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I nodded, and then a shadow blocked the sun The afterglow disappeared in a flash

"Hello, Mother"

"Hallie" She looked down her nose at Dune "Who is this?"

"We’ve never officially met" He stood to shake her hand, which she did, with disdain It didn’t faze him "I’m Dune Ta’ala"

He put his ar his body forward, as close in front of one froh his eyebrow beca

It was the first time I’d seen hi up his plumes It was ridiculously hot, and from the visible tension in my mother’s body, it worked

"Does your father know about this?" Mother slid her sunglasses off and put the my eyes on Dune

"And what does he think about it?"

I shrugged Let her wonder If she’d been on the run, it had been somewhere that provided French ood, but you always do I see you’ve been shopping for jewelry, too Why didn’t you call ers just above the long, antique pendant that lay against her turtleneck sweater "You’re alns of maturity"

"You’re way past forty Neither do you"

"Nothing ever changes" She sat down on the bench across from ours

"No, it doesn’t Probably never will Why are you here?"

"To help hter"

"Please There are ayou do" I rubbed my temples Oh, how this woman exhausted me

"I’m here because of who you are" She paused for effect "What you are How you got that way Wouldn’t you like to know?"

"I don’t need you for answers I don’t need you for anything" Her expression would have frozen a hot spring solid In July After a moment, all the chill melted away, and she smiled

"Really?"

Cold dread swirled in the pit ofon er to make me work for the information, which meant she could barely contain it

That was scarier than a hundred rips co for me at once

"I’ve been with Chronos for years, ever since my own parents worked for them," she said "I’ve seen raw talent that you can’t even fathom" The smile faded and was replaced by calculation "I was a scientist before I was a mother, so I had time to think about the kind of child I wanted One just like me"

An uneasy fear crept upperfectly," she said, "so there was research So enetic sequence, so I located specimens"

"Speci was confir Of course, mistakes were made"

Adrenaline numbed my face and clutched at ht she ht the first time Experiments can create monsters"

"What kind of ht the first time"

My mouth went dry "You made multiple versions of me Are they still out there?"

"I don’t allowfor a shred of hu that wasn’t cold and self-serving I didn’t find any of it