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"Aja, no!" Lysander yells

"Quinn!" I shout

In a flash, Aja lunges forward, quicker than any cat ever born She grabs Quinn’s hair Frantically, Quinn brings her razor around to fend the giant woround with her left hand Punches her temple Armored fist on bone Four tis kick and twitch and she curls inward like a dying spider, contorting fro me with a smile

19

Stork

They know I am rash This is bait She is the hook They’ll take Lysander if I bite and attack Aja They’ll use the split second my razor is away from him to stun or kill me I hear the weapons primed behind me, so I keep the razor to the little boy’s throat Tears distort my vision as I float there iony wells I can’t leave her Reversing round But before I can reach her, another Gold flashes pastfroround and bear her aloft

The Jackal

I shoot up and away, through the rain into the bay doors and land inside the stork My boots clank on theLysander forward into the bay toward Sevro The boy sprawls to his knees Several dozen dripping Augustan stand gawping at me They turn their eyes to the boy The Jackal follows, clutching Quinn aardly with one arm

Our ship rises and the doors hiss closed behind us, sealing away the cacophony of wind and engine roar Roque pushes through the others and stares at th slipping froround and kicks off the ill-fitting gravBoots he borrowed from one of the Howlers

Roque’s mouth works No sound comes out "Is she …," he murmurs finally

"Are there any Yellows on board?" the Jackal asks me I look to Harpy

I point Harpy toward theAsk her"

She sprints off

"TheQuinn’s pulse He checks her pupils No one moves "Now!" Roque stumbles up to find it Pebble rips it off the wall and tosses his it back to the Jackal Mind turned to static, I stare down at Quinn as another seizure racks her body and an inhuman sound rattles from her nose and mouth Roque’s face is bloodless beside h his will alone can mend as broken; but inside he knows he is powerless He sinks to his knees

The Jackal opens the le hand moves confidently over the devices inside till they find a silver bar no larger than er He snatches it and activates the device It huht

"I need someone’s datapad Mine was fried in the EMP" No one orydamn datapad Now"

I hand hih he pauses a second when he sees my distinctive hands

"Thank you for the rescue, Reaper," he says hastily

"Thank your sister"

Lysander rises and comes to my side He watches quietly, no tears in his eyes Pebble and Clown sit on their heels No one touches Roque, though they glance at hi whatever prayers to luck Golds whisper