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Edilio staggered back, squeezed his eyes shut, trying to adjust When he opened theround and the boy who’d accidentally fired it was holding his bruised hand, obviously shocked

Zil bent to grab the gun Edilio took two steps forward and kicked Zil in the face As Zil fell back Edilio un He never saw the blow that turned his knees to water and filled his head with stars

He fell like a sack of bricks, but even as he fell he lurched forward to cover the shotgun

Astrid screamed and launched herself down the stairs to protect Edilio

Antoine, the one who had hit Edilio, was raising his bat to hit Edilio again, but on the back swing he caught Astrid in the face

Antoine cursed, suddenly fearful Zil yelled, “No, no, no!”

There was a sudden rush of running feet Down the ay, into the street, echoing down the block

Edilio struggled to stand It wasn’t easy His legs did not want to stay where he put them

Astrid had a hand over one eye but was steadying Edilio with the other

“You okay?” Astrid asked “Did he shoot you?”

“I don’t think so” Edilio patted hi any wounds except for a growing knot on the crown of his head

His vision cleared enough to notice the red here the bat had caught Astrid in the eye “You’re going to have a shiner”

“I’

Zil’s one Disappeared It was just the three of them left, Edilio, Astrid, and Hunter

Edilio picked up the shotgun and cradled it carefully “I guess that could have been worse No one got shot”