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The tiny girl ashed Luce a grin as she sidled through the crowd With ve-inch platfores, her hair done up all crazy, and her eyes nearly sed by dark eyeliner, Arriane t in with the casino's weird clientele perfectly Nobody seemed to know quite what to make of her, least of all Shelby and Miles

The pit boss veered over to confront Arriane He reeked of shoe polish and cough medicine

"Do you need to be taken to the pen, too, missy?"

"Ooh, sounds fun" Arriane's eyes widened "Alas, I'ot front-row tickets to Blue Man Group, and of course there's dinner with Cher after the show OneI know I had to do " She tapped her chin, then looked over at Luce "Ah yes--get these three guys the hell out of here 'Scuse us!" She blew a kiss at the fuers

Then all the lights went out

Chapter Thirteen

SIX DAYS

Rushing theh the labyrinth of the dark casino, Arriane ht vision

"Stay cool, you three," she sang "I'll have you out of here in a ash"

She held Luce's wrist in a tight grip, and Luce in turn held Miles's hand; Miles held Shelby's, as she cursed at the indignity of having to bring up the escape caboose

Arriane led the, she could hear people grunt and exclaim as Arriane shouldered them aside "Sorry 'bout that!" she'd call "Whoops!" and "Excuse me!"

She took the their cell phones as ashlights Up darker staircases, stu y with disuse and crammed with eency exit, ushering theh it and into a dark, narrow alley

The alleyas tucked between the Mirage and another towering hotel A row of Du food A trickle of acid-green gutter water forht ahead, in theneon-lit Strip, an old-fashioned black street clock struck twelve

"Ahhh" Arriane inhaled deeply "The beginning of another glorious day in Sin City I like to start it o right, with a big breakfast Who's hungry? "

"U at Luce, then Arriane, then at the casino "What justHow did "

Miles's gaze was xed on the shiny, marbled scar that spanned one side of Arriane's neck Luce was used to Arriane by now, but it was clear that her friends didn't knohat to er at Miles "This guy looks like he can eat his weight in wa es Come on, I know a lthy diner"

As they clipped up the alley toward the street, Miles turned to Luce and mouthed, "That esome"

Luce nodded It was all she could do to keep up with Arriane as she jogged across the Strip Vera She couldn't get over it All those , and she could only iine what it had been like for Vera But for Luce, they had also been deeply satisfying More than with any of her glih the Announcers so far, this time she felt as if she'd experienced one of her past lives Strangely, she'd also seen soht about: Her previous selves had lives Lives that had been full and ful before Daniel had shown up

Arriane led the that looked so ancient it could have predated everything else on the Strip It seemed more claustrophobic and sadder than other IHOPs

Shelby led the way inside, pushing through the glass doors, chirabbed a stful ofa booth in the far back corner Arriane slid in next to her, while Luce and Miles took the other side of the cracked orange leather booth

With a whistle and a quick circular gesture, Arriane ordered a round of co ee from the plump, pretty waitress with the pencil stuck in her hair

The rest of the the pages was a battle against the ancient ood way to avoid talking about the trouble they'd just narrowly escaped

Finally Luce had to ask "What are you doing here, Arriane?"

"Ordering souess, since they don't have Moons Over My Hammy here I can never decide"