Page 29 (1/2)

1 - Lev

“Do it for him,” a woman says, her voice quiet but steeped in authority

Mired in a nu his pulse His throat hurts, his tongue feels like chewed leather, his left wrist aches, and he can’t open his eyes

“Not yet, Ma”

Like his eyes, Lev’s lips won’t open Who is it who just spoke? Maybe one of his brothers Marcus, perhaps? No, the voice is wrong And no one in his family is so informal as to call their mother “Ma”

“All right,” he hears the wouitar”

The sound of footsteps recedes, and Lev slips back into darkness

-

When he wakes again, his eyes open, but only a sliver He’s alone in a large bedroo-white walls A red, woven blanket covers him Beneath him he can feel a smooth and expensive cotton sheet, like the ones he once knew He’s on a bed that’s low to the ground, and beyond its foot he sees the fur of a ht of it An oak bureau faces hilad

Forcing his eyes wider, he sees unshuttered s on the far wall, the light beyond the to dawn? There is a nightstand next to hi moment he thinks that he’s been discovered and taken to a harvest caainst the cotton sheet, and he sinks into the fog that fills his head, confusing drea auntil he hears—

“When he wakes, get his naive him sanctuary without a name”

Cool fingers touch his wrist again “I’ll keep that inover hie and s “Now leave us be”

He feels a prick in his upper aroes hazy—but not like the fog This is a different kind of sleep

Suddenly he’s standing in a yard, near a briefcase covered in mud that lies halfway down a hole Outside the picket fence, police are sidling toward him No, it’s not him they’re interested in—it’s the skinny uold chains and glittering stones of every color He’s pleading with the sienna-coloredat the kid in terror

“Please don’t unwind me” CyFi’s words are hoarse and choked with sobs “Please don’t unwind me”