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I woke up, sober and alone, in Tobias’s bed at five-thirty the next low made his s visible in the dark, but just barely, and I stared at the

Then I forcedroohtly snoring on the couch I sat down on the leather trunk and watched hi over the fact that he even smiled when he slept I reached out and touched the hair at the base of his forehead, shifting it gently aside A sraced his lips and my heart constricted He was beautiful, and I loved hi to suspect that he loved me, too, but he was also at that moment the least of my problems

Ten minutes later, I was at Betty’s apart on the door, filled with cold determination and an atypical clarity She pulled the door open, wide awake in her fluffy red robe Her hair was ainst one side of her head and there were pillowcase creases on her cheek

"I love you, Livvy," she said, pulling me inside, "but it’s the butt crack of dawn Someone better be dead or on fire"

I shut the door behind me with a quiet click as she shuffled into the little kitchenette "Do you have an e I can borrow?"

"An e?" She stared at me for a moment "That couldn’t wait until a reasonable hour?"

I shook ot a red cera out of the cabinet and handed it toto have to kill you with my bare hands And I’m old That could take awhile"

"Is this special?" I asked "Any senti?"

She shook her head "I got them six for ten dollars on clearance I’ot lead in them"

"Okay" I pulled it in toward ht want to stand back Just in case it breaks or so"

Betty stepped a few paces back I closed ling in y intensify a bit and I tried to focus it into theinto a furry, cute, har like burning in my palms, but when I opened

"You can keep it if you like it that much," she said

"No I’, and I need you to see it I need someone I know and trust to check me on this, and since all of my other relationships are kind of a mess at the momentthat’s you"

She put her hand over her heart and gave a wide, ironic set woken up at the butt crack of dawn? I’m touched"

I felt tears come to my eyes, but I blinked them away "You’ll still lovesoht?" I still hadn’t quite worked out alla slightly worried expression in its wake "Alien mutant virus?"

"You’ll understand it better once you’ve seen it" I sed back the weird swell of emotion and tried to concentrate on the task at hand "I just need you to stand there and watch , okay, in case it doesn’t last too long Can you do that?"

Betty released a breath, see even more nervous than I was "Absolutely"

"Okay" I took a deep breath and looked at the , unsure of what to do now What was different from the other times?

Intensity

Okay, then I closed ht about the first tiether, instantly in sync as if we’d been working together for years I thought about how he’d sling ran upto ht of what it would be like to kiss him, to make love with hiling intensified

And then Stacy Easter walked into the fantasy, crooked her finger, and he dropped ht pretty

"Damn" I opened my eyes, and looked around Both of the other times I’d done it, I’d been seriously freaked out Was it sparked by fear? Maybe I looked at Betty "Do you think you can scare me?"

Betty smiled "Oh, honey, I’ed at h I closedit to receive so that would adequately freak me out, if I just kept ic, baby Isn’t it beautiful?

I saw Davina’s face, shtly as she watched the bat phone fly around her Then she looked at uy from the alley, Cain

Is your father Gabriel Ford?

No, I said, and the bat phone lunged at me I ducked and fell to the floor

This is your destiny, baby, Davina said, in her own voice now, as sheyou be what you are

My arh et away

I hadn’t felt myself fall, but when the water hit my face, I sputtered to consciousness flat on my back on the floor of Betty’s kitchen I swiped at my eyes, yelled, "I’m okay!" and the water stopped I looked up to see Betty standing over erator at the ready I putso fast and so hard, I could feel it It almost felt outside of my chest It al down my stomach

I lifted my head and looked down A red cera out fro The handle at the other end had contracted in on itself to form the tail Above the face of the bunny, two flopped-over ears stretched out fro was rounded, and it puffed in and out, like the thing was breathing The foot of the cera was still open, sort of as if the top hump of the bunny’s back had been sliced off, but it contracted and h a full back were there, invisiblebunny as it hopped downwith an aard clunk on Betty’s white tiled floor I shifted up and away froainst the refrigerator, watching thebunny as it stuck its little nose under the cabinet and sniffed around I looked down at ht dancing around them, like strands of smoky yarn I shook them out, and the strands danced away, then dissipated

"I think I’onna need the day off work," I said, unable to takebunny

Betty knelt down besidethe bunny "Well, I’ll be daure out a way to explain it "SoI’alien mutant virus?"

"Nope," Betty said

I looked up at her "Well, it can’t be a brain tu delusions But that" I shook my head "No, that doesn’t make sense, either"

"It’s not a brain tu for the first time that she seemed neither amazed nor surprised that I had just turned her ordinary coffeecritter

"Betty?" I said, suspicion inabout this?"

Betty put her hand on my shoulder "Livvy, I think it’s time we had a talk"

I sat in Booth 9, staring at my hands folded in front offor me to start, but I didn’t knohere to start, so I just sat there,it was blank Next tobunny I’d e shoebox Betty had given ain, just to be sure it was all real, I looked at him, and he’d twitch his little red ceramic nose at me

Yep It was real

"Okay," Betty said finally "Let’s get started" She went behind the counter, then cas She set them down on the table and took her place across fro and looked at it "Anything in particular you want? Squirrel, mouse, a tiny ceramic cat, perhaps?"

"Shhhh," she said, and closed her eyes She took thefrom me, cupped her hands around it, and set it on the table After a an to swirl inside of it, and aliquid

"Arabica roast, creaar, just the way you like it" She smiled "It’s what I do I make breakfast food All of us have powers, s like this, or what you do, but aside from that, we’re perfectly normal Human And we live perfectly normal, human lives Okay?"

I blinked at her "Us?" I said, finally "How ed "Not many I once heard it was about one in a hundred thousand people, but I don’t think there’s ever been a real survey A lot of us like to stay hidden, blend in"

"So, there are morepeople like us? In Nodaway?"

"Hmmm Don’t think so Just you and ry Would you like soood with pastry"