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My hand is over my mouth. I can’t speak.
“It knocked me out for a minute. When I came to, I stumbled outside. The car was a ball of fire and smoke. The windows had shattered. I could see all three of them, black and melted, their faces on fire. My mother and father in the front. Isaak in the backseat.”
“That’s awful Jasper, god I’m sorry.”
I’m feeling deeply guilty for every moment I resented him, for every stupid remark I’ve thrown his way.
Jasper looks at me, eyes narrowed.
“Don’t pity me.It was my fault.”
He passes one skeletal hand over his face, as if to wipe away his own emotion.
In that moment, I finally understand his tattoos. They’re penance for what he did—the mark of death all over his body. The reminder of his family, burned to the bone. Perhaps a desire to join them.
And the tattoo on his face—that’s penance for Zigor. For endangering his new family once more.
I want to say something to Jasper—what, I’m not sure.
Misha comes bursting through the door, throwing her backpack down next to Jasper and plopping beside me in the booth.
“You’re early today!” she chirps.
Jasper is making a face like he’s never seen a human child before.
“Who is this?”
“Misha,” I say. “She’s the manager.”’
“More like the janitor,” Misha mutters, casting a mutinous glance at her sister.
“Did you finishEnder’s Game?” I ask her.
“Yeah, last night!”
“Perfect.” I pull a battered paperback from my coat pocket. “I brought you the next one.”
“There’s a sequel?”
“Sort of. It’s the same story but from Bean’s perspective. You might like this one even better.”
“Cool!” Misha says, immediately opening the book and beginning to read.
“You done?” Jasper says to me, returning to his usual chilliness.
“Yeah,” I say. And then to Alla, “Can I get another box?”
No sense letting Jasper’s burger go to waste.
32
ADRIK
We’re supposed to be going to Neve Markov’s wedding in an hour but nobody is ready.
Sabrina comes in from the garage, oil embedded all the way under her fingernails and in every little crack and line of her hands. Streaks of grease on her face and in her hair, which is twisted up in a knot on her head with pieces coming down all around her face.
She’s wearing a pair of Chief’s coveralls. When she grins at me, her teeth are the only clean thing on her filthy face.
