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And if Astrid wanted to think of herself and Little Pete and Saot to, well…she could forget that, too

You didn’t run away because of any of that, a cruel voice in his head said You didn’t run away because Astrid won’t sleep with you Or because she is bossy You ran away froht occurred to Sa hero because of Astrid And when he seeuy

Was that possible? Was it possible that arrogant, frustrating, manipulative Astrid was the reason he could play Sae before, the actions that earned him the nickname School Bus Sae, done his best to disappear back into anonyic to responsibility When the FAYZ came he’d been just another kid And even after the FAYZ came he’d done his best to avoid the role that others wanted to force on him

But then there had been Astrid He had done it for her For her he’d been the hero

"Yeah, well," he said to the rocks and the surf, "In that case, I’ular old Saht For a while Until the iain

"It’s just an excuse," Sa on with Astrid, you still have to do it"

He still, no lad you saw that, too, Choo," Sanjit whispered "Because otherwise I’d be sure I was crazy"

"It was that kid, that boy He did it Somehow," Virtue said

The two of them were in the rocks atop the cliff There was scarcely an inch of the island they hadn’t explored both before the big disappearance and after Much of the island had been denuded of trees dating back to a tioats on the island But at the fringes there was still virgin forest of scrub oak,bushes The island foxes still hunted in these woods

In other places palh above tumbled rocks But there were no beaches on San Francisco De Sales Island No convenient inlets In the days of sheep ranching the shepherds had lowered the animals in wicker baskets Sanjit had seen the tu to swing out over the water for the sheer fun of it, had decided it was crazy when he noticed that the support beams were eaten by ants and ternable, which hy his adopted parents had bought it It was one place the paparazzi couldn’t reach In the interior of the island was a short airstrip large enough to accommodate private jets And at the co east," Sanjit commented

"How did he do that?" Virtue asked

Sanjit had noticed about Virtue that he was not quick to adapt to new and unexpected circurown up on the streets with con icians and others who specialized in illusion He didn’t think what he had just witnessed was an illusion, he believed it was real But he was ready to accept that and move on

"It’s impossible," Virtue said