Page 6 (1/2)

"Good entlemen What can I do for you?" Scott asks

"We need a quart of Night Whisper," the man says in a flat voice

"Gee, sorry, fellas, I don’t have any in stock," Scott says "I’ll have to order that from Centrum" He reaches for his notepad and pen, and accidentally knocks over the jar of flaxseeds in the process The heavy glass jar solden seeds everywhere Soap at the botto by my feet Uh-oh Elijah cla the sneeze The man’s eyes narrow and panic claws up my throat Did the man hear it?

"I’m such a klutz" Scott chuckles nervously "How nores Scott and walks around the counter He stops in front of the mirror Our faces are just centimeters apart, separated only by the thin sheet of double-sided glass I don’t dare breathe, terrified the sive us away Behind hilints in the ely pale eyes They have an almost ining things," he mutters to himself, then turns away and addresses Scott "Make it two We need it by the weekend"

He joins the four other one, Destiny opens thefor breath

Scott stares ate is already done Garrick and Sasha quickly forrowl escapes Sasha’s neon-pink lips, and Scott wisely backs away

"You can’t tell anyone what you saw," Destiny says to him

"My lips are sealed" He pretends to zip histoward the shop door

"Rose’s new security force," Scott says "They’ve been kicking about the city for the past feeeks, scaring folk into giving theovernment sentiments" He passes Destiny the supplies we came for "Use the cellar door It’s safer"

My mind is still on these "Tin Men" as we climb out the cellar door, which leads into a dark alleyway beside the church A bell lets out athe Pilgri service is about to start What does Purian Rose need with a new security squad? It can only mean trouble Destiny, Garrick and Sasha enter the alley first; Elijah and I follow

The alleyway is filled with trash cans overfloith several weeks’ worth of garbage, and I cautiously step over the piles of junk It’s nearly all glass bottles Soray residue in them They must be some of Scott’s potions I accidentally kick one of the bottles and it rolls across the cobblestones, hitting a pile of rags The y face appears between the folds A gasp escapes my lips His sallow skin is drenched in sweat and covered in seeping ulcers, which have devoured his face so that part of his nose and eyelids are h my respiratoroff hiht

"Helpout of his chapped lips

"Let her go!" Elijah roughly kicks the man’s hand away

We hurry towith him? I haven’t seen wounds that bad since the Wrath, but he didn’t have any of the telltale signs like yellow eyes and hair loss So what is it?

"You okay, hon?" Destiny asks as we reach them

"No," I admit "That man needs our help"

"Scott can deal with his o back Just before we slip into the crowds, I look overface peers back at me

5

ASH

I STARE AT THE BURNT-OUT RUINS of Black City Zoo, expecting to feel sadness, grief, so assembly used to be It’s where Natalie and I, and so e when Purian Rose attacked the city aat it now, I feel surprisingly empty Maybe it’s because I helped orchestrate the attack on Black City that caused this to happen Or maybe it’s because my real home is where Natalie is and that’s not here I don’t knohere home is anymore

I turn my back on the zoo I kneould be destroyed, but I had to see it for myself In the three days since we’ve been in Black City, I’ve visited alnificant toe where we first met (destroyed); Black City School where my heart activated (rubble); the house where she lived with Day’s faround) I’ve yet to pluck up the nerve to visit my childhood home, the Ivy Church Maybe some places are best avoided

The air is crisp as I stroll through the sprawling Darkling ghetto Although it’s early spring, you wouldn’t think it, looking at the cinder skies My feet stir the ash that has settled on everything, fro cobblestone path to the thousands of cheap metal shacks that once housed my people

Up ahead, the Boundary Wall splits the horizon The concrete structure is easily thirty feet high and stretches around the entire ghetto, dividing Black City in two--the hus on the other I frown Despite a decade of war, an air raid and an inferno, the Boundary Wall is still standing