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"Can they put ain, and this time it's not as forced as before He looks at Lev like he's just a kid, and not so inhuman It makes him feel, if only for a e feeling, because even in his old life he never really was a normal kid Tithes never are

"So, what happens now?" Lev asks

"The way I understand it, they'll clear the worst of the explosive out of your bloodstream in a feeeks You'll still be volatile, but not as bad as before You can clap all you want and you won't explode--but I wouldn't play any contact sports for a while"

"And then they'll unwind me?"

Pastor Dan shakes his head "They won't unwind a clapper--that stuff never entirely gets out of your syste they're going to offer you a deal--after all, you did help thein with Those people who used you, they'll get what they deserve But the courts are likely to see you as a victi," Lev tells him

"Then tell me why you did it"

Lev opens his er Betrayal Fury at a universe pretending to be fair and just But was that really a reason? Was that justification?

"You may be responsible for your actions," Pastor Dan says, "but it's not your fault you weren't emotionally prepared for life out there in the real world That was my fault--and the fault of everyone who raised you to be a tithe We're as guilty as the people who pumped that poison into your blood" He looks away in shaer, but Lev can tell it's not anger aimed at him He takes a deep breath and continues "The way the winds are blowing, you'll probably serve a few years of juvenile detention, then a few more years of house arrest"

Lev knows he should be relieved by this, but the feeling is slow in co He considers the idea of house arrest "Whose house?'' he asks

He can tell Pastor Dan reads everything between the lines of that question "You have to understand, Lev, your parents are the kind of people who can't bend without breaking"

"Whose house?"

Pastor Dan sighs "When your parents signed the unwind order, you became a ward of the state After what happened at the harvest camp, the state offered to return custody to your parents, but they refused it I'm sorry"

Lev is not surprised He's horrified, but not surprised Thoughts of his parents bring up the old feelings that drove hih to become a clapper But now he finds that sense of despair is no longer bottomless "So is my last name 'Ward' now?"

"Not necessarily Your brother Marcus is petitioning for guardianship If he gets it, you'll be in his care whenever they let you go So you'll still be a Calderthat is, if you want to be"

Lev nods his approval, thinking back to his tithing party and how Marcus was the only one to stand up for him Lev hadn't understood it at the time "My parents disowned Marcus, too" At least he knows he'll be in good cohtens out his shirt and shivers a bit from the cold He doesn't really look like himself today This is the first time Lev has seen him without his pastor's clothes "Why are you dressed like that, anyway?"

He takes a ned ht of Pastor Dan being anything but Pastor Dan throws Lev for a loop "Youyou lost your faith?"

"No," he says, "just od who condones hu up with an unexpected flood of feeling, all the ehout their talk--throughout the weeks--arriving all at once, like a sonic boom "I never knew that was a choice"

All his life there was only one thing Lev was allowed to believe It had surrounded hi softness as the layers of insulation around him now For the first tiin to loosen

"You think maybe I can believe in that God, too?"

69 Unwinds

There's a sprawling ranch in west Texas

Thesince dried up, but the money remained and reen as a golf course in the rew to the age of sixteen, finding trouble along the way He was arrested for disorderly behavior twice in Odessa, but his father, a big-shot adot him off both times The third time, his parents came up with a different solution

Today is Harlan Dunfee's twenty-sixth birthday He's having a party Of sorts

There are hundreds of guests at Harlan's party One of theh his friends know hi here at the ranch for so Today, he gives it back to Harlan

At the same time, six hundred raveyard The jet is full of crates, and each crate contains four Unwinds As the crates are opened, a teenage boy peers out of one, not sure what to expect He's faced by a flashlight, and when the flashlight lowers he can see that it's not an adult who opened the crate but another kid He wears khaki clothes and he s braces on a set of teeth that don't seem to need them "Hi, my name's Hayden, and I'll be your rescuer today," he announces, "Is everyone safe and sound in there?"