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“What is happening to me?” he demanded “Why…” But then he knew the answer He knew it and couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to him earlier

“Oh, my God: I’m a freak”

“I’m a moof!”

“I’m a moof with a really sucky power”

What exactly the mutant ability was, he wasn’t sure It seeh the earth Which was crazy And, besides, he hadn’t intended to do any such thing He sure hadn’t said, “Sink!”

He started walking again, careful of his head, trying to work through what had happened Both ti He’d heard the stories of how Sam had discovered his abilities only when he was really scared or really mad

But Duck had been scared now for quite a while He’d been scared since the FAYZ It was only when he got angry that the thing happened

The thing Whatever it was

“If I got h the earth Corandparents”

He crept along a bit farther, toward a dilow

“Light?” he said “Is that really light?”

It wasn’t bright, that was for sure It wasn’t a lightbulb It wasn’t a flashlight It wasn’t even a star It was more like a less dark darkness Hazy At a distance that was iuess

Duck was sure it was a hallucination He wanted it to be real, but he feared it wasn’t He feared it was iination

But he kept ot the less likely it seelow Like a glow-in-the-dark clock face, a sickly, cold, unhealthy-looking light

Even close up it didn’t glow enough to make out many features, just a few faint outlines of rock He had to stand and stare hard, straining his eyes for quite soloas round And that it came from a side tunnel of the main cave This second shaft was narrow, far sradually broadened out