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"Hey, Scar, I think you dropped this," came Jesse’s a at the picket fence, tuggingmy eyes off Noah, I reached out a hand and felt Jesse slap the knife handle into it

"Everything okay, big brother?" Jesse said cheerfully He’d obviously seen the whole thing, and was enjoying the hell out of thethe eye contact--ha, I won the staring contest--Noah straightened his shirt, brushing sidewalk grit off the back of his pants "I gotta get going Good luck with yourwhatever"

"Sarin was as wide as I’d ever seen it

In the car, Jesse silently entered the storage facility’s address into his GPS and pulled into traffic He aiting forto contain a smile

"I’ave"How ly helpful?"

I slunk lower in my seat "Shit"

"Yeah" His voice turned serious "Look I figured he wanted to do soht as well get it out of the way But he took it too far"

My eyes lifted "Yeah?"

Jesse nodded "What happened between us back thenit hurt me, but I also knoas a hell of a lotyour fes Twiceto both of us Noah was out of line, and he deserved to have his ass handed to hiain "But can we talk for a second about how you just knocked down my enormous brother like he was a cardboard cutout? Have you been taking ?"

I settled back intakes years and years to master, and I’m too clumsy to be a quick study Also, lazy"

"So?" His eyebroere still raised

I tried to shrug it off, but it was obvious he was curious as hell And he’d stuck up for me He deserved a real answer "I wanted to be able to protect myself better, and everyone underestimates me anyway, so I decided to cheat," I explained "Instead of learning a wholea knife isn’t that complicated; it just requires a little technique and a lot of practice While I was doing that, I practiced a handful of aikido throws Plus how to throw a punch and a couple of kicks" I shrugged "If I ever went up against soet ets in my radius, they don’t kno to handle theth or spells or whatever to defend theht you?"

I told him about my lessons with Marko, and how I’d had plenty of time to practice because there had been fewer cri me some security stuff, too, like how to look for a boed "I’h"

"I’h it off, but his face was serious "You’ve learned a lot in the past three years"

"In so of Eli again "And in some ways I feel dumber than ever"

Chapter 15

We made a quick stop to fortify with coffee and donuts--Shadow ate six--before we got on the freeway toward Thousand Oaks As predicted, Jesse hit rush hour traffic, but it was ed to keep the car at a nice 45 mph clip Basically an LA miracle