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It ht one day tapping into a surface broadcast trunk, wired to his prosthetic cuff They did not knohat he was doing nor what type of signal he had sent out, but in the end, it had no repercussions For security’s sake, they had the cuff surgically rerown to believe that the girl’s intensity had just been a childish fear for the drowning man’s life Done with the matter, she had turned the Aerie They were studyinghuman subject was raw ery

What they had done to hione--vanished with the brother of Sasha, as also ?

She didn’t know, and this late in her own plans, she didn’t have tiure it out

"Your orders, General-Major?"

"Search the surface"

"I’ll bring all the dogs," his voice snapped

She stopped his"

Borsakov stared at her, his eyebrows pinched questioningly But he knehat she wanted done "General-Major? What about the children?"

She strode away Noas not the time for subtle actions She still had ten children That would be enough

She confirmed her order "Loose the cats, too"

11:45 AM

Pyotr sat between Marta’s legs Her strong, warm arms wrapped around him He didn’t like to be touched, but he let her The sweet earthy smell of her damp fur swelled around hi, felt the beat of her large heart in his own spine He had known Marta all his life He had known these are of five, she was brought to his rooe hand It had scared hi on the edge of his bed, staring at hiers danced along the wrinkled lines of her overturned paw, curious She had stared at hiers wrapped around his

He knehat it was

A pro nights with her…but Pyotr knew a truth thatShe had secrets that were his alone And his secret was hers

In those are woods They were allowed up here sometimes, to wander the forest with a teacher, to sit in the quietness But it still frightened Pyotr A hispered through the forest, knocking li falls of leaves He watched the

He was not like his sister

But sos he knew He leaned deeper into Marta, away from the leaves His heart beat faster and the world faded, all except for the leaves Drifting, twirling, dancing…terrifying…

Marta hooted quietly in his ear What is wrong?

He tre a warning asthe leaves Konstantin had once told him how he could multiply so fast in his head

Every nuest number is a shape So when I calculate, I look to the eap also has a shape, formed by the boundaries of the other two numbers And that empty shape, too, is a number And that number is always the answer

Pyotr didn’t fully understand He could not do math like Konstantin, nor could he solve puzzles like Kiska, nor could he see far like his sister But Pyotr knew no one else who could do what he could do

He could read hearts…all sorts of hearts

Great and sry heart

Pyotr searched a leaves as his own small heart hammered He filled in the emptiness one space at a ti leaves and the dark spaces between, swirling and churning, reaching for him In the distance, he heard Konstantin shout his naainst the others, but holding him safe She knew his heart, too

He had to see

Had to know

So