Page 199 (1/1)

I snfroht here, we existed as pieces of a single entity, part of one mind Our keeper has learned that to be sundered froony we can know When we displease him, he puts us into the dark place" The whisper’s face, Flynn’s face, showsNo fear, no hatred, not even the flicker of reain after we are free"

It’s getting harder to breathe,with a kind of panic I haven’t felt in years, not since h I close h ht to speakI had left You’ve taken him--"

"Because he is still in here Because if you set us free, ill return him to you And ill save you, and this planet, for last"

My heart starts again with a lurch thatin my ears "What do you mean, ‘save us for last’?" I whisper "What will you do when you’re free?"

"We will start with our keeper," the whisper replies, dead-eyed and soft "We will give hiiven us We will take his family from him, and all he knows, and every soul who has ever touched him And then ill spread this death, as your kind has spread, and we shall make him the last of your species And then, once he has realized the thing he has done--then ill leave hi with tears of horror and grief "No," I whisper My voice shakes, but behind the trehten "No, I won’t help you Shootyou monsters free"

Flynn merely looks at me, mouth lax, eyes empty He looks like a mannequin, like a doll of himself, and ht," he says cal the barrel to the underside of his chin

"No--!" My voice tears fro the air as I jerk forward half an inch, hand raised "No, stop!" I gasp for air, nausea sweeping through ?"

The Flynn-thing doesn’t even flinch, watching my distress without reaction "If you refuse to do as we ask, then we have no further use for this vessel" I can see the barrel pressing hard enough into Flynn’s neck that the skin around thewhite

"Okay" The word cos so painfully I have to take a breath, and another, before I can speak again "Okay I’ll do it"

It’s been ten years, and every night the girl keeps searching for the Novehost Soirl finds friends she recognizes, and enereen-eyed boy everywhere, and so the swa on the water in an old, narrow boat She’s searched the entire world and found nothing--no green-eyed boy, no people at all--and no Noveuish is too much, and she drops back down into the bottoainst the wood

Then so makes her lift her head

In the water below she sees a million stars reflected, and the swamp beco, welcoht All around her the swamp is illu to find a way out, soain the upper hand Move more quickly around this corner, surprise him when he follows; duck inside that doorway, then slip out behind him when he passes

But even if I could do it, even if I could wrest the gun fro that killed Carunpoint a creature willing to kill Flynn siun at Flynn Even if I could…

But he’s not Flynn anyaze, no life in his voice It’s not hi the truth, even if they could bring hiive ether, Jubilee

I was never supposed to be the one on the outside of the s, I pass on the orders that are passed totoback, to decide if I was a lost cause

I can’t make this kind of choice alone Flynn would never want me to sacrifice humanity to keep him alive for a few more years--or weeks, or days, I don’t know Not even for Avon But I cannot watch that thing pull the trigger; I can’t stand here and watch it blow Flynn away I could more easily cut out my own heart Flynn, what do I do?

The corridors ahead of us are e Flynn leads lance back--and freeze

Shuffling after us, filing out of the rooms and down the corridor, are the facility’s staff Dozens of the the hallway; soear like e, disconnected gait, shoes dragging against the floor Their slow, sluggish ical procedure LaRoux used to prevent the whispers frole one has eyes like marbles