Page 20 (1/2)

There were things to be learned about this power and how to exploit it For example, she understood now that she could be effectively invisible, somewhat like an airplane propeller: an observer would feel the wind, hear the sound, and see so would be at most a blur And the human brain had certain weaknesses that could be exploited, like persistence of vision, the hu what they’ve already seen; and confirmation bias, the human tendency to see only what they expected to see People could be aht in front of their faces

&n

bsp; Ten miles It passed in forty-five seconds She decelerated for the last half n, turned around, and raced back

“One hundred and seven seconds,” Cruz said, holding up the phone as proof

Shade said so in her hyper-speed buzz, then de-ht hundred ht line where I don’t have to turn around”

“I suppose you’ve noticed you’re about half naked,” Cruz said

“Yeah” Shade tugged at her jeans The waist was broken at the back seaone, the cuffs were shredded About all that was left intact of her T-shirt was the banded neck “I need to find so enough and tight-fitting enough to do distances at speed Plus, I had to run part of the ith my hand on my head to hold on to the camera, so I need better straps And probably boots, not sneakers” Her sneakers were in tatters as well

“Look on A,’” Cruz said, the closest she’d come to a joke in days

“I broke the sound barrier,” Shade said “It eird I found out soh: the morph, it adjusts autoround, and then the shape of ed Like a spoiler on a race car The faster I went, the more down-pressure”

“Swell,” Cruz said “So?”

Shade flopped down beside Cruz on the steps “So, I don’t know I guess I thought itis, Cruz, we have no way to win No overnet us They can overnment One mistake and we’re done”

“Is that really our nuovernment?”

“The others like us, the mutants, the Rockborn, they aren’t after us, not unless they work for the government That starfish kid has no idea where we are and no interest in us”

“So, what, we’re going to overthrow the govern it was snark When Shade did not immediately shoot it down, Cruz’s expression darkened

“You’ve got to be kidding me”