Sam always felt like a fool in this room. He sat in a too-big chair at one end of the table. Astrid was at the other. Her hands were on the table, slender fingers flat on the surface.
Dekka sat scowling, irritated, though Sam wasn’t sure at whom she was directing her dark mood. A piece of something blue was stuck in one of her tight cornrows—not that anyone was foolish enough to point it out or laugh.
Dekka was a freak, the only one besides Sam in this room. She had the power to temporarily cancel gravity in small areas. Sam counted her as an ally. Dekka was not about talking without end and getting nothing done.
Albert was the best-dressed person in the room, wearing an amazingly clean and seemingly un-salty polo shirt and relatively unwrinkled slacks. He looked like a very young businessman who had stopped by on his way to a round of golf.
Albert was a normal, though he seemed nevertheless to have an almost supernatural ability to organize, to make things happen, to do business. Looking at the group through hooded eyes, Sam knew Albert was probably the most powerful person in the room. Albert, more than any other person, had kept Perdido Beach from starving.
Edilio slumped, holding his head with both hands and not making eye contact with anyone. He had a submachine gun propped against his chair, a sight that had become all too normal.
Edilio was officially town marshal. Probably the mildest, most modest and least-assuming person in the council, he was in charge of enforcing whatever rules the council created. If they ever got around to actually creating any.
Howard was the wild card in the group. Sam still wasn’t sure how he had managed to talk his way onto the council. No one doubted that Howard was smart. But no one thought he had an honest or ethical bone in his body. Howard was chief toady to Orc, the glowering, drunken-boy-turned-monster who had fought on the right side a couple of times when it had really counted.
The youngest member was a sweet-faced boy named John Terrafino. He was a normal, too—Mary’s little brother. He seldom had much to say and mostly listened. Everyone assumed he voted however Mary told him to. Mary would have been there, but she was simultaneously indispensable and fragile.
Seven council members. Astrid as chairperson. Five normals, two freaks.


Michael Grant

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It wasn’t hard to get their attention. They gathered around. Even the littlest...
MICHAEL GRANT
What happened?” Albert asked.
Taylor looked at Sam. Sam said nothing. He stared. First at his...
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Female say Pack Leader stop,” Pack Leader said angrily.
“What?” Caine could make no sense...
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The light of day showed you the limits of possibility. But walk through the dark, the absolute, tota...
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What’s Albert going to do?” a boy named Jim demanded. “Where’s Albert?”
Albert steppe...
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He pictured himself at the lake, on a houseboat. Dekka would be there, and Brianna and Jack. He woul...
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Hand me my pants,
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Hunter’s dead,” Taylor said without preamble. “It was these . . . these things. They came craw...
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She’s stronger than you are, Sam. It’s like fighting yourself and Caine and Jack and Dekka, all ...
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promise me, Sam: whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes to survive.”
“Astrid—”
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He overheard the director talking to one of the cameramen. The cameraman was explaining that he coul...
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There were dozens of theories about what it was, that dome. Every scientist in the world, it seemed,...
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He’s becoming useless. Worse than useless,” Sam said. Then, relenting, he said, “We’ll get p...
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Man, sometimes you are clueless. You don’t even see what’s happening.” He perched himself on t...
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Human Crew had been a group formed to defend the rights of normals against freaks. At least that was...
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You’re supposed to be the big boss.”
Sam said nothing. The crowd hushed, ready to watch thi...
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First there was Caine’s patently false “confession.” Then there was the fact that the FAYZ Leg...
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A man without pleasure is a man without any idea what life is about
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I’ve helped you when I could, Caine. I’ve done all of it. I kept you alive and changed your filt...
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Sam woke to a feeling of utter, profound, incredible relief.
He closed his eyes as soon as he o...
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We’re not going to give in. We’re going to fight.”
“Got that right,” a voice cried ou...
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Tell me something, Noah. Which is more important: freedom or happiness?'

