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I nod

"Oh Oh, Morgan"

I’m not ready for sympathy I’es persist

Down the hall, Lex is calling for Alice because he’s heard footsteps and voices, and he doesn’t like people in his home unannounced He won’t leave the safety of his office while they’re here

Amy raises her head at the sound of his voice, but she doesn’t speak "Look at me," the boy says "Do you feel dizzy? Does it feel like a fit is co on?"

He touches her forehead, and she slaps hi forthe way he would when I was young and I’d et over here"

I rise toI move methodically until I’m down the hall, in the doorway to Lex’s office

Alice follows e to see all of low He’s standing with his clock in his hands For a moment I envy his blindness I want to curl up in that darkness and have the city disappear around s are never seen and never known, and there’s only the whirr of the transcriber as the paper fills with fiction

"What did you see?" he asks

"A body," I say "Dripping wet, although eren’t near the lake Patrol us back"

"What did it look like?" he insists Alice touches his arm to calm him down I can’t understand why it should matter to hiht of them

"A university student in uniform A boy," I say I remember the dark skin and the open eyes, and the name that Amy said in the stairwell Quince My voice is unsteady when I get to the end of the sentence

Lexme, but instead he leans close and says, "Go downstairs Pretend that none of this ever happened Get into bed"

"But--"

"Listen tohome to check on you You can’t let him knohat you saw You have to pretend you’ve been asleep"

I look to Alice for reason, but she only gives me a sympathetic nod of assent

"But Basil and the others," I say

"Take Basil with you He’s been in your roo on outside I’ll take care of the others Go Don’t screw it up"

He reaches for my hands, but hesitates and pushes me for the door instead

In my bed, I close my eyes and try to be still while Basil pretends to study by the light of the lantern that swings over ht, a luxury, as s have electrical fixtures only in the low of the fla the body and then it becomes you, or Pen, or my family," I say

"I see it, too," he says "It could have been any of us"

I open one eye and watch his shoulders move as he slouches over the textbook Maybe he really is trying to study

"Basil," I say "Intern The person who did this could be anywhere Could live in this building"

"One person did this," he says, "but there are dozens of patrolhs the bad" Still, he doesn’t sound so certain He’s trying to be brave for my sake, but he’s scared too

"Can you lie doith me for a little while?" I ask

"Of course"

I open the blanket to hiets beside ine a life without a betrothed Try to i Daphne’s ashes as they’re released into the tributary

Basil squeezes his arhs the bad?" I say

"It has to" He sees how little this consoles es my forehead with his chin "I’ll always be here to ; one of theathletes in the acadehts half as heavy as I am, and he can climb a rope in record tiainst so at the moon?

"I’ll always be here to make sure you’re safe, too," I say "Even if you are the one who’s stronger"