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"How old ?"

"The skin is sixteen," Lyle said "I’ fool you into hesitating You know that, don’t you?"

I knew I also knew that if push ca fire at a sixteen-year-old boy, I wasn’t going to be very good at it

But I knew someone ould be

I found Kevin Prentiss on the ship’sthe thick gray foas of white, and he looked - as always - like a punk streetwise kid who needed to learn the concept of personal hygiene

The difference these days was that Kevin had pulled hiht possible He’d earned himself some respect fro froreasy, but it wasHe had at least a handshake acquaintance with regular bathing

However, Kevin still hated me The look he sent me as I approached was a shot across nored it and took up a post at the rail beside hiainst the rise and fall of the deck with my feet well spread

"You look like shit," Kevin said, and flipped half a lit cigarette into the air Before it hit the water, it had burst into flaratulations on the improvement"

"Well, you know e fashion trends"

"What, beat to shit is the new black?" Kevin abandoned the ocean to turn and face one now, and he’d filled out while I wasn’t looking, turning frory I supposed soirls went for that

Like Cherise, now that I thought about it The kid was legal age I knew she’d originally been attracted to him because he was needy, broken, and bad; I also knew that she’d been the perfect foil for his inside

Kevin liked to put on the badass hat, though And alould

He studied ," he said

"Why would you say that?"

"Because you never talk to "

"So not true," I said I held my breath for a second, then let it out "Okay, I want so"

He didn’t even have to waste his breath on an I told you so "Big or s"

"And I’d do it for you because ?"

"Because you’re a good uise," I said "Because you want to be, or you wouldn’t be out here on this insanely stupid trip And because you don’t want anything to happen to Cherise" He straightened up He was getting taller all the tie reminded me less of skate parks and more of Lewis in a really foul ed her off with us"

"I didn’t Cher goes everywhere with her eyes wide open, you know that I’ that of all of us, she’s the least able to defend herself if soood reminder note, because we both care about her" Kevinimpolite under his breath that I pretended not to hear, and turned back to glare at the ocean Steaot hio, he’d have vaporized a few metric tons of ocean in a fit of pique

Of course, not having a fit of pique would be better still, but baby steps

"What do you want?" he asked, in a different kind of tone than before Actually asking for inforood for me, of course

"I want you to make friends with a Djinn named Lyle," I said "Pick a team and stay alert

You may have to react quickly"

"Lyle?" Kevin let out a braying laugh that got whipped away by the fiercely driven wind I lickedme Okay, never mind, I won’t even ask React quickly to what?"

"He’s going to be keeping watch on a couple of people who aren’t supposed to be here" I reached out and grabbed Kevin’s shoulder, turning him toward me "Kevin Pay attention

This isn’t a joke These two are very, very dangerous, even to the Djinn Even to you So don’t get cocky"

"Me?" He gave me a look so ironic it was practically tipped over into sincerity "You’re not telling "

"I told you they’re dangerous"

"How, toxic body odor? Really sour attitudes? Can they kill ave up, and held on to the rail as the ship took a particularly hard dip into the water, al thicker and deeper, and the stors of friends to our port and up ahead It was going to hit us sooner rather than later

"They’re not human," I said "They’re fast, they’re deadly Think Alien, made out of indestructible crystal, only with human skin"

"Wouldn’t that be Terh of the movies This isn’t funny, Kevin, it’s serious The one in the ship’s hold is wearing the body of a sixteen-year-old boy" There, I’d said it

And he understood it "And that’s easier for ht? Because I won’t see him as just a kid I see hily "I’ you out there alone," I said "But I know you I know you won’t hesitate if - "

"If I have to kill soot passed up for his junior prouy"

I didn’t answer that, because there was a new note in his voice: self-loathing Kevin hadn’t lived an easy life He was her, too

But that didn’t e like a badge of honor

"I’m sorry," I said, finally "I wish I didn’t have to ask you"

"I wish I wasn’t the go-to guy to kill ed "At least I’ve got experience"

And that was the heart of it, at last I’d come to Kevin because I’d seen him kill without hesitation, and without remorse Granted, he’d had plenty of personal hatred built up, but it took a special kind of detachuilt about it He mostly resented the fact that we all knew about it - not that he’d been forced to do it