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Not for the first time, or even the hundredth tireed to become anyone’s leader

Salance at the watch on Albert’s wrist It was almost nine pm

“Close it down,” Sam said firmly “Close it At ten thirty Kids need sleep”

Inside the club Quinn relaxed into the beat Some ska-punk, sure Maybe later some hip-hop Some classic old tunes, maybe

Give it up for Albert: the guy had turned the Mac’s into a decent dance club The hts were all off, just the menu boards were illuminated But they didn’t show Happy Meals and coave off a ht the whites of people’s eyes and their teeth when they smiled

Hunter, as he, seventh grade? He was the one spinning the CDs and scratching the turntable He wasn’t exactly a professional, but he was good enough Cool enough kid, Quinn thought, even though the ru some killer powers Tiant as so herself “the Breeze” and de Like she was a comic book superhero The Breeze And he’d kind of liked her, once

Speaking of which, there she was, dancing like a crazy person, speeding herself up, feet flying, bouncing up and down so fast, she looked like shearound the room

She’d been telling everyone ould listen how she beat a bullet “I’ bullet Me and Superman”

In another corner the weird little kid na fish-bats and an underground city or whatever

And then there was Dekka, sitting by herself, nodding almost imperceptibly to the beat, eyes on Brianna No one really knew much about Dekka She was one of the Coates kids, one of the ones who had been rescued from Caine and Drake’s cruel cinderblock torture

She had a vibe to her, Dekka, a feeling she gave off that she was strong and a little dangerous There was so in her past, like with almost all the Coates kids Coates was known as a school for troubled rich kids They weren’t all rich, they weren’t all troubled, but the majority had some serious issues

Quinn slid between two fourth graders, a guy and a girl, dancing Together When Quinn was that age he would never have danced with a girl like they were on a date In fact, he still didn’t But things were different now, he supposed Fourth grade was like…likeHe himself was old Old, old, old at almost fifteen

Birthday co up The question ould he do? Stay or step outside?

Mostly, ever since Sam had survived, kids who had hit the Fatal Fifteen had survived Sam had told them how to do it

Computer Jack, who back in those days ith Caine, had used high-speed photography to record a captive kid up at Coates hitting the e of Destruction Jack had coreat revelation that in that fateful moment your world would slon, slon to a crawl as you approached infinity And there, in that moment, would come a tempter to beckon to you, call to you, ask you to cross over