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"You did it! That was great!" he can hear Miracolina saying, although he can’t see her "Nohat?"

"Not sure yet"

Lev’s hands are still painfully tied to the metal headboard bars He can see how badly his wrists are bleeding, and there’s rust on his hands too He thinks about tetanus, and how they alant you to get a tetanus shot when you step on a rusty nail or so He thinks about how, at his fa froHe looks to where the headboard bars connect to the bed frame The bar to which his left hand is attached is practically rusted all the way through Ignoring the pain again, he tugs and he tugs until finally the pole breaks and his hand co on down there?" Miracolina asks

He reaches up and grabs her hand instead of telling her, and she gasps

The bar that secures his right hand is not in the sah He knows he can’t break this pole like the other one, so he tries a different tactic He begins to ainst the jagged, rusted metal Bit by bit the plastic is worn away, until finally the tie shreds apart and his hand comes free He wipes the blood from his wrists on the mattress and stands up

"How did you do it?" she asks

"Superpowers," he tells her He looks at Miracolina’s bonds, then reaches beneath her mattress to find the same rustedbehind it, kicks at the bars until the ones Miracolina are attached to break free She pulls her hands away, peeling the plastic loops over her knuckles

"You okay?" Lev asks, and she nods "Good Let’s get out of here" But the rimaces and starts to limp

"What is it?" Miracolina asks

"I think I sprainedout the bars," Lev tells her She lets hiht on her, and she helps him walk

As they open the front door, it becoe in the woods, so isolated they could have screas for days and no one would have heard the out to what Lev hopes is a riain--so she continues to let hiratefully accepts her assistance

Then, when they’re a good distance away fro to need your help now You have to help me warn my friend"

She steps away froes to keep his balance

"I’ll do no such thing Your friend is not my problem"

"Please, look at me I can barely walk--I can’t et you to a hospital"

Lev shakes his head "When I went to Cavenaugh, I broke the terood"

"Don’t blame me for that!"

"I just saved your life," Lev re mine"

She looks at him almost as hatefully as the day they first et to the caverns before we do What’s the point?" Then she studies hi Lev’s mind, and says, "Your friend’s not in the caverns, is he?"

"No"

She sighs "Of course not"

55 - Miracolina

Miracolina is not a girl given to is must be planned and have sufficient ti carried out Even her escape froh mansion was not a wild bolt, but the result of careful preparation Therefore, she is completely unprepared for the madness that overtakes her as she stands in that dirt path with Lev

"I will contact et anywhere," she tells hiotiation She’s actually considering going with him Perhaps it’s post-traumatic stress disorder

"You can’t call your parents If you do, they’ll know your tithing bus wasn’t attacked by parts pirates It will coh operation"

"If you care so much about it," she asks him, "then why did you run?"