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Jezzie didn’t answer--she frequently didn’t when Sinder turned loquacious "Iabout it in school, but, ht into food Light becoain e eat it It’s like… You know…"

"It’s a miracle," Orc rumbled

"No," Jezzie said, "it would be a miracle if it didn’t also work for weeds Then it would be ashe didn’t like and was pulling on it, grunting with the effort

"I could pull that for you," Orc said

"No, no, no!" both girls cried "But thanks, Orc"

Orc did not wear shoes, but if he had they’d probably have been size twenty Extra, extra, extra wide When he stepped into the garden things had a tendency to be crushed

Sinder liked to get do and look at her plants from close up Froainst the backdrop of the lake and the marina area From the other side she would see theray blankness of the barrier

Now she was looking at the feathery structure of a carrot top against the blank black of the stain It had the odd effect ofthe leaf seem like a work of abstract art

She looked up from the plant and saw the stain suddenly shoot upward What had been a ragged, undulating wave of black extending only a dozen or so feet above her head blossoes to becoh before it slowed and stopped

She hoped Jezzie hadn’t seen it But when her friend stood up there were tears running down her cheeks

"I feel bad inside," Jezzie said silanced at Orc, but he was absorbed in reading "Me, too, Jez Like…" She didn’t have the words for what it was like So she just shook her head

Jezzie wiped dirt froed to actually transferdoard the aze and saw Sa each other close on the top deck of the White Houseboat

Jezzie said, "At first when I heard she was back I thought it was a good thing I thought Sam would be happy You know: he’s been lonely"

It was a fact of life in the FAYZ that kids cut off from TMZ and Facebook and the ins and outs of Hollywood and reality shows focusedthey had to celebrities: Sam, who most people liked and everyone worried about; Diana, who most people didn’t like but whose baby everyone worried about; the baby itself, in particular betting about its gender and possible powers; news of Caine from Perdido Beach; affectionate speculation about Edilio and the nature of his friendship with the Artful Roger; theories about Astrid with passionate disagreeood for Sam, or alternately a sort of Jadis, the White Witch from Narnia; and, of course, the whispered-about, much-speculated-about relationship (or lack of same) between Brianna and Jack and/or Brianna and Dekka