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"Yes," Ruth agreed, "you stunned him That’s why he couldn’t even think to peach in his pocket for the candy he always carries"

"Candy!" Thels of M&Ms, Tootsie Rolls!"

"Laura, be real careful," Ruth warned "He’s a sick eek!" Thelma said "A sewer rat!"

From the far corner of the room, Tammy said softly, "He’s not as bad as you say"

The blond girl was so quiet, so thin and colorless, so adept at fading into the background that Laura had forgotten her Now she saw that Ta up in bed; she had drawn her bony knees against her chest and wrapped her arer than her rooown and socks Tammy looked more like an apparition than like a real person

"He wouldn’t hurt anyone," Ta her opinion about Sheener-about anything, anyone-was like walking on a tightrope without a net

"He would hurt soet aith it," Ruth said

"He’s just" Tammy bit her lip "He’slonely"

"No, honey," Thelma said, "he’s not lonely He’s so much in love with himself that he’ll never be lonely"

Taot up, slipped her feet into floppy slippers, and mumbled, "Alhtstand and shuffled out of the roo for one of the baths at the end of the hall

"She takes the candy," Ruth explained

An icy wave of revulsion washed through Laura "Ah, no"

"Yes," Thelma said "Not because she wants the candy She’sets from the Eel"

"But why?" Laura asked

Ruth and Thelh which they seemed to debate an issue and reach a decision in a second or tithout words Sighing, Ruth said, "Well, see, Taht her to need it"

Laura was jolted ’’Her own father?’’

"Not all the kids at McIlroy are orphans," Thelma said "Some are here because their parents committed crimes and went to jail And others were abused by their folks physically orsexually"

The freshening air coree or two colder than when they had sat down in a circle on the floor, but it seemed to Laura like a chilly late-autumn wind that had ht Laura said, "But Tammy doesn’t really like it?" "No, I don’t think she does," Ruth said "But she’s-" "-compelled," Thelma said, "can’t help herself Twisted" They were all silent, thinking the unthinkable, and finally Laura said, "Strange andso sad Can’t we stop it? Can’t we tell Mrs Bowmaine or one of the other social workers about Sheener?" "It wouldn’t do any good," Thelma said "The Eel would deny it, and Tammy would deny it, too, and we don’t have any proof" "But if she’s not the only kid he’s abused, one of the others-" Ruth shook her head "Most have gone to foster homes, adoptive parents, or back to their own families Those two or three still herewell, they’re either like Tammy, or they’re just scared to death of the Eel, too scared ever to rat on him"

"Besides," Thelma said, "the adults don’t want to know, don’t want to deal with it Bad publicity for the ho on under their noses Besides, who can believe children?" Thel the note of phoniness so perfectly that Laura recognized it at once: "Oh,little creatures Noisy, ra Mr Sheener’s fine reputation for the fun of it If only they could be drugged, hung on wall hooks, and fed intravenously, how much more efficient that system would be, my dear-and really so much better for them, too"

"Then the Eel would be cleared," Ruth said, "and he’d come back to work, and he’d find ways to ainst him It happened that way before with another perv who used to work here, a guy we called Ferret Fogel Poor Denny Jenkins "

"Denny ratted on Ferret Fogel; he told Bowel was suspended But the two other boys wouldn’t support Denny’s story They were afraid of the Ferretbut they also had this sick need for his approval When Bowated Denny-"

"They harily, "with trick questions, trying to trip hiot confused, contradicted hiel came back to work," Thelma said

"He bided his time," Ruth said, "and then he found ways to make Denny miserable He tormented the boy relentlessly until one dayDenny just started screaive him a shot, and then they took him away Emotionally disturbed, they said" She was on the brink of tears "We never saw hiain"

Thelma put one hand on her sister’s shoulder To Laura, she said, "Ruth was fond of Denny He was a nice boy Small, shy, sweethe never had a chance That’s why you’ve got to be tough with the White Eel You can’t let hi, scream And kick him in the crotch"

Tammy returned from the bathroom She did not look at theot under the covers

Although Laura was repulsed by the thought of Taarded the frail blonde with less disgust than syht could beon her narrow, sagging bed

That night Laura dreamed of Sheener He had his own human head, but his body was that of a white eel, and wherever Laura ran, Sheener slithered after her, wriggling under closed doors and other obstacles

Sickened by what he’d just seen, Stefan returned from the institute’s main lab to his third-floor office He sat at his desk with his head in his hands, shaking with horror and anger and fear

That red-haired bastard, Willy Sheener, was going to rape Laura repeatedly, beat her half to death, and leave her so traumatized that she would never recover That was not just a possibility; it would come to pass if Stefan did not move to prevent it He had seen the aftermath: Laura’s bruised face, brokenand half-dead, the eyes of a child who no longer had the capacity for joy or hope

Cold rain tapped on the office s, and that hollow sound sees he had seen had left him burnt out, an empty shell

He had saved Laura frorocery, but here was another pedophile already One of the things he had learned fro fate was not always easy Destiny struggled to reassert the pattern that was ically destroyed was such an immutable part of Laura’s fate that Stefan could not prevent it fro sooner or later Perhaps he could not save her from Willy Sheener, or perhaps if he thwarted Sheener, another rapt would enter the girl’s life But he had to try Those half-dead, joyless eyes