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"Civilian airport," Justin observed

Mae heard hio here to get your visa straightened out--and to get her authorized for chipping"

Tessa jerked her head toward Justin "I don’t want a chip"

She knew about Ge, of course It was one of their laws Citizens were all tagged in their hands, allowing their government to keep track of their every n of their pact with hell It had never occurred to Tessa that she would have to get one too Seeing her panic, Justin told her to worry about it later

"You have plenty of other things to deal with first," he said when they were dise down the Jetway that led inside the airport Windows in the tunnel showed a constant flurry of planes landing and taking off "What’s the biggest number of people you’ve ever been around?"

"I don’t know," she asked, a little taken aback "Why do you want to--"

They eed into the airport, and Tessa came to a halt and even tried to back up She’d never seen a crowd like the one that faced her now, not even when her family had traveled don She was adrift in a sea of bodies Men, woes, all of thehts in the ceiling bathed everything in a cold, white glow that reflected off the abundance of metal in the room There wereshe had ever seen before, with infor All those people and machines created a roar of noise that beeped and buzzed so loudly, she could barely hear herself think The roohtened his hold "Need to sit down?"

Tessa sed and shook her head She could do this She’d be okay as long as she stayed close to Justin He wouldn’t let her get lost She clung to his hand, barely aware as Cornelia Kimora and Francis Kyle made their farewells, with promises to be in touch later They and the uniformed soldiers soon walked off toward a line with an overhead monitor that read MILITARY/GOVERNMENT Tessa noticed now that although the rooed into several sih checkpoints Each one had afro that read REPUBLIC OF UNITED NORTH AMERICA--CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION

"Well," said Mae, glancing at her ego, "you’re in ave Tessa a sy in there I know there’s a lot of new stuff to get used to You’ll be ho ways away

"I think she can deal with the tech better than she can the crowd," Justin said "I used to irls before I left Never again You should see the way the Old Money sequester their wooing right to that line, Tessa Straight ahead Easy"

Tessa nodded obediently, using Justin for support They reached a line labeled CITIZENS and ca in the thick of the mob, Tessa felt a little better The line offered order, and she had Justin and Mae flanking her, creating a sort of protective barrier She calh that she was able to study a little of her surroundings Most of the people she saw had the same plebeian features Justin had, tanned skin and dark hair and eyes Soe Others leaned slightly toward a ene pool--African, Caucasian, or Asian--but nothing too pronounced Scattered ae There were fair-skinned people like Mae and others whose skin was nearly black Almond eyes, round eyes, blue eyes, brown eyes And yet, with more study, she could see it wasn’t all so cut-and-dried She saw tanned skin paired with red or blond hair Some of it was obviously dyed, but others were harder to deduce She knew recessive genes could still pop up, even after a few generations of aggressivewas natural or not

"How can you tell the difference between plebeians and cast--" She caught herself, re terms Justin used weren’t polite in front of someone like Mae "Er, between plebeians and patricians?"

"The attitude," said Justin proure out what he meant All of them seemed purposeful and confident, men and women alike, no matter their physical appearance No one openly carried weapons, which felt strange, but then, no one appeared as though they were about to start a fight either Women who looked to be affluent moved around without chaperones, dressed in pants like Mae or short skirts, with hair worn down or up or even cut astonishingly short

Justin didn’t say anything more about plebeians and patricians, but as they moved forward, he whispered to Tessa, "Pay attention to the screen You can learn a lot about a person"

She didn’t knohat he ent Mae ilass box Beside the agent, a large screen suddenly flared to life There was a head shot of Mae staring straight ahead, with a cool and cale letters, was her name: Koskinen, Mae Eris Underneath it, in smaller print, was: Koskinen, Maj Erja (Nordic Patriarchy) Other lines of info detailed Mae’s citizenship, profession, address, age, and more Tessa couldn’t quite follow it all There was also a section for general notes Hers read: Authorization to carry arent looked surprised at what popped up and shot her a quick, nervous look He had a smaller screen in front of hian to tap notes on After a few ent looked back up at Mae "Do you have weapons to declare?"

Mae reun from her purse and laid it on a nearby table Then she took out a sth jacket she’d put on in the plane Lastly, she pulled out a knife from her boot

"Really?" asked Justin "Who keeps a knife in their boot?"