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"Yeah, and you just got to be the golden boy, don’t you, Laed to stand "Oh, and you’d better get her there soon Otherwise Grandone, Dub wrenched the door handle from the drywall so the door would close, as I whirled on Sebastian "I’m yours? What the hell was that?"

"Ray works for the Nove to find you first Someone must have seen you come in with Jenna"

"Jenna?"

"Crank" He paused Four seconds went by "I’ll help you find the records" And then he walked toward the back door

All righty, then

Drawing in a deep breath--I was going to need it dealing with Mr Personality--I followed hiarden Dub and Crank were standing on aat a lump in the leaves Despite the winter season, huarden le, a daent white flowers that crawled up the house

"Vi, he’s gone And you missed Ari’s awesome smack-down" Dub reinforced his words with a few air punches and an iinary body slam "C’mon, Vivi You stood up for me Come on out so I can say thanks in person"

Two black eyes blinked beneath the leaves I slid closer to Sebastian as Crank talked to Violet "What’s her deal, anyway? What’s with the baby vah "Dub found her out in the swa alone in a trapper’s houseboat He fed her for three oes as she pleases, takes to weird things like the h"

My eyebrow lifted, and I rocked back on my heels "So you actually do speak lanced over and frowned "Coo Violet will come out when she’s ready"

Five

"IT’S NICE HERE," "I SAID, LOST IN THE SCENERY OF THE "GARDEN District as I walked with Sebastian to St Charles Avenue His only response was a grunt I hadn’twith him It was pretty obvious he didn’t have any interest in conversation

Not that I minded; it wasn’t like I was known for my social skills anyway

So I settled into a nice rhyth the cracks in the pave low over fences, pulled down by moss or heavy vines

If someone could’ve crawled inside my soul and then created a town to fit me best, it would’ve looked just like the GD There was a sense of belonging here that I’d never felt anywhere else before It could’ve been because I was born here, and I knew my mother had lived here, but somehoas more than that It was in the eht decay on everything, the wildness of the plants and trees, the haunted appearance that clung to the grand old houses, and the dark parts where light never reached--deep in the lost gardens, behind vacant lots, and beyond boarded-up s It was even in the misfits that made this place holanced over, in Sebastian with his black hair, brooding eyes, and dark red lips It was the freedoive a shit what you were, because it was different too

It wasn’t entirely neglected, though We passed a house with a bunch of twentysouy on the porch played a twelve-string guitar, fingers flying in a romantic Spanish tune as a woman in a turban painted a picture on a canvas Voices and the sound of hammers on wood flowed fro between coluuitar guy looked up and dipped his head at Sebastian

A few more houses and we crossed St Charles Avenue to wait for the trolley

"Charity Hospital, right?"

"Yeah Do you think we’ll have trouble accessing h his hair and leaving it all wild and rumpled "Shouldn’t be too hard"

"Do you know any Selkirks living in New 2?"

The streetcar rolled toward us as Sebastian shook his head and then fished in his pocket for money "Costs a dollar twenty-five"

"Ohcrap" I dropped round and unzipped the front pocket to pull out two dollars as the trolley came to a stop Sebastian was already halfway up the steps I hurried on, paid my fare, and then sat on the wooden bench directly across the aisle from him

We rode in silence, the only two on the trolley, until Sebastian slid over intoan in a low voice, keeping his eye on the streetcar operator, "you want to tell uy who tried to kill you?"

Our shoulders touched, and I tried not to breathe in too deeply because he sood "Not really" I stared out the

"You think he lived in New 2?"