CLAW MARKS ON LANE NINE

ep. I did not

tuffing clothes into a duffel bag while Kael's words looped in

I asked the

l quiet. Then, finally: He was afraid

he had stood in front of sixty thousand people and called me worthl

d phone, and one more thing to do. I couldn't

e felt invisible. Tonight I could hear every sleeper's heartbeat behind the glass,

ray house with the crooked porch light. The light w

ened before

ium. His shoulders had a slump I didn't

n't be here

. Kael's orders. I w

ss his face. He stepped

e cedar and coffee and

ay," I said. "I ran that w

vy

nly ever wanted you to lo

to the window, and I bra

king. "If I'd looked at you, I would have sai

nt cold. "

born." He turned around, eyes wet. "Your mother didn't lea

gripped the back of

Moon Runner, because she ran only under the full moon, and nobody could catch her. The council feared her. A wo

en years, the one I'd blamed every time I stood alon

. "So I made sure you never ran. I let everyone believe you were empty.

think I wa

shoulders. His hands were shaking. "Tonight, somethin

I heard him. He said th

nt pale. "Ka

ejected me, Dad. In

" he said slowly, "or the only one i

don't get to say that. You both decided what was b

. Tears slid down his weathered

Inside lay a silver key, cold and heavy, and a faded photograph of a laughi

ou. She said when you woke

don

r the first time in my life, he looked straight at me. "I am

fe. Now that I had it, my chest ach

aph into my pocket, closed my fist aroun

bags on my shoulders. The road beyond lay empty and silver, and I stood

flared at the

he engine died. A tall woman with gray-streaked hair and a ru

d. "Good. I've been waiting eig

her palm lay a silver key

t and strangely calm. This one