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I squat down next to her “Let it go,” I say, “Come on ” I touch her shoulders to pull her away, but she jerks back—not to hit hi

I can’t stand to see her break like this I can’t stand to know that when the patch wears off, he’ll blame her, he may still try to hurt her, or me

I drop to ht up, but I can tell by the way they twitch that he knows I’m here

“I want you to know so,” I whisper in his ear softly “I want you to know that I knohere I can find a gun If you don’t knohat a gun is, look it up in the Recorder Hall My father taught un steady, how to breathe out as I squeeze the trigger, how to group et so that even if the first bullet doesn’t stop you, the next will When I was fourteen,with him, in Colorado, and I killed an elk He did this so that I would knohat it is to take a life, so that I would not hesitate to do it when I needed to I a you this, now, so that you knoon’t hesitate to kill you ”

Luthor’s eyes dance back and forth; he’s trying to get the power to turn—away from me or toward me, I don’t know

I lean closer to him, so close I can smell his skin, and when I speak, I can see how the little hairs near his ear move with ht away But that you’ll wish I had ”

I stand up and offer Victria my hand She takes it, but as we head to the door, she breaks away from me and delivers one last vicious kick to Luthor’s face

We leave hi, on the floor

35

ELDER

THE NEXT MORNING, I WAKE TO A COM

“Are you up yet?” Amy’s voice is excited

“I a?”

“Nope,” she says “Come down to the cryo level ”

“A on pants “I don’t have ti the ship going—look at what happened yesterday while I was on the cryo level ”