"Antonio?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to leave the city."

He grunted. Kaede couldn't be sure while riding piggyback, but she guessed it was one of his "I'll-let-you-know-when-I-need-your-opinion" grunts.

Kaede frowned. She'd been thinking for a couple hours, and had come to the unwelcome conclusion that pretty much everything bad was her fault. That had made her want to cry again, but her eyes hurt, and her throat hurt, and crying never really solved anything.

Kaede couldn't remember very much of her mother. Mostly, she remembered times all three of them had been together, like when they had sleepovers in a tent on the living room floor, or when they all tried to cook together, or when her parents came to her very first ice skating recital.

But there were a couple memories-of stupid things, little things, times anyone would usually forget-that she couldn't not remember. She couldn't remember her mother's face most of the time, but she could remember her smell. She couldn't remember any special last words, but she remembered the kiss her mother had given her skinned knee after that first (disastrous) ice skating recital.

She remembered the face her mother had made when she found that Kaede had messed up her room one day, though Kaede couldn't remember why. Mom had picked up a stray doll, and Kaede had apologized for making a mess.

"You can make the biggest mess in the world," Mom had said, "and I'll never be mad."

"Really?"

"Really. As long as you clean it up."

"Antonio?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you believe NEXT should be slaves?"

He snorted. "What kinda question is that?"

"So, you don't?"

"Course not. Kid, the things you say..."

"Then how come you're a slave?"

He didn't answer.

"Antonio, I said how come-"

"Hold on a second, kid. I'm thinking how to say this."

They didn't dare take a car. Antonio couldn't have gotten a license any more than Kaede could have. Sternbild was huge, but they weren't too far from one of the Safe Houses Antonio knew about.

Finally, he sighed. "I don't like hiding."

"Huh?"

"Your dad was always good at hiding his powers. When I met him, I had no idea he was a NEXT. He got it early, and your grandma covered it up. I think she told all the neighbors he really liked playing with a chemistry set or somethin', and that's where all the explosions came from.

"Anyways, I was worse at controlling my powers. Any time I got scared, I'd just bust 'em out."

"I can't imagine you being scared of anything."

"Everyone's little sometimes. I knew your dad from school, right? We were best friends, until I started showing. When my powers got too obvious, when I was around eleven, my parents had me turn myself in. It's worse if you run, and they catch you."

Kaede's stomach tightened. She was running now.

"I worked on a farm outside the city for about ten years, hitched up to a plow. Then one day, your dad turned up with enough cash to buy me. Said he got a damn job just so he could get me out of there. He said he'd free me right then and I could take off, or I could stay with them."

"Them? You mean my mom?"

"Yeah." He shrugged, and Kaede went up and down. "So that's what I did. Never regretted it, either."

"Antonio?"

"Yeah."

"Would my mom have stayed? If she was a NEXT?"

He didn't answer for a minute. This time, she didn't interrupt. Finally, he said, "She was just like you."

That was enough for Kaede. This was her mess, after all.

She was going to clean it up.