“Agreed.”  DEE extended a hand, clearly intending to shake and seal the deal.  “If you prefer, I can delete the name from my memory as soon as the bet has been won and the wager paid.”<br/><br/>After the handshake, DEE began fading away.  However, it borrowed a trick from Chester, its voice lingering in the air for a few seconds after the hologram had vanished.  “And don’t worry, I’ll be careful.  But what fun is a quest without a few monsters to battle?  Maybe I'll even meet a Jabberwocky.”<br/><br/>Left alone with Chester, Dumas shook his head, as if that could knock his thoughts back into some rational order.  It didn’t help.  So Dumas fixed his gaze on the magician.  “When DEE whispered in your ear, what did it--?  No, nevermind.  I probably don’t want to know.”<br/><br/>This was all too much.  Watching DEE pursue an agenda of its own, and then discovering that it could go waltzing through the internet any time it wished.  This wasn’t him.  Something born of him, perhaps, but not him -- not any more.  So what was it?  What sort of child had he unleashed on the world?  Squeezing his eyes shut, Dumas rubbed his forehead.  He was starting to develop a nasty headache.