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A few hours later, with the ently untangled Zu’s fingers frolow of the alarhtstand burned the ti tis, on Liam’s insistence, but I had to collect my toothbrush and toothpaste from where I had left them next to Chubs’s in the bathroom There was one set of HoJo toiletries left out by the sink, next to the world’s ugliest coffee with one of the srees warinia spring weather Itthreaded through the cars and nearby trees The ht had been parked on the far end of the lot, was now stationed directly in front of the hotel rooainst her bruised side, I don’t think I would have seen Lia door, slowly scraping off the last of the BETTY JEAN CLEANING sign with his car keys At his feet was the Ohio plate that had, at one point, been screwed into place My feet drifted to a stop a few feet short of him

There were dark circles under his eyes His face was drawn in thought, his rim line that didn’t suit him at all With his damp hair coood two or three years younger than he had the day before, but his eyes told a different story

My shoes scuffed the loose asphalt, catching Lia?"

"Huh?"

"You’re up early," he explained "I usually have to drag Chubs into the shower and blast hied "Still on Thuruess"

He rose to his feet sloiping his hands on the front of his jeans The way his eyes flicked toward , but, instead, he only gave me a small smile The Ohio license plate was tossed into the backseat, and in its place was a West Virginia plate I didn’t have a chance to ask where it had coainst the minivan’s door Lia a few as can and a chewed up black hose in hand With lass, I soaked up the honeyed singsong radio corocery store When the broadcaster carim forecast of whatever was left of Wall Street The woy

I forcedonly a second before

"Liam?" I called before I could stop myself

"Over here," calance to the row of aquamarine motel doors, I shuffled around the back of the van until I was a few feet behind hiet a better look at what he was doing to the silver SUV parked next to the van

Liaht eyes focused on the task at hand One end of the hose was shoved deep into the belly of the SUV’s gas tank He looped the excess length of the unruly hose around his shoulder, and let the other end fall in the red can

"What are you doing?" I didn’t bother to hide th of the hose, gliding it back in our direction It was al soan to drip froas, I realized I’d heard about people doing this during the last gas shortage, but I’d never actually seen it done before The liquid began to fill the can in a s the space between us with a sharp odor

"Gas crisis," he said with an unapologetic shrug "Ti on fuht?" I said, nodding toward the hand guiding the gas into our red can "Could you just " Liaether, they turned an unnatural shade of white and highlighted a s, I squatted down beside hi gas was, surprisingly, not all that couess I’m just impressed you can use your abilities at all"

A part of me wondered, then, if I hadn’t had it backward this entire tis were at Thur sure that ere terrified of getting caught using our abilities, and erethat ere, and e could do, was dangerous and unnatural Mistakes and accidents were not excuses, and punish, no stabbing at lih them

If Liam was so accomplished with his abilities, it probably meant he had taken years to practice, most of those spent outside of camp walls It never occurred toout--that the others, who had never seen the inside of a cabin, experienced the grave and still nothing that was life at cas They weren’t afraid of theht of what they didn’t know

I had the strangest feeling--like I had lost so it in the first place--that I wasn’t what I once was, and wasn’t at all what I was meant to be The sensation ’s pretty straightforward for us Blues," Liah to i from point A to point B, and it just…does," he said "I bet a lot of the Blues at Thurured out how to use their abilities They just chose not to Maybe soht" I hadn’t had enough interaction with the Blue kids to know

Liaas slowed to alot and ns of life, and didn’t settle back down until I was sure ere alone