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Gabriel gave one of his wildest smiles "I stole us a car What about it?"
"What about it? It’s wrong, that’s what We are not going around stealing people’s cars"
"We stole Joyce’s," Gabriel saidto kill us That ot even closer to Gabriel and said with deadly anger, e things fro himself, relaxed but ready for action anyfor it Aly Rob radiated "What’s your idea, country boy? Hoe get out of here?" he said
"I don’t know, but we don’t steal It’s wrong That’s all" And for Rob, it was all, Kaitlyn knew It was that si her lips, uneasily aware that it wasn’t so siotten a car, and she had a sneaking feeling she’d be happy to ride away in it if she weren’t nervous that they’d get caught A car would be soainst the uprooted, drifting feeling of being hoo for it Dear Rob Dear honorable Rob, as coheaded and who could be theat Gabriel challengingly
Gabriel bared his teeth in response "And what about the old ive up, do you? He’ll have the police after us - and maybe other people He has a lot of friends, a lot of connections"
It was true Kaitlyn remembered the papers she had seen in Mr Z’s hidden roo coovernment Lists of naet out of here - now," Gabriel said "And that means we need transportation" His eyes were locked on Rob’s Neither of theht, Kaitlyn thought, and she looked at Anna in despair Anna had paused in theof her hair She looked back worriedly at Kait
We’ve got to stop theht back But how?
Come up with another solution
Kaitlyn couldn’t think of another solution - and then it caht
Marisol The research assistant back at the Institute She’d been with Mr Zetes even before Joyce, and she’d known about his plans She’d tried to warn Kaitlyn - and Mr Z had put her in a co excitement "Marisol!"
It broke into Rob and Gabriel’s stareout "What?" Rob said
Kaitlyn scrambled to her feet "Don’t you see - if anybody would help us, if anybody would believe us - and we’re in Oakland I’m sure Joyce said she was from Oakland"
"Kait, cal we should go to Marisol’s family They live here in Oakland We could probably walk And they ht understand this whole horrible thing"
The others were staring at Kait - but it was a good staring, full of dawning wonder
"You know, they ht, at that," Rob said
"Marisolabout it - iven hints She liked to give hints," Kait said, reot to be upset over what happened
Their daughter’s fine, a little moody but perfectly healthy - and then one day she falls down in a coma
Don’t you think they’d have their suspicions?"
"It depends," Gabriel said He looked dark and cold - cheated of his confrontation "If she was taking drugs - "
"Joyce said she was taking drugs And personally, I’ Joyce said - are you?" Kaitlyn tilted her chin at hiray, chill eyes
"Anyway, it’s the best chance we’ve got," Lewis said Always quick to see the bright side of things, he was so - and maybe they’ll feed us"
Anna twisted her hair into a long tail and stood gracefully, and Kaitlyn realized it was settled Twofor a phone book Kaitlyn felt unkempt and empty - she hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday - but surprisingly fit
The street was deserted, now, and although the fenced-in buildings were just as decrepit, the whole place looked a little safer Leas cheerful enough to pull out his camera and take a picture
"For posterity," he said
"Maybe it’s better not to look like a tourist," Anna suggested in her gentle voice
"If anybody comes near us I’ll take care of theed red streaks - leftover froht with Rob
Kait looked at hi to ask you Mr Z said you couldn’t link with another mind once you were in a stable link with us - but you linked with that policeman, and with Mr Z and Joyce earlier"
Gabriel shrugged "The old ain, Kaitlyn felt a whisper of anxiety in her blood Gabriel was hiding soht, could e that so easily in the web
And despite his barriers, she could sense soed in the last night
The crystal, she thought Mr Zetes had forced Gabriel into contact with a giant crystal, a es that housed unthinkable psychic power
What if it had done so permanent?
"Gabriel," she said abruptly, "how’s your forehead?"
He put his fingers to it quickly, then, deliberately, dropped his hand to his side "Fine," he said "Why?"
"I just wanted to look at it" Before he could stop her, she reached up herself, brushing his dark hair aside And there on his forehead she could see it, shadowy on the pale skin Not the kind of scab she would have expected froiven him It looked more like a scar or a birthht over your third eye," Kaitlyn said involuntarily, just as Gabriel grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip
She and he had both stopped dead He stared at her, and there was so and alien that she’d never seen before
The third eye - the seat of psychic power And Gabriel’s powers had been greater ever since his contact with the crystal
He’d always been the strongest of all of theht beco with you guys?" Leas de back toward theether
Then Anna, as farthest down the street, called, "I see a phone!"
Gabriel released Kait’s wrist, al it, and started toward Anna briskly
Leave it alone, Kaitlyn told herself For now For now, concentrate on surviving
They found Marisol’s na a flood of Diazes in the phone book Leasn’t familiar with Ironwood Boulevard, the street where she lived, but they studied a as station
It was almost nine-thirty before they arrived, and Kaitlyn was hot, dusty, and starving It hat Lewis called a pueblo house, a fake adobe house covered with pinky-brown stucco No one answered the doorbell
"They’re not home," Kaitlyn said in despair "I was stupid They’re at the hospital with Marisol; Joyce said they went every day"
"We’ll wait Or come back," Rob said firmly, his resolution and his tearage when a boy, a little older than they were, came around from the back of the house
He had no shirt and his thin, sinewy body looked tough Kait would never have dared approach him on the street But he also had curly hair that shone in the any, and a full, rather sullen ht Kaitlyn, he looks like Marisol
For several heartbeats they all just stared at each other, the boy obviously resenting these intruders on his property, ready to fight the Then Kaitlyn stepped forward impulsively
"Don’t think we’re crazy," she said "But we’re friends of Marisol’s and we’ve run away froo We’ve been on the road since last night and it took us hours to walk here And - well, we thought you h narrowed eyes that had long, dark lashes Finally he said slowly,
"Friends of Marisol’s?"
"Yes," Kaitlyn said fir away in her mind all the memories of how Marisol had snubbed her and terrorized her That didn’t matter now
The boy looked each of them over, his expression sour Just when Kaitlyn was convinced he was going to tell theo away, he jerked his chin toward the house
"Come on in I’m Tony Marisol’s brother"
At the door he asked casually, "You a bruja? A witch?" He was looking at her eyes
"No I can do - things I draw pictures and eventually they come true"
He nodded, still casual Kaitlyn was vastly grateful that he seemed to believe her He accepted the idea of psychic poithout surprise
And despite his surly looks, he was - thoughtful Generous One minute after they were in the house he rubbed his chin, cast a sideways glance at Lewis, and oing to eat breakfast"
A lie, Kaitlyn thought Hearos and bacon She warmed to him immediately
"There’s a lot of stuff people brought over when Marisol got sick," he said, leading theerator he pulled out a giant baking dish full of what looked like corn husks and a s one He put down the small one "And chow mein"
Fifteenkitchen table, and Kait was finishing up the story of their flight from the Institute She told how Joyce had recruited them, how they’d cos at the Institute weren’t what they seeht