Michael Grant

Female say Pack Leader stop,_ Pack Leader said angrily.__hat?_ Caine could make no sense of it till he saw Diana striding up, dark hair flying, eyes furious.__ told this filthy beast to stop,_ Diana said, barely controlled.__top what?_ Caine demanded.__hey__e still attacking the kids,_ Diana said. __e__e won. Sam is dead. Call them off, Caine.__aine turned his attention back to the battle between Drake and the monster. __hey__e coyotes,_ Caine said coldly.Diana flew at him. __ou__e lost your mind, Caine. This has to stop. You__e won. This has to stop.___r what, Diana? Or what?_ Caine demanded. __o get Lana. I__ hurt. Pack Leader, do what you want.___aybe this is why your mother abandoned you,_ Diana said savagely. __aybe she could see that you weren__ just bad, you were twisted and sick and evil.

The balance of this world is not upset by accident. It is not upset by those who blunder accidentally into wrong. Evil comes when those who know better, who have seen the pain they cause, nevertheless cause more pain.

Yeah. A feeling. Like the whole point of my life from the alleys in Bangkok to the yachts and private island to coming here like a crazy person trying to fly a helicopter like all of it from birth to here point A to point Z was all some big cosmic trick to get me to meet you. - Sanjit to Lana

I've never been able to grow an organ back," Lana said. "Last time I tried... Let's just hope you don't end up with whip eyes.

Delay of pain: that was the meaning of life, wasn__ it?____e made some bad decisions,_ Caine said, not really meaning to say it out loud.

No you sick, stupid creep, I love you. I shouldn't. I shouldn't. You're sick inside, Caine, sick! But I love you. - Diana

There were dozens of theories about what it was, that dome. Every scientist in the world, it seemed, had made a pilgrimage to the site. Tests had been conducted, measurements taken.They had tried drilling through it. Under it. Had flown over it. Had dug beneath it. Had approached it by submarine.Nothing worked.Every species of doomsayer from Luddite to End Times nut had had his say. It was a judgment. On America__ technological obsession, on America__ moral failure. This. That. Something else.Then the twins had popped out. Just like that. First Emma. Then, a few minutes later, Anna. Alive and well at the exact moment of their fifteenth birthday.They told tales of life inside the bowl. What they called the FAYZ.Connie Temple__ heart had swelled with pride for what she had learned of her son, Sam. And crashed into despair with tales of her other son, her unacknowledged child, Caine.Then, nothing. No other kids arrived for a while.Black despair settled over the families as they realized that it would be only these two. Months passed. Many lost faith. How could kids survive alone?But then, the Prophetess had reached into their dreams.One night Connie Temple had a lurid, incredible dream. She__ never had such a detailed dream. It was terrifying. The power of it took her breath away. There was a girl in that

Quinn came forward and Sam pulled him aside. His old friend looked tortured and sad.__hat__ up, brah?_ Sam asked.Quinn couldn__ speak. He was choked with emotion. __ude . . .___ou want to stay in town.___y crews . . . my boats and all . . .__am put a hand on his shoulder. __uinn, I__ glad you found something so important to do. Something you really like.___eah, but . . .__am pulled him into a brief hug. __ou and me, we__e still friends, man. But you have responsibilities.

He pictured himself at the lake, on a houseboat. Dekka would be there, and Brianna and Jack. He would have friends. He wouldn__ be alone.But he couldn__ stop himself from looking for her.She no longer had Little Pete to worry about. They could be together without all of that. But of course he knew Astrid, and knew that right now, wherever she was, she was eaten up inside with guilt.__he__ not coming, is she?_ Sam said to Dekka.But Dekka didn__ answer. She was somewhere else in her head. Sam saw her glance and look away as Brianna laid a light hand on Jack__ shoulder.Dahra was staying in the hospital, but a few more kids came. Groups of three or four at a time. The Siren and the kids she lived with came. John Terrafino came. Ellen. He waited. He would wait the full two hours. Not for her, he told himself, just to keep his word.Then Orc, with Howard.Sam groaned inwardly.__ou gotta be kidding me,_ Brianna said.__he deal was kids make a choice,_ Sam said. __ think Howard just realized how dangerous life can be for a criminal living in a place where the __ing_ can decide life or death.

