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"Radiation," Monkplant that poisoned Lake Karachay" He waved toward the northeast "It also slowly leaked down into the ground"

Contaroundwater, Monk realized And where did all the runoff from the local mountains end up? Monk stared toward the shuttered , picturing the bog outside

He shook his head

And he thought all he had to worry about was ers

7:04 PM

Pyotr sat naked, huddled in a thick quilt before the fire Their shoes were lined up on the hearth, and their clothes hung out to dry on fishing line The line was so thin it was as if his pants and shirt were floating in the air

He enjoyed the flickering flames as they danced and crackled, but he didn’t like the s alive, born out of the fire

He shivered and shifted on his backside closer to the bright flames

The matron at the school used to tell thea, how she lived in a dark forest in a log cabin that s and would hunt down children to eat Pyotr pictured the stilts he’d seen outside that held up their cabin What if this was the witch’s cabin, hiding its claws deep beneath the ground?

He eyed the smoke more suspiciously

And didn’t the witch have invisible servants to help her?

He searched around for theain, the flames danced shadows everywhere, so it was hard to tell

He ain to the war curls of shtly in place to reassure hi around hi arm pulled him even closer

Do not fear

But he did fear He felt it itching over the inside of his skull like a thousand spiders He watched the ser truly lay as it swept up the chia that there were children in her house

Pyotr’s heart thudded faster

The witch was co

He knew it

His eyes widened upon the ser

Marta hoo-hoo-ed in his ear, reassuring hi to eat theer The fire popped, scaring him into a small jump Then he knew

Not children

But child

And not the through the darkness to the truth As the ser

It was his sister

Sasha

11:07 AM

Washington, DC

"DIC," Lisa explained at the bedside of the girl

Kat struggled to understand She stood with her arht to her belly as she stared down at the tiny slip of a girl, so thin-liown, lost amid the sheets and pillows of the railed bed Wires trailed froainst one wall,blood pressure and heart rate An intravenous line dripped a slurry of saline and rown more ashen, her lips a hint of blue

"Disseh sheLatin