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I try to reconcile this Dirt warrens are sround and eat wors Birds, fro "How can it be both?" I ask

The clock man opens his mouth to speak, but my brother interrupts "First," he says, "you should know the reason you’re here"

21

Fear is ible Gods," Daphne Leander, Year Ten

WHEN MY BROTHER JUMPED FROM THE edge of Internment,before my brother was a ju demons of his own

As a patrolman, he fitted anklets on people who had turned irrational He took part in the quiet dispatches of those who had committed crimes, their deaths later made to seeraph ugly things on the pros would keep us all safe And in the evening he would co wife and try to reconcile his role as one of the king’s elite

Lex isn’t sure when our father began to tellbehind the peoples’ backs, but s There were other patrolan to meet in secret At first they wondered whether they could persuade the king to change histhose who disrupt the order of his city And the talk soon turned to rebellion When they y courses at the university, he introduced the idea that they could leave Interns of a metal bird

Finnian Leander turned his blueprints and ideas into stories for his granddaughters--Ainations," Professor Leander interrupts, sers over the face of his clock "Theirbefore my silly stories"

"So Daphne became a part of it," I say I look to Lex "What about you? When did Mom and Dad tell you all of this?"

"It was after I jumped," he says "At first Dad would whisper about it in the hospital, when he thought I was too far gone to hear hiize and say he should have realized the things I’d been seeing as a phar sooner He blah he’s talking of people he’s neverwith the hem of his shirt This is all hard for him to say

I finish for him, "And you became a part of it, too"

He nods "But I had suspected so time," he says "I didn’t realize they’d actually built the bird, but I wasn’t surprised"

He never got to see this place, I realize Dad told him about it after the incident that blinded hi found out about it? And Daphne, and the university student?"

"Quince," Amy says softly

"Others, too," Lex says "There are plenty of deaths that nobody thinks twice about The king can do aith anyone andhe pleases"

"Then as Daphne’s death so public?" I say I try not to think of the brutality of her de aith a nuisance--it was too violent and cruel to be anything but personal Did the king do it himself, or did he have someone do the dirty work? Was it the prince, with his fir to make a point now," Professor Leander says "He doesn’t know about the bird for certain, but he knows that there is unrest He knows about the plans to leave the city We have our suspicions about who may have betrayed our secret It may have been done under duress And now not only does the king want to stop us, but he wants to frighten everyone else into thinking that leaving the city is an act of evil He wants theed and violent, so that they’ll fear us and seek his protection"

Basil presses the back of his hand to my forehead and frowns I lean into his touch before he draws his hand away I’lad he’s here, still by my side after all the trouble I’ve caused hie to ood idea to tell me?"

"You weren’t burdened by it," he says "You didn’t carry the things that we did, and we didn’t want that for you"

"So--what, you were all going to fly off Intern that dinner was in the stove and you wouldn’t be co back?"

"Don’t be stupid," he says "There was no sense putting you at risk before anything was certain We never would have left you behind"

I think of the night etting old enough now to see life for exactly what it is That’s what he said HeThein, and all these eyes are onhard to breathe

"I need air," I say

"You can’t leave," Alice says, sy will havefor you"

"Why?" I say "None of this has anything to do with hs bitterly, and it takes all uess that specialist saw so in you anyway," he says "There are extraordinary things in that head of yours You don’t even realize the sorts of things you say"

I try to recall the things I said to Ms Harlan thatI remember her accusatory stares and her suspicions, but I never betrayed a single thought I lied each tiround

I’ve been told I’h There’s that