h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Introductions/spanspan style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span/h2
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude/spanstrong id="docs-internal-guid-495b3e99-7fff-e825-510f-688905ad172f" style="font-weight: normal;"/strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm going to strangle him," Jude announced to the room at large. "You can't make me live with that-", she looked up, sputtering, only to find that her father was polishing a katana and not even remotely listening. "DAD!" she snapped. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Vivi poorly stifled a giggle. Taryn, who'd been preoccupied with their youngest brother, still somehow found the time to snicker over the noise of the television./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I was listening darling," Madoc said mildly. He was currently in the process of scraping a blood fleck off the blade with his thumbnail. "Although I will admit that I don't find your proclamations that noteworthy. You hate the Greenbriar boy, yes. As does most everyone else."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude felt herself go hot under the collar. She knew Vivi felt kinda bad for her, but Vivi had also been partnered with Heather, her girlfriend. Vivi was perfectly content with the arrangements on her end./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Taryn might wind up being a little more sympathetic. Her partner counselor was the girl with the nose job and the aggressively flat-ironed blue hair. Taryn hadn't spoken to her yet, but Jude had seen the girl practically fling herself at Cardan, and any girl who behaved like that around Cardan Greenbriar was bound to be bad news. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"That left the two other boys, the fox-face and the aggressive looking one with biceps like boulders. The fox-faced one had a sort of clever look about him, something shifty and too smart that made Jude's hackles rise. But it was the other one Jude worried about, with his giant muscles and the arrogance written across his face as though with marker./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Everything about that guy screamed "I'm a jackass". And so, he and Cardan would be drawn to each other like ants to a lollipop./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Fuck this," Jude announced to the group at large, causing Oriana to clap her hands over Oak's ears, looking scandalized. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Jude!", she gasped. "Have a little decorum, won't you? Imagine if your brother starts repeating such-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Vivi, her timing brilliant as always, interjected. "It's nothing he hasn't heard before," she said serenely, and Oriana's voice rose to a horrified fever pitch just as the door behind Jude slammed closed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She walked slowly, picking her way across the gravel. Past the lake and the grass, which had been mowed aggressively close to the ground. The sun was sinking over the tree line, a fiery ball, coloring the clouds a bloody red. Taryn would've probably said "rose-red". /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Even though the camp grounds themselves were deserted, the cabins practically vibrated with energy. That was probably a natural consequence, considering that about half the counselors were holed up in Madoc's quarters and laughing at Oriana. Vivi and Heather's cabin especially seemed to rock on its foundations with the combined energy of fifteen rowdy teenagers, and Jude debated for a short moment if she should go in there and see to order./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then her eyes fell on Cabin 4, where Cardan was probably in the middle of some horrible prank, and kept walking determinedly for its door. She had her own priorities, she told herself, even as her skin prickled with nerves and her knees knocked traitorously together. To see to it that Cardan Greenbriar behaved himself, to keep mayhem to a minimum. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She stopped at the cabin door, listening. Her stomach felt as though it had pressed itself into a small, tight ball of anxiety. Her every muscle felt strung tight, tense and unmoving like the strings on a violin. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""This is what Cardan does to you," a nasty little part of her whispered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Shut up," the rest of her hissed back./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And then, as if to prove a point, she ripped at the knob and let the door fly open. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected to find. The entire cabin laid to waste, maybe. Something on fire. A camper rolling a blunt on her bed, under Cardan's expert tutelage. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Instead, all fifteen campers sat on the floor, criss-cross-applesauce, with Cardan reclining amongst them like a king among his courtesans. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"There was the unmistakable bloom of a hickey on Cardan's alabaster neck. Her eyes had been drawn to it as soon as she'd laid eyes on him and she tore them away, embarrassed. Nose Job Girl evidently hadn't wasted any time. It was an odd thought, one that itched uncomfortably at her. She imagined Cardan and the navy-haired beauty, wrapped together, a sweaty tangle of lips and grasping hands and whatever the hell else people did when they had sex. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She shoved the thought forcefully out of her head and looked down at what they were doing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Exchanging Pokemon cards. What?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It caught her wrong-footed. Out of all the horrible things she'd grown to expect from Cardan, this took her by surprise. It was a trick. It had to be./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The room was full of proclamations like "Oh my god, you have the shiny Charizard?!" and "No fucking way that card has like 200 HP that's totally unfair!" and Jude could already feel the beginnings of a migraine because this was exactly the sort of bullshit that induced incapacitating headaches. