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The feeling of sureen water of the pool, the body of Rachel Wood would rise Soate, she would see the woh the tinted s she couldat the house But the car never stopped, and when Aer do you think we have to wait?"

"That depends on Zero Man got to show his hand sooner or later So far as he knows, I’one with the rest of them"

It was the water, Carter had explained, that protected the’sas they stayed where they were, Fanning couldn’t find them

"But he’ll coood while, but thedone It’s what he’s wanted fro up--an autuht It was the time of day when a certain silence always fell

"We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?"

"That we are, Miss Amy"

"I ondering ifago"

"I just , I’d like that"

The leaves were spinning down They fluttered across the lawn, the patio, the pool deck, tossing in the wind like skeletal hands Aht of Peter, how she missed him Wherever he was now, she hoped that happiness would find hiiven him up

She took a last sip of tea to clear the blood taste froht you are" Carter donned his hat "We best get to work on them leaves"

8

"Michael!"

His sister took her last two steps at a jog and wrapped hilad to see you, too"

The nurse at the desk was staring at them, but Sara couldn’t be contained "I can’t believe it," she said "What are you doing here?" She stepped back and looked him over with a motherly eye One part of him felt embarrassed; another part would have been disappointed if she hadn’t "God, you’re thin When did you get here? Kate will be thrilled" She glanced at the nurse, an older woman in a boiled smock "Wendy, this is hed "That’s ," Sara said

"Just a couple of days"

She shook her head and sighed "I guess I’ll have to take what I can get" She was clutching his upper aro anywhere, okay? I know you, Michael I ether they walked to the apartment How odd it was to be back on dry land, with its disconcerting stillness underfoot After three years mostly alone, the hu his skin He did his best to conceal his agitation, believing it would pass, though he also wondered if his tie in his teain

With a stab of guilt, he noted how one; even her curls had straightened The two of theo-to with Hollis while Sara ot into bed with her to tell her a story Not a story fro from real life, a tale of his adventures at sea

He chose the story of the whale This was so that had happened about six ht, the water calan to lift, as if the sea were rising A dark bulge eed off his port side At first he didn’t knohat it was He had read about whales but never seen one, and his sense of such a creature’s di so big be alive? As the whale slowly breached the surface, a spout of water shot from its head; the creature rolled lazily onto its side, oneclear Its flanks, shiny and black, were encrusted with barnacles Michael was too amazed to be afraid; only later did it occur to him that with one slap of its tail, the whale could have shattered his boat to pieces