What was this, a...
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And death is better because death is the end of fear, isnt it? -Dekka
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(...) But Gaia had absorbed the new information. "I won't need to kill billions, Diana. When Nemesis...
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Still Caine hesitated. A big, warm bed. A beautiful girl to share it with. Food. Water. Everything h...
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No, I'm not a jerk, Astrid. You know what I am? I'm the guy getting people killed," Sam said quietly...
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Brittney, it was wrong to murder even before Moses brought down the commandments. Right and wrong do...
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Beautiful songs could sometimes take a person out of themselves and carry them away to a place of ma...
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It's over, Sam. Finally."
"Yeah," he said. "I guess it is."
"Turn out the light, Sam."
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Hello, Darkness," Caine said.
Gaia's face fell. Her bloody, feral grin faded to be replaced by ...
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It takes me a while to figure things out, doesn't it?" Edilio grinned. "Do me a favor. When you find...
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Caine tried to roll to his feet, but something was jabbing him in the crouch. He shook off the stars...
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You're a big, lovable teddy bear.
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Come live with us, Diana. Don't argue. Just say yes."
Diana looked at the ground to hide her em...
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Say it. But..."
"But what?" he asked.
She whispered it, sounding too vulnerable. "But only...
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It took Caine a few beats to get it. “No. Go kill yourself. Eat your own gun. No. No no no.”
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Find Sam Temple. Tell him you escaped.”
Jack gulped and bobbed his head.
“Better yet, ...
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Has Orc shown up here?” But neither Caine nor Diana answered. Both were staring at Drake, who saun...
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My little man,” she said.
“No.”
She stretched out her hand to him. “Come.”
...
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You saw the way everyone looked at him? And when I asked for nominations, his was the first name men...
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Now, who else speaks for Perdido Beach?”
Bouncing Bette said, “Sam Temple here went into a ...
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A white van drove slowly—as slowly as only an inexperienced and frightened driver could go—
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Delay of pain: that was the meaning of life, wasn’t it?
“I’ve made some bad decisions,”...
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But then had come the voice that said, "Come on, you little freak, wherever the hell you are,
w...
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It’s not about the powers, man; it’s that we aren’t kids anymore. Look what we’ve been throu...
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Endgame,” Sam muttered, not really expecting Caine to hear.
“Yep,” Caine said. “That’...
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But hey this was the FAYZ, where all you could really hope was to delay the pain.
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And now, at last, gaiaphage and Nemesis stood facing each other.
“Why didn’t you just . . ....
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I’m sorry for hurting you. I know I did. I’m most likely dead now, and I guess if there’s any ...
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You need to think about all that, Sam,” Dekka said. “You’re the leader, after all.”
“...
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Do you love me?” Diana asked.
Caine’s eyes widened. She could actually see him twitch. Like...
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Hunter woke suddenly. A noise.
It was a noise unlike anything he’d ever heard before. Close! ...
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He reached over and took Taylor’s hand. She did not pull her hand away.
He moved his hand up ...
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Little Pete. He’s not exactly just Astrid’s autistic brother.” He explained briefly while Toto...
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Quinn came forward and Sam pulled him aside. His old friend looked tortured and sad.
“What’...
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Have a seat with me,” Caine said, hopping down from the wall. “How have you been, Taylor?”
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And he thought of the two people who had held his job before him: Sam and Astrid. Both beaten into d...
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Today, each of you will make a decision,” Caine said. “To go with Sam, or to stay here. I won’...
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He’s not the first to say that.
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Like a bullet out of a gun. His big paws had caught the dog before the dog could even flinch.
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Sam was starting to feel anxious. Nutella and noodles were fine. Great in fact. Miraculous. But he'd...
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The gaiaphage. That's the other word they use. 'Gaia,' as in world. 'Phage,' as in a worm or somethi...
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Mother Mary wants to draft two more kids,” Astrid told Sam.
“Okay. Approved.”
“Dah...
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First off,” he said, “I want to say I’m sorry about E.Z. He was a good kid. He didn’t deserv...
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Its the fate of all creators: They fall in love with their creations.
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Have you seen Sam?” Mary asked.
“What do you want with Sam?”
“I can’t take care ...
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Sam Temple kept a lower profile. He stuck to jeans and understated T-shirts, nothing that drew atten...
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Sam walked cautiously around Pack Leader to see the other side. There were the insect jaws protrudin...
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Astrid felt a towering wave of disgust. She was furious with Sam. Furious with Little Pete. Mad at t...
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At night we cry sometimes, and if you think that just applies to the females then you have never bee...
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The Tao of Natural Breathing by Dennis Lewis is filled with drawings, insights and guidance from an ...
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Why are we doing this?" Caine asked him. "You know damned well why we're doing this. Because it's a ...
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I’m getting my stuff,” he said, and bolted for the steps.
“You don’t have to move out,�...
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The warrior who had gone out from the lake to save his people by slaying the evil one was now just a...
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