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Probably best Closing her eyes, she luxuriated in sweet chocolateit up if I eat too--

A fizz-fizz, pop-pop boiled into her nose, and she knew, a second before he gave her shoulder a warning nudge: Darth was getting impatient

"Sit on it and spin, Darth" Yet when she reached for her knife, she did it slowly No reason to give Darth an excuse Placing the bar on the wood floor, she jockeyed the blade’s tip into the chocolate, right behind that first al steady pressure until the bar broke in a small shower of chocolate-covered coconut

"Oooh, you don’t knohat you area finger, she dabbed up all the shards, then popped the finger into her mouth "Oh, thank you, God," sheall the wrappers for later Give ’e the bit of broken bar into her mouth, she tucked it into her cheek like a chipmunk The rest she carefully wrapped and then slipped into an inside pocket, where her body war, but even that little bit of chocolate iddy, honey The candy ear, and her nose hadn’t sussed out anything else other than that strange ca from? There didn’t seem to be much else here but the bureau and another bookshelf,two-by-fours propped on cinderblocks, filled with hardcovers and paperbacks A lot of novels, all stuff she’d either read or been ot the chance: Tolkien, Asimov, Bradbury, Matheson A broken-spined, scotch-taped copy of Childhood’s End Lord of the Flies Dune, a book she’d read while getting che true as she watched the drip-drip of yellow poison flow into her veins A good collection of Stephen King, too: The Dead Zone Desperation and The Stand Du apart, and the spine of Watership Doas so creased she could barely make out the title

But there were also a ton of newer textbooks: Lupine Biology May of Genetic Rescue A Head of the Pack: The Wolves of Michigan’s Isle Royale A larger clutch on population genetics and evolution A third of one shelf was devoted only to history: Where the Buffalo Roaned: Civilizational Collapse in the Middles Ages

"Whoa," she muttered A voracious reader who also had been a history buff and hard-coreshe’d expected On the other hand, Peter was a probleht about allocation of resources Soarnered additional benefits, like a tidy buffer between Rule and the rest of the world Fitting, soes

She wouldn’there awhile Childhood’s End looked awfully te Wrinkle would be like picking up where you and your best friend left off Chris would love this, too A boy who’d dismantle and move an entire bookot out of this, she ought to bring hiet ahead of yourself She had to be practical You can dream, but food comes first

Searching each jacket, turning out pockets got her nothing but a crumpled handful of dollar bills liberated from a denim jacket, which she cra the jacket back when she paused The gar, just as the boathouse had an older-boy feel to it Its aroreen and icy iron While in Rule, she’d never paid thathow scents this bold could hide so ift? The chocolate of that Alue pebbly with coconut Flipping the al this over Her curiosity was stoked, which was sonaw in her stomach Or was this just a really old family vacation house where Peter hen he needed to think things over? That felt right Yesterday, when she swept the woods to set her snares, she’d also discovered an ancient, weathered tree house about thirty feet up a towering oak around back Judging from the lake house’s unfinished porch, Peter had been busy The house had also been recently winterized, with double-paned s redolent with the reek of putty and caulk She scented relatively fresh insulation behind the drywall downstairs, the lingering tang of paint A woodstove, so new the house save off heat in spades (A lucky thing, too There were two fireplaces, one upstairs and one down, but both were very old, the hearths blackened and cracked The sting of creosote on her tongue was so strong, she bet you could take a chisel to the coal-black residue caking that flue and still not chip it all away A wonder no one had started a chie, studied genetics and evolution, history So maybe that was the point of the house Peter had had a whole other life Froined eventually living here year-round

At her back, she heard Darth suddenly hitch as his reek went frorin crept over her lips She kneas bugging hiht be an ox, but he had a bladder the size of a walnut This uy who needed a potty break every couple ofFor her, Darth’s frequent need to go asn’t a proble his business, like, practically right on top of her, which not only was TMI but ticked her off Want rabbits to stay far away? Pee on the snare Jerk

She was teht, Oh, screw it Don’t rush this There’s so important

As she stepped up to the bureau, a second flashbulb of h shiny and taut with infection But why? Chemistry lab and Tom

Because I had to sterilize the knife before I cut him That was it: that sainst a striker So, were therefor that Gunpowder?

Or a gun Sing against the knot in her throat, she leaned in a little closer, opened her et your hopes up It’s probably not But the s froun, what then? She couldn’t sneak that past Darth Unless I shoot him But it would have to be loaded, and there’d be no way to check Might even blow up in my hand if it’s old and dirty or the mechanism’s frozen

But Darth did need to take a whiz She slid her eyes in a sidelong glance The boy was doing the dying-to-pee two-step Wear hioes potty, that’ll be your chance

As slowly as she could, she tugged the top drawer The ollen and yielded in grudging squalls Froainst wood, she could tell it was empty The second drawer held two pairs of boy’s underwear and three pairs of balled socks

As she pushed the second drawer shut, Darth broke, bolting fro for the dock Well, that’s one way tonot a second more, she dropped to a crouch and pried that bottom drawer free The balky wood ja a fast peek around the bureau, she saw Darth stripping his gloves with his teeth Minute and a half,her impatience, she wrestled the drawer shut then slowly pulled straight back

This tio pants While that burntthrough each and every pocket before Darth made it back

"Come on" She slipped a hand beneath the jeans "Please, God, just cut ers curled around smooth metal "No way," she said "It can’t be"