Page 129 (1/2)

Alina walked slowly to join us, pausing a few feet away "How h"

"What I re at your hair, vo all over yourself Dani, honey, it wasn’t your fault And if you don’t quit bla to kick your ass all over this city and back You’re not stupid Get a grip on it Roas a sadistic old bitch and you were a child A good child End of subject Let it go"

I mouthed a silent Love you, sis at Alina She’d said exactly the right words Not too much, not too little Not too nice, not too harsh

Dani said nothing for a long moment, just sat there in silence Then she said, "You really mean that You don’t hate me"

"No And I didn’t then I felt sad For both of us For being trapped in circu controlled and you were fighting it with everything you had Coht, Dani Start a new life Mac’s co in a few days We’ll be sisters" She beah o with Mom and Dad I would die The three of us would never be peas in a Mega Pod That time had passed

But for a while we could pretend

I said quickly, "What do you say we go for a stroll around our city? Take in the sights one last time? The three of us"

Dani turned and looked froain Then she said slowly, "I’d like that"

I got another slice of heaven for a few hours that day We walked around our deserted town and talked and reminisced It was stiff at first between Dani and Alina but my sister and I are so much alike that Dani didn’t stand a chance

We detoured into the Dark Zone, stood outside 1247 LaRuhe and swapped stories about it We climbed Dani’s water tower and looked out over the city as she told us about the night Ryodan first "offered a job" Then she filledWe dropped by Alina’s old place and Dani showed us a couple of her favorite hidey-holes and we finally ended up at Chester’s standing forty feet away fro into the dug-out pavement beneath it The entire sphere, except for a tiny walnut-sized blot of absolutely still blackness at the center, had becoosphere We held on to one another, our jackets flapping briskly in the breeze it was throwing off

"Do you hear it, Mac?" Alina said gri and I more than heard it I felt it in my bones

I knew then

Whatever happened to this planet was going to affect farto have a catastrophic ialaxy It would spread beyond that

This Song of Un