Page 95 (2/2)

There was a knock at the door Talon, an older Yelloith his hair woven into intricate dreadlocks, appeared first, followed by a wide-eyed Chubs Lia to talk to you"

Talon nodded "I figured Kylie and Lucy are here, too" She stuck her head inside and waved "Do you want to talk outside?"

Liam’s hand reached out and touched the small of my back "Help her pack?"

"Are you nuts?" I heard Chubs say "You barely know these people!"

"Excuse me," Hina protested, her hands on her hips "In case you’ve forgotten, she’s s into her pink suitcase and tore the sheet of paper out for Chubs to keep He sat so suddenly that he almostother than stare at her I knew the feeling

"Did Kylie say why you guys had to leave tonight?" I asked, sitting beside Chubs

Zu only shrugged

"Ito walk to California?" Chubs said, his voice rising with each word "Do you have some kind of plan?"

"Maybe you’ll find a new Betty," I said, but theand shook her head The next note took some time for her to write

No, there’s only one Betty

"And apparently she wasn’t enough for you," Chubs said, with a shocking a is replaceable, even us"

Zu took a deep breath, walking over to hi at her side He tried to look away, but she was standing right in front of hi her back, his face hidden in the fabric of her jacket

The ca, a frenzied sound that didn’t cease until it had driven everyone outside I let Zu and Hina lead us, pushing a path through the gathered kids This was the first tiarb seemed remotely appropriate

Kylie handed a piece of paper to Lee, and he nodded at whatever she was telling him Lucy was next to them, as tiny and quiet as ever, but she reached up and patted Liauess was supposed to be a reassuring way All happy pretenses were gone The only way to describe the look on his face was stricken

"--borrow that pen?" he asked Talon The boy began to pat down his black cargo pants, searching the pockets until he came up with a blue-capped pen With it in hand, Liam knelt down in front of Zu and tore off half the sheet of paper Kylie had given him

I wished I could have seen what he had written there, but it wasn’t for my eyes When he was finished, he folded the paper over several times and pressed it into her palht, where Clancy appeared at the head of the path, Hayes towering beside hi relaxed and proud, was pinched as either annoyance or anger