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Shade steeled herself

OnetwothreeCruz counted off seconds, expecting to be hit with the brutal agony she’d experienced earlier But nothing Fourfivesix

“Shhhh shhhh ah ah ahahahah aaaarrrrrgghh!” Shade screamed suddenly “No, no, nonononono! No! No! No!” Her screa She scrabbledbut escape on a mind reduced instantaneously to an animal state

Then Shade sagged and fell silent but for gasping breaths

For a long while no one had anything to say Sweat poured down Shade’s face, joining bitter tears Finally Shade pulled back out into traffic

“Where are we going?” Cruz asked

Shade jerked her chin forward “That way”

They drove toward the reat dry mountains, toward the desert, away froeles, away, away, but never away from the one person Shade most wanted to leave: herself

And yet, buried as she was under a uilt, shattered as she was by the pain Malik had again revealed to her, nevertheless, deep down in the lowest depths of her an to move, somehow liberated by the pain, as if it was penance There was no other way forward Malik was not in a state of ht, Cruz had been a to take responsibility She was not willing to lead Only the shark could lead them now

Because I’ve done such a great job so far

They were three fugitives on the run frooverno home None had a faer daughters and son, they were no longer children at all, no longer anything they had meant to become Monsters, the three of them Monsters who had meant to be heroes

“Cruz,” Shade said “I’le houses for sale Find us one that’s been empty for a while, at least teeks”

Desert Hot Springs, like every Mojave Desert toas flat and sparse Few if any buildings extended above a single story Houses were all ranch-style; businesses were ns They drove past developas stations,toward dry et any closer

Cruz found a house listed for sale, and they drove there It was not in a gated development but stood soy paletation

Shade pulled past and parked a quarter mile away “Excuse me,” she said, morphed, and ran Thirty seconds later she was back “Totally eh a backWe can hide the car in the garage”