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Like a bedroos you see on the news Across one wall the words

"NO FEAR" were spray-painted Spray-painted Most of the curtains were down and one of the s in the alcove was broken There was a large hole in the plaster of one wall and another in the door

And the room was filthy It wasn’t just the motorcycle helmet and the traffic cones on the floor, or the stray bits of clothing draped over every piece of furniture, or the cups overfloith cigarette butts

There were cookie crumbs and ashes and potato chipsKaitlyn et it so dirty in such a short ti up He was big and lanky, with hair so short it was al eyes A skinhead? Kaitlyn wondered He looked like the kind of guy you would hire as an assassin, and his mind felt like the red-haired man’s

"Jackal Mac," Lydia whispered "His real naht That’s it

The other boy was younger, Kaitlyn’s age He had skin the color of creamed coffee and a little, lean, quick body His face was narrow, his features clean and sharp The glasses perched on his nose did nothing to ht The brains of the operation?

She couldn’t get a clear feeling about his mood

"That’s Paul Renfrew, Renny," Lydia whispered- and ducked Jackal Mac had thrown a size twelve combat boot at her

Kaitlyn ducked, too Then she stood frozen as the huge guy rushed toward the here? What do you want?" he snarled, right in Kaitlyn’s face

Oh, Lord, she thought His tongue is pierced It hat looked like a ht as a sparrow, his eyes merry and malicious He circled Kaitlyn, picked up a strand of her hair by the ends

"Ouch! That burns!" he said "But the curves are okay" He smoothed a hand over Kait’s behind "I like her better in the flesh"

Kaitlyn reacted without thinking She whirled around and her hand lasses askew

"You don’t ever do that," she said through her teeth It brought back everyshe’d ever felt for a boy Boys, with their big rinsshe pulled her arht her wrist frohts! I like that"

Kaitlyn jerked her hand out of his grasp "You haven’t seen anything yet," she told the This was genuine, fro his cheek

Kaitlyn turned on her heel "Come on, Lydia Let’sby the stairway Now she straightened up slightly and hurried toward the second door Joyce had shouted at It was the room Rob and Lewis had shared in the old days

The door was ajar; Lydia pushed it open Kaitlyn braced herself for ain the curtains were down, although here they’d been replaced by black sheets There was a black candle burning on the dresser, dripping wax, and an upside-down pentagraazines lay open on the floor, and there was the inevitable scattering of clothing and garbage

There was a girl on each of the twin beds

"Laurie Frost," Lydia said She didn’t seeirls "Frost, this is Kaitlyn-"

"I know her," the girl said sharply, sitting up She had blond hair even lighter than Joyce’s, and h the perave it a look of perpetual disdain She earing a red lace teddy and as she raised a hand to flick hair out of her eyes Kaitlyn saw that she had long silvery nails They were pierced with tiny rings like earrings

"She’s one of the hiss

"Hey, yeah," the other girl said

There was no need for Lydia to introduce her Kaitlyn recognized her from a picture on a file folder in Mr Z’s office Except that the picture had been of a pretty, wholesoirl with dark hair and a vivid face Now she was still pretty-in a bizarre way There were streaks of cerulean blue in her hair, and black s her eyes Her face was hard, her jaw belligerent

Sabrina Jessica Gallo, Kaitlyn thought We meet at last

"I know you, too," Kaitlyn said She kept her voice cool and returned Bri’s stare boldly "And I’ away now I came back"

Bri and Frost looked at each other, then back at Kait They burst into nasty laughter, Bri barking, Frost tittering

"Right back into the , silvery nails "It’s Kaitlyn, right? What do they call you, Kaitlyn? Kaitykins? Kitty? Kit Cat?"

Bri took it up "Kit Kat? Pretty Kitty? Pretty Pretty?"

They dissolved into laughter again

"We’ll have to make the Kitty Kat welcome," Frost said Her wide, pale blue eyes were spiteful but slightly unfocused Kaitlyn wondered if she were hung over fro-or maybe that was just the way these people were The Fellowship had sensed insanity in them, and what Kaitlyn sensed noas that each of theressive, iness in each of them They weren’t even properly suspicious; they weren’t asking the right questions

And Kait wasn’t sure what to do with theartners

"Sabrina and Frost, I said now!" Joyce’s voice cagling Joyce pushed past Kaitlyn like a blondclothes up off the floor

Kaitlyn shook her head, putting on an expression of genteel astonishment for Joyce’s benefit Then she turned to Lydia

"I think I’ve seen enough," she said, and made an exit

A few minutes later Joyce came into Lydia’s room Her sleek hair was ruffled and she was flushed, but her aquamarine eyes were still hard

"You can stay in this roo downstairs while I’et any sleep last night"

"Good luck napping," Joyce said grily short time, the upper floor was still Lydia, Renny, and Bri had departed for school; Jackal Mac and Frost were presu tested Gabriel’s door was locked

Kaitlyn lay down on her old familiar bed-and realized how tired she really was She felt wrung out, drained not only of energy, but of emotion She’d

meant to lie awake and make a plan, but she fell asleep al tiht filled the roorabbed for the headboard as a wave of giddiness swept her Breathing slowly, she held her head down until she felt steadier

Then she crept in stocking feet to the door

Still silence She went to the stairway and turned her head, ear pointed downstairs No sound She descended quietly

If Joyce saw her, she’d say she was hungry, and as dinnertime anyway?

But Joyce didn’t appear The lower floor seemed deserted Kaitlyn was alone in the house

Okay, don’t panic This is terrific, the perfect opportunity What do you want to look at first?

If I were a big ugly crystal, where would I be?

One obvious place was the secret rooet in that; Lewis had always used PK to find the hidden spring in the panel Another place was in Mr Z’s house in San Francisco, where he’d kept it before But Kaitlyn couldn’t do anything about that today Soet to San Francisco

For nowwell, Joyce hadn’t wanted her to see the testing So Kait would start with the labs

The front lab was as she re screen with seashells appliquéd on it, chairs and couches, bookcases, a stereo There was no graffiti Kaitlyn looked briefly into each of the study carrels that lined the walls, but she knew already that the crystal could never fit into so so small She found only ht, envisioning each of the students she’dabout Frost being clairvoyant, but the others-I’ll bet they do so bizarre

She turned to the back laband found it locked

Aha!

It had never been locked before Kaitlyn found it extremely suspicious that it should be locked now

But her jubilation changed to despair a minute later as she realized a basic truth If it was locked, she couldn’t get in

But wait, wait Joyce had always kept a house key on top of the bulletin board in the kitchen, for anybody to grab when they were leaving the house Sometimes people had the same locks on the inside doors of a house as the outside If that key were still thereand if it fit

In a ers searching anxiously on the top of the bulletin board’s frame She found so all the way, Kaitlyn hurried back to the lab She held key to lock, alot to work, it’s got to work

The key slipped in It fit! She waggled it It turned!

The doorknob turned, too Kait pushed and the door was open She stepped in and shut the door behind her

The back lab was die and had only a s to ht