Lies

and actually talking about Astrid’s laws.
    Yesterday Zil had burned down a big piece of the town. The result was supposed to be chaos. But now Albert was dishing out meat and Astrid was dishing out laws and it was as if Zil had done nothing, as if he was not someone to be feared and respected.
    Like he was nobody.
    Threatened! And once Sam decided to reappear…
    “Leader, maybe we’d better get back to the compound,” Lance suggested.
    Zil stared at him in amazement. Lance was suggesting they slink away? Things must be as bad as Zil feared if even Lance was scared.
    “No,” Turk argued, but not very loudly, or very forcibly. “If we run away, we’re done for. We’ll just be waiting there for Sam to come around and finish us off.”
    “He’s right,” a girl’s voice said.
    Zil spun around and saw a dark-haired girl, a pretty girl,but not someone he knew. Not Human Crew. The thing to do was tell her to take off, stop presuming to speak to him. He was the Leader. But there was something about her…
    “Who are you?” Zil asked, eyes narrowed, suspicious.
    “My name is Nerezza,” she said.
    “Weird name,” Turk commented.
    “Yes, it is,” Nerezza allowed. She smiled. “It’s Italian. It means darkness.”
    Lisa was standing behind Nerezza. Zil could see them both. The contrast did not work to Lisa’s benefit. Nerezza was more beautiful the longer you looked at her.
    “Darkness,” Zil said.
    “We have that in common,” Nerezza said.
    “You know what Zil means?” Zil asked, amazed.
    “I know what darkness is,” Nerezza said. “And I know that its time is coming.”
    Zil remembered to breathe. “I don’t understand.”
    “It will begin very soon,” Nerezza said. “Send this one”—she nodded at Lance—“to bring your weapons.”
    “Go,” Zil ordered Lance.
    Nerezza tilted her head a little and looked at Zil curiously. “Are you ready to do what has to be done?”
    “What has to be done?” Zil asked.
    “Killing,” Nerezza said. “There must be killing. It’s not enough to build a fire. The bodies must be fed into the flame.”
    “Only the freaks,” Zil said.
    Nerezza laughed. “Tell yourself whatever makes you happy,” she said. “The game is chaos and destruction, Zil. Play it to win.”

    Edilio saw Nerezza with Zil. He couldn’t hear what they were saying. But he could read body language.
    Something was wrong there.
    Zil rapt. Nerezza flirting just a little.
    Where was Orsay? He’d never seen Nerezza without Orsay. They’d been inseparable.
    Lance went tearing off in the direction of Zil’s compound.
    Edilio glanced at Astrid, but she was paying no attention. Her little brother had a piece of fish in one hand and his game player in the other.
    Little Pete stared at him, as if he’d never seen Edilio before and was surprised by what he saw now. Little Pete blinked once. He frowned. He dropped the last of his fish and went instantly back to his game.
    There was a scream. It cut through the chatter and drone of a crowd of kids eating.
    Edilio’s head snapped around.
    Mary was running from the day care. Screaming a word, a name.
    “Drake! Drake!”
    She tripped and sprawled facedown on the concrete. She rose to her knees and held up scraped, bloody palms.
    Edilio raced toward her, none-too-gently pushing wandering kids out of the way.
    There was a bright red line on Mary’s face. Magic marker? Paint?
    Blood.
    “Drake! He’s in the day care!” Mary screamed as Edilio reached her. He didn’t even slow down but leaped past her, swinging his gun into firing position as he ran.
    Someone coming out of the day care. Edilio slowed, raised his weapon, aimed. He would give Drake one chance to surrender. He’d give him to the count of three. And then he would squeeze the trigger.
    Brittney!
    Edilio lowered the gun. Stared in confusion. Had Mary just lost it? Mistaken a dead girl for a dead monster?
    “Is Drake inside there?” Edilio demanded.
    Brittney frowned in confusion.
    “Is Drake in there? Is he in there? Tell me!”
    “The demon is not in there,” Brittney said. “But he is near. I can feel him.”
    Edilio shuddered. Her braces were still flecked with mud and tiny fragments of gravel.
    He pushed past her and stopped at the day care door. He heard two of his soldiers rushing up behind him.
    “Stay back unless I call you,” Edilio said. He shouldered through the doorway and swung the barrel of the gun left and right.
    Nothing. Empty.
    Mary had seen a