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Probably Gaia couldn’t do anything Probably But the little girl that was no little girl watched with teeth bared, eyes focused far away, see in that space that Diana could not enter

"For just asense that so, Diana found herself fascinated at so she had not seen in what felt like a lifeti and clean, professionally cut hair And they were unarmed, not even so much as a crowbar or a baseball bat When was the last tie of four in the FAYZ had so an to glow like soht inside her head so that light bled just a bit around the riht Her teethsound as she claht, but in no danger of otten himself into position to take some decent video, but he was at the end of his ladder The doh in the center, and there was no ladder in the world that would cover even a tiny fraction of--

"Ahhhh!" Gaia cried, and the whole world wobbled It was like a small earthquake, but more, as if the air itself had been stirred

There was a blast of air in Diana’s face

A sound of rushing wind

And the red-haired round at Diana’s feet Inside In the FAYZ

The man lay stunned He looked at them in amazement, looked back at his friend, who just stood with his rinned and said, "Whoa! This is cool!"

Gaiasmile and said, "Food"

It had hit Little Pete in a way that was impossible to explain to someone who lived in the normal universe Pete had no body, but he had just been punched, very hard It had hurt It had sent hislike it It could only coreen, vaporous tendrils that had often reached to touch his e Had punched hih to make his consciousness blink out for just a fraction of a second

It was shocking He had not known such a thing was possible No one could hit him! It wasn’t okay It was not okay to hit His sister had told him that a lot of times So had his mother

It was not okay to hit Even if you were mad or frustrated

If it could happen once, it could happen again The dark mind that had touched him very early on, that had shaped him in some ways, that had manipulated him at times, that had scared Pete at times--and feared him always--that constant if faraway coun to accept his own fading, the alo of a life that had been short but painful He was ready to go away He was ready to fade out

But that sudden attackit rong He hadn’t done anything to deserve it

It rong

And it ht

Or else