from wood.”
“Oh man, if this is leading to some kind of joke about your penis…”
“Plants. Trees. Wood.” Uriel began to look aggravated. “Elementals work together to control and balance nature.”
“Wasn’t that the plot of the Captain Planet cartoon?” Melanie mused.
“I can prove what I say is true. Is that what you need to accept this, Melanie?”
“Nah, if you promise you’re a wood sprite, that’s totally good enough for me.” She assured him. “Seriously, I believe you.” She nudged the volume control on the radio up another click.
Why where the hot ones always nuts?
Melanie drew the police car to a stop at Mayport Beach’s only traffic light. She could see the Gulf of Mexico out her window on one side, while rows of small beach bungalows lined up in the other. There were no other cars on either side of the street. Mayport Beach was a classic palm tree and plastic flamingo Florida beach town. This time of year, there were very few residents, but Melanie still observed all the traffic laws.
At least, while she was on duty.
In the back seat, Uriel closed his eyes and took a series of rapid, cleansing breaths. “Melanie, please don’t get upset over what’s about to happen.” He instructed.
Two seconds later, eight huge Douglas firs surrounded the car like a fence.
Melanie let out a panicked yelp. “Shit!” Her head reared back so fast she was surprised that she didn’t give herself whiplash. She sat there for a long moment, her hands clenched in a white knuckle grip around the steering wheel.
Christmas trees.
There were fucking Christmas trees around her cruiser.
Without moving the rest of her body, Melanie craned her neck to look out the window. The firs were so tall she couldn’t see the tops of them and they were coming right out of the ground. Right through the pavement.
Oh, Sullivan was not going to like the damage their trunks had done to the surface of the road. She gave a slightly hysterical laugh at the thought and then looked at Uriel again. “So, you can do this, but not fix the clouds, huh?” It was the first thought that popped into her head.
He regarded her, helplessly. “I would put the pictures back in the sky for you if I could, my love. But, it’s beyond my power.”
Melanie nodded. “Okay.” She turned back to the pine forest blocking her car. “Okay.” She could handle this. She was a professional. “Okay.”
The light flashed green again.
“Do you see?” Uriel prompted after a lengthy pause. “I am not human. I’m Elemental.”
“Okay.” The light switched to yellow.
“I won’t hurt you.” Uriel continued when she continued to sit there silently. “Not ever, Melanie. If that’s what you’re thinking, now. I don’t wish to pressure you, but I really believe that you are my Match. I would die before I hurt you.”
The light went red.
Melanie cleared her throat. “I don’t think you’ll hurt me.” And she didn’t. If he wanted to, the guy could’ve speared her with a pine tree by now and escaped.
Another long moment passed.
AC/DC switched to Skid Row’s 18 and Life.
Melanie didn’t notice.
“You’re an alien, aren’t you?” She finally said and just the fact that she asked the question without having some kind of break down was a miracle.
“No, I told you, there are no aliens in this galaxy. I am Elemental. We control the interconnected processes of the universe and maintain nature’s harmony.”
“Yeah? That sounds like a good job. Time outdoors and all.” Melanie reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Okay. An Elemental. Right.” She cleared her throat, again. “So, I’m just going to let you go, then.” She reached over to fumble with her seatbelt. “Can you do something about the…the…” She couldn’t get the words out, so she just waved a hand at the fir trees.
Uriel nodded. “Yes, of course.” A heartbeat later and all eight firs were gone.
Melanie sucked in a deep breath. “Okay.” She opened her door and saw that huge holes had now been left in the street. If Sullivan asked, she was just going to tell him it was a freak meteor shower. It made more sense than the truth.
She unlocked Uriel’s door and helped him out of the car.
He towered over her, a massive wall of handcuffed, sort-of-alien hotness. “I have no wish to scare you.” He said, quietly.
“I’m okay.” She started to turn him around so she could undo the zip ties holding his wrists together. “So, the other two people with you are…”
“Elementals, too. Yes.” Uriel finished when she trailed off. He resisted her attempts to reach his hands. “Melanie, you’re special. Part Phase. It’s a miracle. It shouldn’t be. But, I feel it.”
“Okay.” Melanie was barely listening to him. Her frazzled mind was stuck on how she was going to get the other two non-humans out of their holding cells. Sullivan wouldn’t just release them. Even if he saw a whole instant rainforest appear, her cousin would never believe this. Sullivan could be incredibly stubborn about some things and Melanie had a feeling that Elementals visiting Mayport Beach was going to be one of them.
“Melanie.” Uriel somehow shifted his body so she was trapped between him and the side of the car. “Pay attention to this. It’s important.”
She forced herself to focus and met his eyes, again. “What?”
“Do you feel something between us? An attraction that is more than…?”
“Yes.” Melanie interrupted, flatly. There didn’t seem much point in denying it. For all she knew, he could extract her thoughts with a ray gun, anyway.
Uriel’s mouth curved. “Good. Will you allow me to try something? It won’t hurt, I promise.”
What the hell? Melanie nodded, feeling slightly light headed. “Sure, cowboy. Knock yourself out.” It wasn’t like he could do anything that would shock her more than the evergreen jungle. Besides, he was still wearing handcuffs.
“Thank you.” Uriel said, politely.
Then he slammed his lips down over hers and Melanie’s world exploded.