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To prove my point, I punched Simon in the arm "See? Just because I can throw hard sometimes, it doesn’t mean I can just turn it on and off And it doesn’t see" I eyed Si his ared unrepentantly "Then I guess we’d be having a very different conversation" Turning back to Natty, I said, "Seriously, though, you can’t tell anyone Not even Thom or Jett And especially not Willow" I didn’t want her to have any more reason to worship ave her a serious look to let her know I meant what I said "And now you"

Simon threw my shoes at me "And now half this town Since they knoe look like, we need to find someplace to stay hidden for the next" He hesitated, clearly irritated that I’d put a kink in our plans

I glanced atto be helpful "Two and a half hours," I offered

"Two and a half hours," Si me up by ed us behind the run-down houses, keeping close to shrubbery whenever possible

We hid behind garbage cans and cars and anything else big enough to conceal us I was anxious, because what if it was already too late? What if the sheriff, or whoever had been called to the bowling alley, had put two and two together and figured out ere half of thefor?

For all we knew, Agent Truman was already on his way

When we made our way back to the main road, just a few blocks fro straight out of a fairy tale "There" It had pink trie wraparound porch there were two rocking chairs painted a bright shade of yellow It was cozy, in a gingerbread house kind of way, and ht answer if we knocked Except ouldn’t have to knock on those doors to get inside this Drean planted in the front yard

"The library?" Si Natty across the street "Think about it--it’s perfect The cops probably won’t look for us there, and if we’re lucky, whoever works there won’t have a clue what just happened at the bowling alley"

Natty chi out in a library for a couple of hours That’s what they’re there for, right?"

"I don’t know" Simon hesitated "I’m not much of a reader"

"Okay Sure I understand" But ere already on the porch, and I grinned at him over my shoulder "If you need help, let one of us know We can help you sound out the big words"

The inside of the library was nothing like the outside And while it barely resembled a Barbie Dreamhouse, it was hardly like a library either, at least not the library we’d had back in Burlington, which had these enors, state-of-the-art coanized shelves and displays

This place was dark and dusty, and the books were scattered around in almost total disarray If there was a system--Dewey decimal or otherwise--it wasn’t apparent The only siton Library was the fact that it called itself a library That, and the fact that there were, indeed, books

Still, I was surprised by the guy who careet us He didn’t look all nerdy and bookish, which despite not being library-ish, was the kind of Norman Bates vibe I’d expected in a place like this But instead of wearing a sweater vest and bow tie, this guy had on baggy jeans and a faded Rolling Stones T-shirt He looked like so his face with Cheetos and playing Xbox in the base Nonfiction’s in the back" He pointed through an opening thatroo the walls "And fiction’s through there" Again, he pointed, this ti, on the opposite side of the stairs "If you need to use the coive you today’s password" He nodded at a desk in the corner Next to the desk, a sign read:

We’re sorry!

Due to national security concerns, we are unable to tell you if your

internet surfing habits, passwords, and eents; please act appropriately

My breath snagged in the back of uy just shrugged and said, "Patriot Act," like that explained everything Then he threw in, "Just try to stay off the porn sites Gives us all kinds of viruses"

I raisedit clear I doubted the guy was talking to Natty andme know he didn’t think I was funny, even the tiniest bit

Natty didn’t hesitate, and took off toward the fiction section, while Simon stayed with me I was teo to my dad’s old online forums, those weird conspiracy theory sites he used to frequent I doubted he’d risk visiting theht if only I could spend a minute or two in the places he used to spend hours-days-months of his life before I’d returned, ht dull, even if it was only temporary Even if whatever connection I’d feel wasn’t real