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It took the Naa less than half an hour to find the lot of them, and a fraction of that time to return everyone to Fort Decatur, just for now The captain wanted to visit Mercy Lynch to see about the big, hard gash in the back of his head Houjin could scarcely contain hi the fight to everyone who’d sit still long enough to listen, so he cah excitement for one day

He went back to his room, because it was his room, and he could sleep there if he wanted to

Twenty-four

The trip to the northern quadrant of the walled city was getting easier for Rector by virtue of fa it still took nearly an hour for hi-obscured blocks near Millionaire’s Row on Capitol Hill

They skulked and tiptoed, dodging the loudest of fallen branches, bricks, and roofing tiles and listening constantly for the telltale

Rector also kept one eye on the wall, up to his left He remembered all too well the second creature--the inexplicable, or sasquatch, or yeti, or whatever anybody wanted to call her--and he didn’t wish to see her again

Soon they reached the edge of the old city park, where the landscaping was nothan last tiiant rolling machine was parked at the tower’s base and whatever crates it’d unloaded had been carried upstairs or left stacked on the curving sidewalks and sloping grade upon which the old water reservoir perched The boys saw stacks of folded canvas, barrels of pitch, boxes marked DANGER, and boxes stas and boxes of ah that both boys could’ve sat inside one of theether Stenciled on the side was the word DIESEL

"What’s a diesel?" Rector whispered

Houjin whispered back, "Fuel It’s for that s, too, maybe" Behind hislook that said he had an idea "And it burns as easy as kerosene…"

Up at the top of the tower, just beneath the conical roof, the ere covered with black iron cages Behind the pulse that proood to come Down below, the boys could hear the huas curling through the neighborhood

Houjin jabbed Rector with his elbow "Do you think anyone’s hoht to I was just checking your opinion, that’s all"

"Oh" Well, then That was better Rectorabout it, harder than he needed to "I don’t hear anybody Do you?"

"No"

"Me neither There’s tays up and down that thing Should we split up?"

"No!" Houjin said abruptly "Why double our odds of getting caught? We pick one side, and go up together If we pick wrong, you know the story--you’re here ’cause Otis’s men sent you inside, and I hate Yaozu because … because he poisonedon the fly If we pick right, we sneak up without anybody bothering us And we should hurry, before Caplan’s people return froht Good point" Rector shifted his position, and his knee popped "You got your big sharp iron thing?"

"Yes You got that ax?"

"Yeah I like it better than the pick"

"Then let’s go do this"

And before Rector had a chance to change his mind, Houjin left their cover and made for the tower’s rear entrance

The darkness there was unnervingly deep The sun was still up, but shadowed, and nightfall would be on its way soon enough The boys didn’t light their lanterns, but left thes with all their supplies

The back door looked as black as the entrance to a train tunnel It was even curved in an intiate--saate had fallen away; one of its hinges had rusted through, and it leaned sharply toward the ground Beyond it, there was nothing but her up, there uide them

Rector and Houjin sed hard as they stared into the inscrutable void

Rector had never seen Houjin balk before, not like this But it wouldn’t be good to chicken out even worse than a younger boy, so he steeled hio first"

Huey said, "Fine withhi at the top, Rector led the way up the short hill and around the curved ay

And then inside

Because he could not see, he held out his hands, still wearing the scraped-up gloves he’d gotten froers as wide as they’d go and swayed his arms slowly He was desperately afraid that he would hit so, and, likewise, desperately afraid that he wouldn’t