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Chapter Twenty-Five

9 HOURS, 5 MINUTES

ONE THING WAS crystal clear to Astrid as she stood in the drenching rain: the secret she had kept for so long was no longer a secret

She looked down at the street and saw Orc there He was staring up at her, his stone-and-flesh jaw slack

And conized Lance and Turk The other two she barely knew

All four were armed Orc didn’t need a weapon

She scanned in every direction, frantic, looking for some source of support Maybe Sam had come back Maybe Brianna Maybe Edilio and some of his soldiers

But no, the streets were abandoned but for a sick-looking girl, crouched and weary, h, staggering on

Orc had defended Astrid once before, rescuing her fros were pointing at her, at the aerThe rain was spreading

Orc was standing in it, an anie

The others slowed and then stepped gingerly into the rain and, like Orc, tilted their heads back and drank in the wondrous fresh water

She had a gun Would she use it?

"It’s the ’tard," Turk yelled His face broke out in a grin He was standing beneath a tree that was decorated with a yard sale’s worth of clothing and bits of broken toys "It’s that dumb brother of hers, Petard!"

Turk circled past Orc and hopped the fence into Astrid’s yard His friends folloarily, eyes darting fro

Then, in a sudden rush, Turk was up the stairs and standing on the platforleeful "It’s the ’tard! He’s the oneit rain"

"Orc!" Astrid cried

"That little kid must have some mad powers," Lance said

"Go away," Astrid said

She are of the fact that her drenched nightgown clung far too closely to her body The gun in her hand weighed a ton

"Grab the kid," Lance said "If we have hiht?"

There was blood on Turk’s shirt Too much of it

"What have you done?" Astrid demanded