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Chapters (98)
  1. Author’s Note
  2. Tuesday
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. Wednesday
  21. 1
  22. 2
  23. 3
  24. 4
  25. 5
  26. 6
  27. 7
  28. 8
  29. 9
  30. 10
  31. 11
  32. 12
  33. 13
  34. 14
  35. 15
  36. Thursday
  37. 1
  38. 2
  39. 3
  40. 4
  41. 5
  42. 6
  43. 7
  44. 8
  45. 9
  46. 10
  47. 11
  48. 12
  49. 13
  50. 14
  51. 15
  52. 16
  53. Friday
  54. 1
  55. 2
  56. 3
  57. 4
  58. 5
  59. 6
  60. 7
  61. 8
  62. 9
  63. 10
  64. 11
  65. 12
  66. Saturday
  67. 1
  68. 2
  69. 3
  70. 4
  71. 5
  72. 6
  73. 7
  74. 8
  75. 9
  76. 10
  77. 11
  78. 12
  79. 13
  80. 14
  81. 15
  82. Sunday
  83. 1
  84. 2
  85. 3
  86. 4
  87. 5
  88. 6
  89. 7
  90. 8
  91. 9
  92. 10
  93. 11
  94. 12
  95. 13
  96. Tuesday
  97. 1
  98. Afterword

Semelee had been shook up somethin’ terrible. She put her shells away, but only for a little while…she couldn’t stay away from them too long. But she used them only for flyin’ and swimmin’. She didn’t try to control no more critters.

Leastways not while she was still in Jacksonville.

But that was then. The now Semelee thought the then Semelee was a dork. Don’t make no sense to waste a special power. You don’t use it, you ain’t special no more. You’re just like everybody else.

Besides, people tend to get what they deserve.

Semelee lay on the deck a moment longer, till the stink of the floorboards—the spilled drink and bits of old food rubbed into them over the years—became too much. She climbed to her feet.

“Well?” Luke said. “You gotta plan?”

She told him the truth. “No. Not yet, anyways. I’ll figure something out.” She turned to him. “There was somebody with him tonight. Somebody I think I seen before.”

“Who?”

“If I knew that, I’d tell you his name. But I know I seen him. It’ll come to me.”

“Well, in the meantime we got unfinished business. That old man—”

“Yeah. We’re gonna have to finish him. That’s number one on the list.”

But how? She wished she knew.

“If his kid is standin’ in the way, I can take care of that. Me and Corley can go out and catch him alone and—”

“No! Don’t you touch him!”

“Why the hell not? He’s in the way, and he’s even makin’ you sick. He…” Luke squinted at her. “Hey. You ain’t sweet on him, are you?”

“Course not.” She couldn’t let on about the connection she felt between her and the special one. Luke might go off and do somethin’ really stupid. “But like I told you before, we ain’t killers. We do what needs to be done but we don’t go past that. This guy’s only protectin’ his kin. Can’t blame a body for that.”

…protectin’ his kin…

Of course. It wasn’t a matter of him fightin’ against her, he was simply doin’ a son’s duty. That thought gave Semelee a surge of hope. Suddenly she felt better.

“I can too blame him if he’s gettin’ in our way and makin’ you sick and knockin’ you to the floor!”

“Just don’t do anything unless I tell you, okay? Are you listenin’ to me, Luke? Nothin’ until I say so.”

Luke looked away. “Awright.”

Semelee didn’t know whether she could believe him or not. She knew Luke would do anything to protect her, whether she needed protectin’ or not. And that worried her.

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