Traynor had made, and Ilsa doubted that she could measure up completely. Give her a chance, she told herself, lifting her eyes from the book and crani...g her neck around the girl in front of her to see the woman.Her entire body tensed when the new teacher looked up from the grade book, tapped her pencil, smiled, and said, "Hello, girls. I'm Marsha Crow."It couldn't be. It absolutely could not be. It must not be, and then, Ilsa's thunderstruck mind bellowed, "how on earth can it possibly be?"But. Shadows rippled across the ground. My brother charged naked towards the campfire. I was about to call out to him when he stumbled. Blood spurted from his back. A long, slashing wound flayed open his back. Blood poured down his muscles.He collapsed on his knees, snarling in pain.“Sven!” I gasped as he rose, convulsion wracking me.Then I heard laughter. I spotted the flutter of pink butterfly wings around the trees, the momentary glimpse of a pale, busty body. Anger surged through me. A faerie.. He would be running to protect him as well. That was why he hadn't come forward to her, or sent a message that he was well and alive.It must have been a matter of secrecy. How tired she had grown of all these dark affairs, so many lies heaped upon lies. The lies they had sworn to break and burn away, those very lies were probably what kept them alive even now. What irony, to have had your life built around what you despised most.It was the only way, they had kept telling to themselves. The only. I could make do with the people who killed my son or I could leave, search out another group of enhanced and end up in the same position or worse. If only I could find one person and be his only one. But that didn't happen in the old world and could never happen in this one.I looked at my baby. I'd made a mess of his hair so I fixed it. He always made sure his hair looked good.His fly was open and his penis was hanging out. I carefully tucked it back inside and buttoned him back up.He didn't.