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ONE

The world was a very, very big place

That was Loup’s first impression as the sun rose over northern Mexico By the tiht over the landscape, they’d been driving for an hour Still, the road stretched before them, empty and endless

And except for Pilar, fast asleep with her head on Loup’s shoulder, everything and everyone in the world Loup had ever loved was behind her, behind the vast concrete wall that sealed off the US border and sealed in a town once known as Santa Olivia, known in Loup’s lifetime only as Outpost—Outpost 12

The thought ht of day, the thrill of their daring escape through the excavated s fear, she was fairly sure she’d be feeling it now

Pilar yawned and lifted her head “Are we almost there?” she asked sleepily

Behind the steering wheel, Christophe laughed “Not even close”

Pilar’s hazel eyes widened “Seriously?”

“Oh, yes” He glanced over at the girls “It’s over a thousand kilometers to Mexico City Over six hundredtheir perplexed looks

“Wow” Loup tried to think about what that meant and couldn’t She knewnowhere, not as actual distances to be traveled It was only the third or fourth time she’d ridden in a car, and never farther than a few blocks before “So a few more hours, huh?”

“More than a few”

“How many?”

The cousin-of-a-sort she’d only just met squinted at the convertible’s speedoht to be there by late afternoon”

“Shit!” Pilar said in dismay

Christophe slid her a laughing glance “Big world, eh?”

“Yeah, no kidding” She turned to look at the ehway behind them “So we’re safe? No one’s after us?”

“I i for Loup, but no one has the slightest idea she crossed the border, and it is quite possible they do not even know you are , bonita Go back to sleep,” he said kindly “Both of you, if you like It will ht”

“No kidding,” Pilar repeated, but she closed her eyes and nestled her head back on Loup’s shoulder, worn out with terror and happiness “You okay, baby?”

“Mm-hmm”

“Okay, then”

Pilar dozed

Christophe drove

Hot hipped all around them Loup studied her Mexican-born sort-of-cousin Aside fro, he was the first person Loup had ever met that was like her—not entirely human He was the only one she had met as truly like her—conceived naturally, not created in a laboratory like the father she had never known

It had been dark when they’d escaped fro, not hteen at the most Well, that made sense He couldn’t have been conceived much earlier than her His hands were steady on the wheel His skin was darker than hers, brown instead of carah, rounded cheekbones, the sa lashes that she did

“You knew my father, didn’t you?” Loup asked him

“Tío Martin? Yes, of course”

“What was he like?”

“Quiet,” Christophe said, concentrating on the road “Very intense All of theinal kin My father, too”

“Henri”

“Henri,” he agreed in acknowledgment “He was the leader, the smart one”

“He died, too?”

Christophe spared her a sylance “They all died, Loup”

“Why?”

He sighed “Because they burned too bright, too hard, and too fast You know?”

“I know,” Loup murmured

After a lifeti she wasn’t, she’d burned bright and fast and hard in Outpost, in the town known as Santa Olivia before it was cordoned off from the rest of the world and occupied by the US Ar a buffer zone to protect the country froeneration, froht not have been real