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"Because Peter never came back to school," she said "And about sixdown on the last step up from the boathouse, Alex decided to steal a fewahead like the little asthine that could, Darth was already halfway to the house Orher to run so he could shoot first, eat second, and ask questions later

You have lost your ainst a knotty red pine The pistol knuckled her spine She’d slipped the capped syringe into a right cargo pant pocket What was she thinking? Wolf always slept close If he sniffed or felt that pistol? She was sunk

So far, all her grand scheetaway But now, she had a real weapon Two, if she counted the tanto (That funky syringe she wasn’t sure about The ht: fletchings Was this so around this tied on fire--she could swipe a couple rifles, have herself soht then and there Of course, a twelve-gauge shell in a tiny little gun had to be loud Still, she could’ve grabbed his rifle and skedaddled before anyone kneas going on If she really wanted to throw a s? Set the house on fire Those propane canisters she’d found, combined with popcorn-dry, resin-rich pine certain to throw off a ton of sparks--what’s not to like?

So what’s wrong with ht hurt or kill hiht take it out on Wolf That would be on her And so what?

Tired of this endless, mental rat race, she reached into her parka, withdrew the candy bar, inhaled ree, Dad" She slid another nibble of candy onto her tongue "Live a little"

Why care about Wolf ? How long was she supposed to be grateful? Wolf was not Chris She was starting to think like those kidnap victimsas it? Stockholm syndrome? Sympathy with the devil’s more like it She worried coconut between her teeth What is this, I kissed a zombie and liked it? He ate part of your shoulder, for God’s sake So what if he protects you now? He put you in this position--

She suddenly stiffened Hello That familiar and yet very weird scent--wolf and not-wolf--was very close, much more so than ever before Dead ahead, in fact, and practically in her lap Oh shit Did it sense easy prey? Here she was, alone, in the open What help she ood, if Darth even bothered

Just be cal teeth you have, but she felt her heart giddyap in a spastic gallop She inched her eyes, sweeping up froreen of the woods and a screen of low cedar--and it was right there, so perfectly still that were it not for its scent, she’d never have knohere to look

What , she thought, are you?

A flare gun? Sighing, Christemples and let himself sink more deeply into the bed What the hell had Penny been thinking?

He was alone again, Hannah having locked hi to the old clock He could hear her ht the chatter of plates and chinks of glass as she put together food to take out to Isaac in the la barn His own lunch still waited He should probably eat, but the prospect of dragging hiroan and pull a pillow over his eyes to blot out the bright afternoon light After teeks spent dreaain Yet the creep of a deep weariness was too powerful to ignore, the bed very inviting--and he needed soht and hot, Peter’s boat sank fast in water over five hundred feet deep Neither it nor the dead girl were ever recovered, and so they joined the litter of wrecks at the bottoest and deepest of the Great Lakes Which nited by an electrical short--never could be investigated According to Hannah, the Coast Guard and then the police questioned theot nowhere Si, and he backed up Peter

"I knehat I’d seen," Hannah had said "But it all happened so fast, I kept thinking II didn’t knoas even a flare until Siun? After she shot it off, she cra into her pockets"

Fro for the barn The silence settled His clock ticked off the seconds

Why Hannah kept in touch with Siot close Even so, Simon’s suicide attempt was a shock But Chris could see it He understood the ied the pillow to his eyes You--the little kid--help him hide the evidence You lie to the police because your dad says it’s the only way