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you online, and you’re supposed to be smart as hell.”
“Yeah, well, guess what? IQ is not the same thing as wisdom. Anyway, you’ve got the experience,” Shade said. “And you didn’t . . .” Her eyes went to Malik. Malik sat, silent, eyes half closed as they often were. Looking just like Malik . . . only not.
Dekka, irritated, turned to Armo. “What have you got, dude?”
“I got half a croissant left if anyone wants it.”
Whether he was dead serious or joking, no one was quite sure. But Cruz smiled.
Not really the time for that, Cruz chided herself. But she’d only briefly met Armo in the midst of a raging battle, and he’d been rather furry at that point. Cruz had never been even in the same room with someone like Armo. Cruz was transgender, but hetero in her preferences, and it would take a seriously picky straight girl or gay boy not to react to six feet, five inches of smooth, muscular gorgeousness. He might even be better-looking than Malik, for whom she could no longer feel anything but pity and sadness and a sort of sibling love.
Okay, enough! Once again, she was standing back from decisions that would shape her life. Or end it.
“I don’t even know who we’re fighting,” Cruz blurted. “Are we fighting this Charmer person, this thought-control Rockborn? Or are we fighting the actual United States freaking Army?”
“We’re fighting the Dark Watchers,” Malik said, breaking a long silence.
Every face turned to him.
“I believe . . . ,” he said, before breaking off and frowning. He shook his head slightly, bedeviled by those very Dark Watchers. “What they want, the Watchers, is to watch. I think we are entertainment. In some ways we are like characters in a movie. I don’t know whether they meant this to be entertainment or it just kind of happened. I don’t know . . . well, anything; it’s all just . . . Look, maybe they were just flipping channels and there we were, visible to them because of some long-forgotten experiment with the rock. I don’t guess it matters. But now that they’re watching, they want the show to be entertaining. And their taste in entertainment runs to the dark, the gruesome.”
Shade, still a muted shadow of herself, said, “Are you saying we have no free will in this?”
Malik shrugged. “In Philosophy 101, you get into the debate over whether free will exists or whether it’s just an illusion. The result is inevitable: it doesn’t matter. Either we have free will or we don’t, but we are not capable of acting as though we don’t. So, effectively, we do.”
Shade’s smile was genuine and wistful. “College boy.”
Cruz saw that her friend was in agony waiting to see whether Malik took this as a good-natured jibe or not. When Malik managed a small quirk of his lips, Shade seemed on the edge of tears of relief.
“That’s all fine,” Dekka said, “but what about freaks and tanks?”
“It comes down to who is going to win in the end,” Malik said.
“Not who is right?” Cruz asked.
“That’s always important,” Malik acknowledged. “But here’s the thing. If the government wins, they will inevitably hunt us down and wipe us out. Which may be the best solution—would be—if not for . . .” He shrugged.
“If not for it meaning we all have to die?” Armo snarked.
“The Ranch,” Shade said. “The Ranch proves the government will use the rock to create its own mutants. Do we trust a government that would do that? To its own citizens?”
Suddenly there was another person in the room. Armo leaped to his feet, fists clenched and white fur sprouting.
“Whoa! Whoa!” Francis Specter said, holding up empty palms and shaking her head no. “I’m one of the good guys!”
“How the hell did you get in here?” Dekka demanded, rushing to check that the door was locked.
“It’s this thing I can do,” Francis said. “I’m one of you. I have a . . . you know . . . a power.”
Introductions and explanations followed.
“You’re just a kid,” Dekka said.
“So were you, Dekka,” Shade said. “So were Sam Temple and Astrid Ellison and the rest.” In response to Dekka’s raised eyebrow she added, “I told you: I’ve read all the books.”
“She really has,” Cruz confirmed.
“I’m here because I saw you on TV,” Francis said, dipping her head shyly toward Dekka.
