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Sam didn’t understand His hands pawed at the anie he’d planned to i This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go Hisinto hi him like a pillow His body becaainst the cold linoleuht of the quad becao houn-barrel nostrils Sam’s blood dripped from the coarse hairs on her chin, and it was painted all around herturned away from her kill and trotted back to the den where her babies aiting for her They would be hungry

38

LUCY LAY ON A GURNEY IN THE COMMONS, the saside the Loners and Will had broken all their boards It here she’d first drawn blood in a battle That see to be done now, her wrists were duct-taped to the ainst them, but she couldn’t slip her hands out It was ale She watched the hallway that eventually led to the cafeteria, where the Sluts would be co from Saints lurked in the shadows just outside the pools of orange light that polka-dotted the vast floor of the commons Wide concrete coluolf He stood ten feet from her There was a tipped-over bucket at his feet, and a pool of golf balls was spread over the floor around hiolf ball on the toe of an old sneaker, which he’d been using as a tee He gripped his club, a big titaniu The ball shot off the shoe and ricocheted off the concrete colu around the roo hit by the speeding ball Gates teed up another and let it fly She flinched when the ball cracked off the concrete coluetting pushed toward Gates by the other Saints "Okay, okay," he said The round-faced boy approached Gates with caution

"Hey … u and hit the shoe this time The shoe twirled into the air Gates threw his club to the floor "Boring!"

"Uh," the round-faced boy said

"What is it, Fowler?"

He turned and looked at Fowler and his red eye fluttered There was a little glob of yellowish gunk on the bottom lid, some sort of puss, that would jump and stretch across his eye with every blink

"We ondering Why is it so iain?"

"I told you, he knohere Sam is"

Fowler didn’t look convinced

"So for Sam"

"Who’s some of us?" Gates said, insulted "How many times have I saved all of your lives? How many times have we been done for, and I’ve been the one to lead us all out of it?"

"A lot of tiht And I’ll lead us out of this one You have to trust me Haven’t I earned that?"

The look on this boy Fowler’s face said it all He was frightened of his leader Gates was losing his gang

"Will doesn’t knohere Sa to you," Lucy said to Fowler and the others

Gates turned to her, enraged She shouldn’t have said it What had she been thinking? She was a sitting duck He stomped toward her, his hands in tensed into claws

"Hey, Eyedrops!"

Gates stopped in his tracks and jerked his eyes toward the hallway

It was Violent And all the Sluts Sixty-three of theainst colu their teeth with their blades They glared at the forty-odd Saints withfor you," Violent said

Will stepped out froray sweatshirt He was one white head of hair in a sea of red

Lucy’s heart leapt

"Ohhis open ed-out eyes quivered as they looked at Will It turned Lucy’s sto Will seemed to match the same kind of emotion and excitement that Lucy felt inside

"I believe that redhead there belongs to me," Violent said

"Send hi at Will in wonder

Violent walked beside Will as he crossed the gap between the gangs She held her knife in her hand; its entire handle had been dipped in red nail polish Will looked scared, but he gave Lucy a little nod as he walked As they got closer, Violent broke away frourney

"What’s the plan?" Lucy whispered to Violent as Will continued his walk toward an eray sweatshirt rown-up’s clothes

"No plan," Violent whispered back as she cut Lucy loose "Let’s go"