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But as the bus hits a patch of rough road, it beco it in is not an option He will not foul the cogage zipper away He ins to unzip a suitcase

"You’re going to pee in someone’s suitcase?"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

And suddenly Miracolina begins to snicker, then giggle, then cackle uncontrollably "He’s going to pee in someone’s suitcase!"

"Quiet! Do you want the people in the bus to hear you?"

But Miracolina is beyond help She’s entered into a full-fledged laughter fit--the kind that leaves your stoonna open their suitcase," she blurts between bursts of glee, "and their clothes’ll be full of pee!

For Lev this is no laughing matter He opens the suitcase and feels around toelectronic, because that would be really bad--and Miracolina can’t catch her breath "And I thought it was bad when shampoo spilled in enius"

Lev rifles blindly through one suitcase, then a second, until he comes up with a nice-size shampoo bottle Then he frantically due compartment and, without a second to lose, refills it with sweet relief When he’s done, he caps the bottle tightly He considers putting it back in the suitcase, but decides it’s best to just leave it rolling around at the far corner of the luggage coh, then returns to his space next to Miracolina

"Did you wash your hands?" she asks

"Wash them?" Lev tells her "They’re covered with sha, and when they breathe in, the cloying smell of cherry blossom shah harder, until they’re all laughed out

And in the silence that falls afterward, so taut between theoes slack Soon thethem to sleep Lev feels Miracolina lean into his shoulder He doesn’tof her there--certain that she would never do such a thing if she were awake

And then she says, with no hint of sleep in her voice, "I forgive you"

Lev feels it begin deep inside him, just as it did on the day he realized his parents would never take him back It’s an emotional swell that can’t be contained, and there’s no bottle in the world big enough to hold it And although he fights to keep his sobs silent, his chest begins to heave with them, and he knows he won’t be able to stop any h she , just keeps her head on his shoulder as his tears fall into her hair

All this time, Lev never realized what he needed He did not need to be adored or pitied He needed to be forgiven Not by God, who is all-forgiving Not by people like Marcus and Pastor Dan, ould always stand by his side He needed to be forgiven by an unforgiving world By someone who once despised him Someone like Miracolina

Only once his silent sobs have stopped does she speak to him "You’re so weird," she says He wonders if she has any idea of the gift she has just given him He’s pretty sure she does

Lev knows his world is different now Maybe it’s exhaustion, or stress, but in that rattling, bouncing, greasy, shampooey compartment, his life suddenly feels like it couldn’t be any better

Both he and Miracolina close their eyes and fall asleep, blissfully unaware of the brown van with a dented roof and shattered sidethat has been following the bus since it left Tulsa

57 - Connor

"Chatter," Hayden tells Connor "All kinds of chatter"

Hayden paces the tight space in Connor’s jet, hitting his head on the ceiling itated Until now, he alwaysdistance

"Is it just on the Tucson police bands, or the juvey bands too?"

"Everywhere," Hayden tells him "Radio, e-ra to red alert"

"They’re just programs," Connor reminds him "It doesn’t necessarily mean--"

"There’s chatter specifically about us Code words ins to wonder if his own paranoia has infected Hayden as well "Just caliveand trying to slow his breathing "There have been three house fires over the past teeks Three horound, and they’re blarafted hand balls into a fist That iron fist the Admiral had spoken of, perhaps Didn’t Trace say that there were people itching for a reason to take the Graveyard out? If they couldn’t find a reason, it would be pretty easy to manufacture one

"Where’s Trace?" Connor asks "If so on, he would know"

Hayden just looks at him, confused "Trace? Why would Trace know?"

"Never mind why, he just would I have to talk to hione"

"What do you one’?"

"No one’s seen hiured you sent him on some mission"

"Dalass interior of the corporate jet So Trace finally decided which side he’s on--and without him, they have no escape plan No one but Trace can fly the Drea long enough for Connor to know that there’s yet another round of bad news "All three homes had Unwinds--and they burned the day before the Juvey-rounders were due to take them to Harvest camp I checked, and the kids were on our list And all three of them were storks"

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