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Okay, fine She was hoh He hadn’t taken a close enough look before to see whether it rese of any of his dreams Why hadn’t he done that?

"Hey, Mateo" Melanie held up a cell phone "One of them left this You too brokenhearted to take it to her at school toet his chance to look out for Nadia after all

Nadia had never realized there could be sothis rown up in the constant co so much of it that there was no need to ask

Verlaine, on the other hand, felt the need to ask everything

"Can you fly?" she said as she and Nadia walked along theher best to be sure she knew her way home "I don’t mean on a broomstick, Gryffindor-style That would be stupid Unless you do use broomsticks"

"No broomsticks," Nadia said "I can’t fly There are spells--really advanced spells--they could let you, I don’t know, defy the laws of physics for a while Sort of souped-up versions of what I did to your car But I’m not that skilled yet Not even close"

"So your ht me"

"Will she be mad that you told me?"

"Mom’s not in our lives any, and she pretty much washed her hands of h, but somehow they sounded even worse spoken aloud like that

Verlaine bit her lip, less confrontational than she’d been at any other point during this endless interrogation "I’m sorry That sucks I mean, I don’t even remember my mom and dad--but it would be worse to remember them and then lose them At least, I think so"

So, actually, I’m not the only person who’s had it bad Nadia felt like a jerk "It sucks either way But it’s okay We’re still here, right?"

"Right"

"And here is--three blocks froot it! Congrats You’ve learned your way around all ten square feet of Captive’s Sound Once you get all the gossip down, nobody will be able to tell you froossip she’d learned--about Mateo Perez--echoed in Nadia’s ain The fa Verlaine’s silvery hair, which already stood out in the early-evening glooht she was pretty much winter-proofed--but cold came early here, and it cut to the bone Slowly she said, "Has the toays been like this?"