I need you both to trust me," Vincent said. "I don't mean that I would like you to trust me. I mean that I need you to trust me.

What__ Albert going to do?_ a boy named Jim demanded. __here__ Albert?__lbert stepped from an inconspicuous position off to one side. He mounted the steps, moving carefully still, not entirely well even now.He carefully chose a position equidistant between Caine and Sam.__hat should we do, Albert?_ a voice asked plaintively.Albert didn__ look out at the crowd except for a quick glance up, like he was just making sure he was pointed in the right direction. He spoke in a quiet, reasonable monotone. Kids edged closer to hear.____ a businessman.___rue._ Toto.__y job is organizing kids to work, taking the things they harvest or catch, and redistributing them through a market.___nd getting the best stuff for yourself,_ someone yelled to general laughter.__es,_ Albert acknowledged. __ reward myself for the work I do.__his blunt admission left the crowd nonplussed.__aine has promised that if I stay here he won__ interfere. But I don__ trust Caine.___o, he doesn__,_ Toto agreed.__ do trust Sam. But . . .__nd now you could hear a pin drop.__ut . . . Sam is a weak leader._ He kept his eyes down. __am is the best fighter ever. He__ defended us many times. And he__ the best at figuring out how to survive. But Sam__ Albert now turned to him___ou are too humble. Too willing to step aside. When Astrid and the council sidelined you, you put up with it. I was part of that myself. But you let us push you aside and the council turned out to be useless.__am stood stock-still, stone-faced.__et__ face it, you__e not really the reason things are better here, I am,_ Albert said. __ou__e way, way braver than me, Sam. And if it__ a battle, you rule. But you can__ organize or plan ahead and you won__ just put your foot down and make things happen.__am nodded slightly. It was hard to hear. But far harder was seeing the way the crowd was nodding, agreeing. It was the truth. The fact was he__ let the council run things, stepped aside, and then sat around feeling sorry for himself. He__ jumped at the chance to go off on an adventure and he hadn__ been here to save the town when they needed it.__o,_ Albert concluded, ____ keeping my things here, in Perdido Beach. But there will be free trading of stuff between Perdido Beach and the lake. And Lana has to be allowed to move freely.__aine bristled at that. He didn__ like Albert laying down conditions.Albert wasn__ intimidated. __ feed these kids,_ he said to Caine. __ do it my way.__aine hesitated, then made a tight little bow of the head.__ want you to say it,_ Albert said with a nod toward Toto.Sam saw panic in Caine__ eyes. If he lied now the jig would be up for him. Toto would call him out, Albert would support Sam, and the kids would follow Albert__ lead.Sam wondered if Caine was just starting to realize what Sam had known for some time: if anyone was king, it was neither Sam nor Caine, it was Albert.

Hello, Darkness," Caine said.Gaia's face fell. Her bloody, feral grin faded to be replaced by lips drawn right with fear. Her killer blue eyes widened as she looked at Caine who was no longer Caine."Nemesis," Gaia said.

I__ sorry for hurting you. I know I did. I__ most likely dead now, and I guess if there__ any kind of fairness in the afterlife I__ probably in hell getting roasted. But if that__ where I am, I want you to know, I still love you. Always did. Love, Caine

It's over, Sam. Finally.""Yeah," he said. "I guess it is.""Turn out the light, Sam."Sam reached for the switch and turned out the light.

(...) But Gaia had absorbed the new information. "I won't need to kill billions, Diana. When Nemesis is gone, there will be no other like me. Just me alone. I will grow and spread, one body and then another, and soon there will be so many of me that it will be impossible to eradicate me. Eventually all will be me, and I will be all.""Won't that be boring?" Diana asked. "You'd be dating yourself. You'll have no one to discuss your evil plans with. (...)

Who am I? I__ the Breeze, bitch!

Come live with us, Diana. Don't argue. Just say yes."Diana looked at the ground to hide her emotions. Then she said, "Would I have to be hearing you two going at it night and day?

Caine erupted in disbelieving laughter. "Yeah, that'll do it. 'I'm just a kid, Your Honor!' Hah. They'll have to find a few scapegoats, and guess who it will be? You and me, surfer boy. You and me.