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Even before they begin, Lev speaks loudly enough to get everyone’s attention, stealing the floor froh before he has the chance to take it "Why is the portrait ofhall?" he asks "It was already vandalized once--why put it back?" The question quiets everyone down and brings the room to order

"I ordered it restored and returned," says Cavenaugh "The comfort and focus it provides the ex-tithes is invaluable"

"I agree!" says one of the teachers "I think it draws their focus toward the positive" Then she punctuates her reh "I, for one, like it and approve"

"Well, I don’t like it, and I don’t approve," Lev tells thes out loud "I shouldn’t be so I shouldn’t be put on a pedestal I’ to make me"

There’s silence around the rooh will react He takes his time and finally says, "We all have our jobs here Yours is very clear and very simple: to be an example for the other ex-tithes to follow Have you noticed kids have been letting their hair grow? At first I thought your hair would be off-putting, but now they arethemselves on you It’s what they need at this juncture"

"I’m not a rolehe’s come to his feet "I was a clapper A terrorist! I h reood decisions we care about Now sit down and let us get on with this "

Lev looks around the table but sees no support If anything, he sees the this outburst as one of his bad decisions, best forgotten He boils with the saer that once turned him into a clapper, but he bites it back, sits down, and re

It’s only as the h takes his hand Not to shake it, but to flip it over and scrutinize his fingers--or ernails

"Best clean those a little better, Lev," he says "Spray paint comes out with turpentine, I think"

28 - Risa

Risa does not have an Easter social She can’t even be sure which day is Easter--she’s lost track of the days In fact, she can’t even be sure where she is At first she’s held by the Juvenile Authority in Tucson, then transferred in a less armored vehicle to another detention facility about two hours away--in Phoenix, she presuators to ask her questions

"How many kids are in the Graveyard?"

"A bunch"

"Who sends your supplies?"

"George Washington Or is it Abrahaet"

"How often do you receive new arrivals?"

"About as often as you beat your wife"

The interrogators are infuriated by her lack of cooperation, but she has no intention of telling the her questions they already know the answers to The questions are merely tests to see whether she’ll tell the truth or lie She doesn’t do either Instead she ation

"Your cooperation s easier on you," they tell her

"I don’t want things easy," she responds "I’ve had a hard life I’d rather stick hat’s fary but don’t let her starve They tell her they have Elvis Robert Mullard in custody and they’re cutting hi, because if they had him, they’d know it’s not Mullard at all, but Connor

This is how it goes for teeks Then one day in walks a Juvey-cop He ai, where it would hurt the least, but right in the chest, where it stings until she loses consciousness

She awakes in a different cell A little newer and larger, perhaps, but still a cell She has no idea where she has been transported this tined for a paraplegic, and her captors have offered no help since she arrived Not that she’d accept it if they did, but it’s as if they want her to struggle over the lip of the bathrooh--just enough tointo it an ordeal

She suffers a week of food brought in by a silent guard in a rent-a-cop uniforer in the hands of the Juvenile Authority, but who her new captors are is a mystery These new jailers ask no questions, and that concerns her the same way that Connor is always concerned by the fact that the Graveyard has never been taken out Are they so unis that the Juvenile Authority won’t even torture her to get the infor the a difference?

All this tihts of Connor, because it simply hurt too much to think about him How horrified he must have been when she turned herself in Horrified and stunned Well, fine, let hiet over it She did it for him just as much as she did it for the injured boy, because as painful as it is to admit, Risa knows she had beco to lead those kids in the Graveyard like the Ad whether her e met Maybe he does love her, but it’s obvious there’s no room in his life at this moment to pay it any more than lip service

Risa has no idea what her future holds now All she knows is that she must focus on that future and not on Connor, no matter how much that hurts

- - -

A few days later Risa finally has an actual visitor: a well-dressed wo, Risa It’s a pleasure to finally irl behind the hullabaloo "

Risa immediately decides that anyone who uses the word "hullabaloo" cannot be her friend