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Sam hurled his voice toward her: "Get down, Lish! This isn’t up to you!"
"All of you This is irl they want, it’s me I was the one who torched the library That’s what started this It was a nest, and I led the to put anybody out, I should be the one I’m the reason those people are dead"
It was Milo Darrell whotoward the table Whether or not he was trying to get to Alicia, or Ian, or even Walter was unclear; but with this provocation a force of violence was suddenly unleashed in a wave of pushing and shoving, the crowd surging forward, a vaguely coordinated mass propelled only by itself The table was overrun; Peter saw Alicia tu, shouting Those with children seeet to the front The only thought in Peter’s mind was to reach Alicia But as he labored to ht in the crush of bodies He felt his feet snarling up below hi on someone-and as he tumbled forward he saho this person was: Jacob Curtis The boy had dropped to his knees and was holding his hands protectively over his head against the rain of trarunt, Peter so over the boy’s broad back; he scrabbled to his knees and launched forward again, rising through ahi bodies aside So struck him then-a blow to the back of the head that felt like a punch-and as his vision flared he turned, swinging, his fist connecting solidly with a bearded, heavy-browed face that only later did he realize belonged to Hodd Greenberg, Sunny’s father He had by this round, fleetingly visible through the throng that surrounded her Like Jacob, she had drawn her hands up over her head, curling her body into a ball as a pu storm of hands and feet fell down upon her
It wasn’t even a question Peter drew his blade
What ht have happened next, Peter never learned Froures: the Watch Ben and Galen, holding crosses Dale Levine and Vivian Chou and Hollis Wilson and the others Weapons drawn, they quickly formed a battle line between the table and the crowd, their presence i back
"Go to your ho down the side of his face into the neck of his jersey His cheeks were criht specks from his lips He swept his cross across the crowd, as if unable to decide whom to fire on first "The Household is suspended! I a a state ofseemed held in a brittle silence Theher exposed As Peter dropped to his knees beside her, she pivoted her dirt-streaked face toward hiency
She le word: "Go"
He rose and backed away, round, a feho had fallen being lifted to their feet Everybody was covered in dust; Peter realized hisby the overturned table, clutching the side of his head Sam and Milo were nowhere visible; like Peter, they had faded away
A pair of Watchers, Galen and Hollis, caht; she offered no resistance as Ian stripped her of her blades Peter could tell she was injured but did not kno; her body seeid at the sa the pain in check A smear of blood was on her cheek, another on her elbow Her braid had co by threads Ian and Galen were holding her now, each on a side, like a prisoner It was then that Peter understood: by drawing the fury of the cron upon herself, she had deflected it away froht them some time If only to keep control of the crowd, Ian would have to put her in the lockup now Be ready, her eyes had told hih for all to hear, "you are under arrest The charge is treason"
"Put the bitch out now!" someone yelled
"Quiet!" But Ian’s voice was thin, treates will stay closed until further notice Anyone seen out and about will be subject to arrest by the Watch Anyone carrying a weapon will be fired on Don’t think I won’t do it"
And while Peter looked on helplessly, in a world that had becoer knew, the Watch led Alicia away
Chapter THIRTY-SEVEN
In the Sanctuary, Mausaht and an eventhe Littles-the story of the night’s terrible events having reached her via Other Sandy, whose husband, Saht-had made a decision
The idea had come upon her with quiet suddenness; she hadn’t even known she was thinking it But she had awakened with the distinct ied inside her The decision hadto have a baby The baby was Theo Jaxon’s Because this baby was Theo Jaxon’s, Theo could not be dead
Mausa to find him, and tell him about their baby
TheBell, at the changing of the shift That would afford both the cover she needed and a full day’s light to ure out where to go The best place to exit would be over the cutout, with its lione to sleep, she would slip away to the Storehouse and equip herself for the journey: a strong rope to ride down the Wall, food and water, a cross and blade, a pair of good sturdy boots and a change of clothes and a pack to carry everything in
With the curfew, no one would be about She wouldto the shadows, and wait for dawn to co shape and detail, Mausa her own death She’d actually been doing it for days Since the resupply party had returned, she had given every indication of alike a crazy person,everyone scramble around, worried for her safety She couldn’t have built acase if she’d tried Even that tearful scene at Main Gate, when Lish hadnarrative people would asse? they would all say, ns Because in the , when Other Sandy awoke to discover that Mausa a few hours before noting the oddness of this fact but eventually reporting it, and others in due course went to search for her, the rope over the cutout would be discovered A rope with only one possibleThere would be no other conclusion people could draw She, the Watcher Mausahter of Sanjay and Gloria Patal, First Fao
Yet here was the day Here she was, knitting her booties in the Sanctuary-she’daway, keeping the Littles occupied with gas, the news of Mausami’s death like a fact delayed-like an arrow that, once launched froet to reveal the host She felt like she was gone already She thought about visiting her parents one last tioodbye without saying it? There was Galen to consider, but after last night she didn’t want to see hione down to the station after all, Other Sandy had told her, thinking this would be good news to her Galen was a the Watchers who had arrested Alicia Mausami wondered if Galen would be the first person they told, or the second, or the third Would he be sad? Would he cry? Would he i down the Wall and feel relieved?
Her hands had paused over her knitting She wondered if she really ht be crazy Probably she was You’d have to be crazy, to think that Theo wasn’t dead But she didn’t care
She excused herself to Other Sandy, aved her distractedly away-she had cleared a space for the Littles to sit in circle and was trying to quiet thein their lesson for the day-and stepped into the hall, sealing the door and the voices of the children behind her A blast of quiet that felt like noise; she stood a moment in the hushed corridor At such a ine that the world was not the world That there was some other world in which the virals did not exist, as they did not exist for the Littles, who lived in a dream of the past Which was probably the reason the Sanctuary had been built in the first place: so there was still a place like that Shethe cracked linoleum, past the doors of the empty classrooms, and descended the stairs The odor of spirits was still strong in the Big Roo tears to her eyes, and yet as Mausa, she knew that she would remain there the rest of the day She would sit in the quiet and finish knitting the baby booties, so that she could take them with her
Chapter THIRTY-EIGHT
If asked to name the worst moment of his life, Michael Fisher wouldn’t have hesitated to give his answer: it hen the lights went out
Michael had just rolled the spool off the cathen it happened: a plunge into blackness so total, so consuness, that for a heart-seizing instant he wondered if he had rolled off after the spool and simply failed to notice-that this was the darkness of death But then he heard Kip Darrell’s voice-"Sign, we have sign! Holy shit, they’re everywhere!"-and the information shot into his brain that not only was he still alive but the lights, in fact, were out