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"You didn’t report it?"

Merwin shrugged, heavily this ti that ry and tired and scared and very, very angry And the oldest of us was just twenty years old"

"Sam wouldn’t," she started to say

"Oh, well, Ms Teenuine saints in this world: I married one But there aren’t randson, Drake, not that old corporal--I like to hope, anyway, that he found the strength toBut he was always a troubled boy Especially afterDrake’s stepfather" He blew out a breath "But I don’t know and you don’t know"

"What happens e do know?" she asked in a small voice

"I suppose we’ll behave like a bunch of holier-than-thou hypocrites Because the alternative is to look at ourselves in the s"

They were quiet on the ride back to the dock Connie shook his hand

"Thanks for takingto carry all these years"

The old lint of steel in his eyes "Not the way you think, though, Ms Te I took pleasure in that act of revenge And knowing if I had to do it all again, I’d still pull that trigger"

She slowly released his hand and stared, stricken, into eyes that were cold and cruel, as he said, "Dark and terrible things And the joys they bring"

EIGHTEEN

27 HOURS, 13 MINUTES

GAIA WAS MOVING faster, al It would have healed altogether if she’d been able to sit and focus on it But the two mutants were on her trail, and in addition to that she had to keepto stay ahead of the fire, which had quickly burned to the edge of the forest and ement to spread farther

It had occurred to Gaia that inhabiting a body meant she, too, was vulnerable to sh her mental inventory of powers that would save her fro

At least the pain was under some control now Thewas called "When All the Lights Go Out" There was a lot of yelling Gaia decided she liked yellingon the fact that she had a sround nohere she would see Saeable threat What worried her farat her She could feel hi fast, he wasn’t dead yet