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He opened hishiuarded eyes as she cleaned a table, and said, "Yeah, let’s go"

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Realers pounding at the computer keyboard with so ain With a curse, he tossed the thing aside and grabbed a new one from his box of spare parts

There were disturbances all over the world People were fighting, rioting and looting For no reason! Ca, and he’d failed to find a single trail to lead him to their whereabouts They were out there, possibly hurt

He had no idea what kind of defensive skills Viola possessed Cameo, on the other hand, was a warrior to her soul and could take care of herself He knew that Had seen her fight Girl had a wicked habit of slitting throats But she wasn’t infallible

An unfaht his attention and he spun in his chair, cocking the gun he always kept in his lap

A young girl stood there, holding her palms up, all innocence "Please," she said in a strained whisper Color drained froet in here?" he demanded, even as he looked her over

She had dirty hair, at one tiled and knotted and hanging lied over her too-thin body, the round

"You are Torin, correct?"

"I’ to share my name, and I flashed" Still she whispered Why?

"Well, then, I’ll call you Crazy, because only a crazy person would come here without an invite"

She nodded, no inflection of e her features "You , wasn’t she? "Why are you here, fe, "Please, , and I can’tI’h" Her arhts had been tied to her wrists and pulled "I’m sorry Please don’t shoot me That’s not the way I want to die"

"You’re lucky I don’t like blood in h,sure to keep the barrel aimed at her stomach "I don’t like it--but I’ll deal with it This is the last ti to ask Why are you here?"

Nervous, she twisted the fabric of her gown "Cronus carant you twenty-four hours ofHe didn’t like it He was rehts he’d spent with his friends, on the road, when they’d found woht them back to the tent--but he never had The couples had tried to be quiet, but they’d always failed

I want you, the feirl--

Her clai of the Titans Sienna, Paris’s girl, had killed him, and taken over the Titan realm of the skies But just before his death, Cronus hadthe All-key--a spiritual relic capable of freeing the possessor froranted an entire day with a woue

Despite the king’s death, the bargainRod hadn’t sucked him up Because of the All-key, it couldn’t hold hi realization--one that suddenly paled in coe that he couldtouch her

The moisture in hisin smaller details Despite her disheveled state, she was pretty in a subtle, understated way Her eyes were large and brownand haunted There were secrets inside her Dark secrets Her nose was small and rounded cutely at the end Her upper lip was plumper than her bottom lip, and shaped into a heart

Her hands were scabbed over and streaked with dirt There was a bruise on the side of her neck--and it wasn’t a hickey It was too long, too thin, and extended under the fabric of her gown

She stood utterly still, quiet, allowing hiaze relued to the side of the wall It had taken a warrior’s courage to come, and yet she couldn’t face hiain

"Who are you?" Torin asked ently "Please I have to know"

"I told you I won’t offer my name"

Why? What reason could she have to deny hi?" he asked--in a whisper

Bright red spots grew on her cheeks "This is my voice I can’t talk with any other or any louder"

Why? And how many more times would he be forced to ask that question?

"May Isit?" she asked

His eyes roved over the bedroom so few people had ever entered His dirty clothes were on the floor His bed was unhtstand and desk

He hopped to his feet and raced around the spacious enclosure, gathering clothes, tossing out bottles He also ry? Thirsty?"