noon
We stood frozen , looking at one another while the Toad God sprawled across her breasts rose and fell for half a dozen breaths . Then I took one step forward , and she took one step backward , at the same instant . In one swift movement she was outside in the dark street . It took me only an instant to get into the street after her , but as I stepped across the door there was a little stirring in the air , like the rising of heat waves across the salt flats at noon . Then the street-shrine was empty , and nowhere was there any sign of the girl . She had vanished . She simply was not there .