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"Is Octavia okay, Dad?" Carson asked anxiously

They reached the open door of Bright Visions at that ht of Octavia inside The first thing he noticed was that she wasn't wearing one of her usual icy-pale fairy queen dresses today Instead she was dressed in a short juolden-yellow boatneck tee shirt she wore underneath the dress had sleeves that came to her elbows There was a wide amber bracelet on her wrist and more amber at her wrists and throat

When she esture, he noticed that she had painted her nails with a vivid criht He looked down and saw her bare toes peeking out from under the red leather tops of a pair of sexy, backless slides She'd painted her toenails, too Must have gotten up early, he thought But then, he'd rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn hiht

Octavia looked at him There was fire in her eyes

"Yeah," Nick said softly to Carson "Octavia's okay"

Sean Valentine looked up froave Nick a brief, friendly nod "Morning, Harte" His soht of Carson "Hey, there, Carson How are you doing today?"

"Hey, there, Chief Valentine I'ht

Kids always responded to Sean, Nick reflected He was not certain why Valentine was no Officer Friendly He carried a lot of wear and tear on his face It was true that Sean did project a calm, professional competence, but he always looked as if he expected bad news Children see else beneath the surface, so they liked and trusted

Nick noticed that Octavia was also watching Sean greet Carson There was a thoughtful, reflective look on her face as though she, too, saw so in Valentine that she liked and trusted

When she switched her gaze to Nick, however, the approval disappeared instantly froot was cool appraisal She was looking at hi that did not quite measure up to her standards

Oh, shit Talk about worst-case scenarios This was bad Very, very bad

"Hello, Nick," she said without inflection But when she switched her attention to Carson, the war, Carson I like that shirt"

Carson beareen dinosaur emblazoned on his sweatshirt "Thanks It's a velociraptor Dad bought it for me"

"I see"

"A velociraptor can rip you to shreds in seconds," Carson said cheerfully

Octavia nodded "I'll bear that inon here?"

"Octavia says that the painting Old Man Thurgarton left to AZ and Nash and the Heralds has disappeared" Sean rubbed the back of his neck "Kind of a mystery how it happened Apparently it was locked up in the back room and the security alar past a standard security syste up at the institute No offense, Carson"