| My palms were cold and wet; my breath came in shallow gaspsI
leaned as close as I could to Jeb without actually touching him
?Easy,? he murmured, not turning?They're more afraid of you than you are of themAnd even if there were any way that it could be true, fear turned into hatred and
violence in the human heart
?I won't let anybody hurt you,? Jeb mumbled as he reached the archway?Anyway, might as
well get used to this
I wanted to ask what that meant, but he stepped through into the next roomI crept in after
him, half a step behind, keeping myself hidden by his body as much as possibleThe only thing
harder than moving myself forward into that room was the thought of falling behind Jeb and
being caught alone here
Sudden silence greeted our gucci silver bag entrance
We were in the gigantic, bright cavern again, the one they'd first brought me toHow long ago
was that? I had no ideaThe ceiling was still too bright for me to make out exactly how it was
litI hadn't noticed before, but the walls were not unbroken?dozens of irregular gaps opened to
adjoining tunnelsSome of the openings were huge, others barely large enough for a man to fit
through stooped over; some were natural crevices, others were, if not man-made, at least
enhanced by someone's hands
Several people stared at us from the recesses of those crevices, frozen in the act of coming or
goingMore people were out in the open, their bodies caught in the middle of whatever
movement our entrance had interruptedOne woman was bent in half, gucci tote bags reaching for her
shoelacesA man's motionless arms hung in the air, raised to illustrate some point he'd been
making to his companionsAnother man wobbled, caught off balance in a sudden stopHis foot
came down hard as he struggled to keep steady; the thud of its fall was the only sound in the
vast spaceIt echoed through the room
It was fundamentally wrong for me to feel grateful to that hideous weapon in Jeb's hands? but
I didI knew that without it we would probably have been attackedThese humans would not
stop themselves from hurting Jeb if it meant they could get to meThough we might be attacked
despite the gunJeb could only shoot one of them at a time
The picture in my head had turned so grisly that I couldn't bear itI tried to focus on chanel black handbags my
immediate surroundings, which were bad enough
Jeb paused for a moment, the gun held at his waist, pointing outwardHe stared all around the
room, seeming to lock his gaze one by one with each person in itThere were fewer than twenty
here; it did not take longWhen he was satisfied with his study, he headed for the left wall of
the cavernBlood thudding in my ears, I followed in his shadow
He did not walk directly across the cavern, instead keeping close to the curve of the wallI
wondered at his path until I noticed a large square of darker ground that took up the center of
the floor?a very large spaceNo one stood on this darker groundI was too frightened to do
more than notice the anomaly; I didn't even guess at a reason
There were small movements as fendi handbags canada we circled the silent roomThe bending woman straightened,
twisting at the waist to watch us goThe gesturing man folded his arms across his chestAll
eyes narrowed, and all faces tightened into expressions of rageHowever, no one moved toward
us, and no one spokeWhatever Kyle and the others had told these people about their
confrontation with Jeb, it seemed to have had the effect Jeb was hoping for
As we passed through the grove of human statues, I recognized Sharon and Maggie eyeing us
from the wide mouth of one openingTheir expressions were blank, their eyes coldThey did
not look at me, only Jeb
It felt like years later when we finally reached the far side of the cavernJeb headed for a
medium-sized exit, black against the brightness of this chanel clutch bag room |