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She leveled Cardan with the most unpleasant look she could muster. There was something in the bush here, she could sense it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Right," she snapped. "The adult is here, no thanks to Greenbriar. Put those away, I'm taking roll." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She was probably being too harsh, she noted. The camp did have a no-cardgame policy, after one too many non-sanctioned fistfights had been traced back to a card deal gone sour. But Jude didn't exactly agree with her father on a lot of things and didn't make a habit out of enforcing most of his rules./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan seemed to have picked up on this, too./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Now Jude, what's gotten into you," he cooed derisively. "You're not usually quite this nasty. If you'd be so kind as to ease the massive stick out of your ass for just a few seconds-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her face flamed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan was looking at her with that look, that infuriatingly familiar facial expression he seemed to have reserved just for her. He tilted his head just a bit to the side, letting his L'Oreal commercial curls fall out of his face. The shitty fluorescent lighting gleamed off of glass-sharp cheekbones. But worst of all were his eyes, coal-black and mocking, looking up at her with that cruel amusement she'd come to know well. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Suddenly, it was hard to get the words out. Her mouth felt dry, like she'd just licked a sandbox. And Cardan was still looking up at her. Laughing at her, silently./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rules are rules," Jude said stiffly, not believing it herself. "No card games. Unless you'd like to take it up with Madoc?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan's lips curled up into a sneering smile. "Well, I'm afraid that's that. Madame Commandant has spoken." He spoke the words with impressively stinging disrespect./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And as Jude watched the campers grumble angrily and shoot her reproachful looks, she felt her own rage mount. She was a fool, she realized. Five minutes into camp and Cardan already had his fingers in the puppetmaster's strings, doing what he did best. Manipulating. Turning her campers against her, making her the villain. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He plays the fool to mask his own cleverness, she remembered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She'd known that, and walked directly into the trap./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"…/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It was times like these where Jude was exceptionally happy that her father ran a martial arts camp and not some boy scout getaway. She drove her fist into a training dummy and felt something inside the thing give. Somewhere, a spring creaked, and the stuffing burst out of the dummy like the innards out of a kill. It was a morbid comparison, one that directly mirrored her mood, and Jude stepped back to admire her handiwork. The training dummy had been torn off its rope and lay deflated on the mats. Her anger had slightly dissipated, and she threw a glance at the walls of the dojo where the rest of the camp stood watching./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her father was smiling at her approvingly. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The other campers, who had been watching her demonstrate a particular martial arts tactic, looked somewhere between impressed and terrified. Cardan, she noted with satisfaction, looked distinctly uncomfortable. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What an excellent demonstration, daughter. Well done," Madoc rumbled. "I hope the rest of you were paying attention."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An uneasy murmur rose from the crowd. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Now," Madoc continued. "I don't expect such skill from anyone here quite yet. It's only the first day, and if you apply yourselves for the rest of this camp, you'll learn soon enough."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He waved his arm at the other counselors, gesturing for them to join Jude out on the mats. Taryn and Vivi, who had just as much experience in the field of "beating the shit out of things" as Jude did, bounded out happily. Heather looked somewhat nervous, but trailed Vivi regardless, smiling somewhat weakly at the campers./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The freakishly muscled blond strolled after them, confident and equally unconcerned. His two companions, Fox-Face and Nose Job followed suit, looking carefully unruffled. Only Cardan hesitated, Jude noticed, before he went to join his newfound friends with long, easy strides. Jude watched them, hawk-eyed and mistrustful. There was a little clique forming there, she could see it from a mile away./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It spelled bad news./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Counselors!" Madoc's voice tore through her thoughts and Jude came back to Earth. "Introduce yourselves." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The first three counselors had been there a long time. Nicknamed the Bomb, the Ghost, and the Roach, Jude had never known their actual names. The campers that attended every year recognized them with glee and cheered happily. The three of them group-counseled Cabin 5, which was by far the largest cabin and took in Camp Redcap's more difficult campers./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Bomb was a wisp of a girl, deceptively tiny with deep brown skin and fluffy white hair. Many, many people, including Jude herself, had fallen into the trap of underestimating her and had promptly gotten their asses kicked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Ghost was almost extraordinarily plain-looking, with sandy hair and cheese-white skin. He was entirely washed out of color. Even his eyes, which were a light blue, had a somewhat desaturated look to them. Despite that, he was a sensible and quiet person who doubled as an extremely talented slyfoot. There wasn't one secret Jude had ever had that the Ghost hadn't immediately ferreted out. