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Raffe pulls his cap lower onto his face I can tell he’s tense He’s in enemy territory Now that I think about it, he’s always in enemy territory no els won’t accept his he has, humans won’t accept hiels were oes, he always see attention to hi, the name that I hear the ht Obi’s plan was--’

‘Yeah, that’s what Obi said’

‘Need Obi’s permission for--’

‘Authorized by Obi’

‘Obi will deal with thes definitely have their own personalities One houses a refugee ca ars of hu the worst crisis in history

And I thought I had it bad trying to keep ine howresponsible for all these lives

A couple of guys with construction-worker tans and le uys take one look at hilance respectfully away

I pause to talk to the for the twins – Dee and Dum Do you knohere they are?’

One of them points to a room down the hall We walk over, and I push open the door without thinking about what ht be inside

‘--hotels,’ says Obi at the head of a conference table ‘How are we holding up on food and lances up and notices me He looks as tired as the rest of theest nor the loudest, but there’s still so about hiht posture or the confidence in his voice

There are about a dozen people around hiard and exhausted, with dark circles beneath their eyes and unwashed hair sticking out in various directions It ees, then an even longer day of getting theets quiet, and everyone turns to look atto be subtle

17

‘Sorry,’ I say, trying to gracefully bow out

Doc jumps up and knocks his chair back so hard that it clatters to the floor ‘Penryn’

‘You know her?’ asks Obi

‘She’s the sister of the child I was telling you about’

‘Penryn’s sister is the great secret weapon?’ asks Obi

Uh-oh I don’t like the sound of this

‘Did you find her?’ Doc skirts the table and heads e boy with his brown hair and button-up shirt, but now he has a swollen black eye ‘Is she here?’

The twins sit beside Obi Their otten that they dyed their hair for kicks They still look like skinny scarecrows to me whether they’re redheads or blonds A couple of the others look familiar, but I don’t know any of the attention to o into the roo Raffe to not follow

‘You’ve got to be joking,’ says a guy I recognize ‘Her sister is a monstrous horror You can’t expect her to help us’ I realize where I’ve seen hie like a wild animal the last time she was here

‘Martin, not now,’ says Obi