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It wasn’t easy to see the little boy The little boy always stayed just to the side Cigar would sense his presence and look toward hiar could never see the little boy clearly It was like seeing solione

More madness

If you had inhuman eyes and a shattered mind, how could you ever knoas real and as not?

Cigar realized he had to stop trying It didn’t matter, did it? Did anyone ever really see as there around theular eyes so perfect or norar saasn’t as real as what he had seen in the old days?

Weren’t regular eyes blind to all sorts of things? To X-rays and radiation and colors off beyond the visible spectruht in his head

There he was now, Cigar realized Just outside of view A suggestion of a presence Right there where even Cigar could not see

Cigar’s thoughts fell to pieces again

He stood up and made his way to the door that vibrated and pulsed and called to him

There was a knock on Penny’s door

Penny did not fear a knock at the door She opened it without even checking the peephole

Caine stood fraht in the door

"We have to talk," Caine said

"It’s thefor an invitation "First things first: if I see anything I don’t like, even so ination, Penny, I won’t hesitate I’ll throw you through the nearest wall And then I’ll drop the wall on top of you"

"Hello to you, too Your Highness" She closed the door

He was already sitting, flopping down in her favorite chair Like he owned the place He had brought a candle He lit it with a Bic and set it on the table So very Caine: he would arrange to be drah candles were rarer than diae that threatened to boil over She would make him crawl Make him scream and scream!

She said, "I knohy you’re here"

"Turk said you were ready to get real, Penny He said you wanted to negotiate soh So spit it out"

"Look," Penny said, "I screwed up with Cigar And I knohat happens if the food supply dries up I’m not as pretty as Diana, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid"

"Okay," he said cautiously