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"Look, all I can go by is the book I can’t even pronounce oes on and on, maybe this, could be that, I mean, I don’t see how anyone understands it"

"Leukemia," Sanjit said

"Hey, don’t act like that’s what I said, okay? It was just one possibility I probably just thought of it because I can actually pronounce it That’s all"

They both fell silent Sanjit stared down at the yacht and more specifically at the helicopter

"We could try to patch the lifeboat froh he knew Virtue’s answer already They’d tried to launch the lifeboat A rope had snagged, and the lifeboat had landed on a spur of rock The wooden hull had been punctured, the boat had sunk and was now sloshing in between two rocks that slowly, gradually widened the extent of the dae The lifeboat was a pile of sticks

"It’s the helicopter or nothing," Virtue said He was not a touchy-feely kid, Virtue, but he squeezed Sanjit’s thin bicep and said, "Man, I know it scares you It scares ht? You’re not that s luck"

"I’ with me So how smart are you?"

Astrid settled Little Pete in a corner of her office at town hall He kept his eyes focused on the long-dead handheld and continued pushing buttons, as if the game were still on And maybe in Little Pete’s head, it still was

It was the office the mayor had used back in the old pre-FAYZ days The office Saht with Sa-willed people Arguments were inevitable, she supposed

Plus, they were supposedly in love and soreements

And they were roommates, and sometimes that caused probleht like this

Sas and moved out She supposed he would find an unoccupied house--there were plenty of those

"I shouldn’t have said that to hiiant list of things to do The things that needed doing to keep Perdido Beach functioning

The door opened Astrid looked up, hoping and fearing that it was Sam

It wasn’t It was Taylor

"I didn’t think you walked through doorways, Taylor," Astrid said She regretted the edgy tone in her voice By now the news that Sahout the town Juicy personal gossip ht in Perdido Beach And there was no bigger iteossip than a breakup between the first couple of the FAYZ

"I kno cranky you get when I pop in," Taylor said

"It is a little unsettling," Astrid said

Taylor spread her hands placatingly "See? That’s why I walked in"

"Next you could work on knocking"

Astrid and Taylor didn’t like each other much But Taylor was an extremely valuable person to have around She had the ability to instantly transport herself from place to place To "bounce," as she called it

The enmity between them went back to Astrid’s belief that Taylor had a crush of ure she had a golden opportunity now