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Roach, in contrast to his companions, stood out because of how absurdly ugly he was. It looked like his face had, at some point, been run over by a truck. His face was covered in scars, his mouth was twisted, and his nose practically bent backwards because of all the times it had been broken. And despite that, he was still one of the nicest people Jude had ever met./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at the three of them and waved, incredibly happy to see them again. The Bomb, bouncing on the balls of her feet, waved back gleefully./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The attention shifted to the beautiful little group in the corner, and Jude was paying attention now, because she wanted to know who exactly Cardan's groupies were. Nose Job tilted her head sweetly, her sharp, long-fingered nails on Cardan's sleeve. Her sleek hair gleamed like wet sharkskin in the light. "Nicasia," she said, in a sugary sing-song, as though it was simply common knowledge./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Fox-Face stood on Nicasia's other side, his tawny eyes sparking with amusement. "I'm Locke," he announced. "I can't wait to get to know you all." There was a certain self-assuredness about him, an easy confidence. Amusement, too, Jude thought, not quite able to place it. Not the wicked, unpleasant kind she'd come to associate with Cardan, but something dangerous nonetheless./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The last unfamiliar face, the blond jackass with the giant biceps didn't opt for the fanfare the other two had. "Valerian," he said gruffly, and didn't bother to elaborate further. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan's introduction of himself caused a small amount of mayhem on its own, as the campers recognized his name and placed his unfairly attractive face to the one they'd seen on magazines and screens. She heard them muttering amongst themselves, the echo of Cardan's name still lingering long after he'd stepped back into line and let the next person introduce themselves./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude looked over surreptitiously. He was smiling his self-satisfied smile. Inside, she felt a deep rooted itch to put her fist through it. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They went down the line like that, giving their names, smiling at the campers. Taryn gave the sixty waiting campers the friendliest smile she could muster and waved happily. To Jude, she was just a little too chipper to be convincing. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Vivi and Heather, standing close, gave easy, relaxed hellos./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude, standing at the end of the line, was last. She almost hadn't noticed, as Heather finished her own introduction and the gazes of the campers settled expectantly on her. Madoc cleared his throat pointedly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For the second time in five minutes, Jude felt as though she was snapping out of a trance. She was distracted, she noted angrily to herself. It was all Cardan's fault, he was doing this to her, breaking her usual focus with nothing more than a mocking curl of his lip./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Jude Duarte," she snapped brusquely, more harshly than she intended. "This is my sixth year at Camp Redcap." She left the most important part unspoken. /spanspan style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't piss me off."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Across the room, Locke made eye contact regardless. And smiled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"End Chapter 2/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude/spanstrong id="docs-internal-guid-495b3e99-7fff-e825-510f-688905ad172f" style="font-weight: normal;"/strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /span span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm going to strangle him," Jude announced to the room at large. "You can't make me live with that-", she looked up, sputtering, only to find that her father was polishing a katana and not even remotely listening. "DAD!" she snapped. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Vivi poorly stifled a giggle. Taryn, who'd been preoccupied with their youngest brother, still somehow found the time to snicker over the noise of the television./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I was listening darling," Madoc said mildly. He was currently in the process of scraping a blood fleck off the blade with his thumbnail. "Although I will admit that I don't find your proclamations that noteworthy. You hate the Greenbriar boy, yes. As does most everyone else."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude felt herself go hot under the collar. She knew Vivi felt kinda bad for her, but Vivi had also been partnered with Heather, her girlfriend. Vivi was perfectly content with the arrangements on her end./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Taryn might wind up being a little more sympathetic. Her partner counselor was the girl with the nose job and the aggressively flat-ironed blue hair. Taryn hadn't spoken to her yet, but Jude had seen the girl practically fling herself at Cardan, and any girl who behaved like that around Cardan Greenbriar was bound to be bad news. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"That left the two other boys, the fox-face and the aggressive looking one with biceps like boulders. The fox-faced one had a sort of clever look about him, something shifty and too smart that made Jude's hackles rise. But it was the other one Jude worried about, with his giant muscles and the arrogance written across his face as though with marker./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Everything about that guy screamed "I'm a jackass". And so, he and Cardan would be drawn to each other like ants to a lollipop./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Fuck this," Jude announced to the group at large, causing Oriana to clap her hands over Oak's ears, looking scandalized. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Jude!", she gasped. "Have a little decorum, won't you? Imagine if your brother starts repeating such-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Vivi, her timing brilliant as always, interjected. "It's nothing he hasn't heard before," she said serenely, and Oriana's voice rose to a horrified fever pitch just as the door behind Jude slammed closed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She walked slowly, picking her way across the gravel. Past the lake and the grass, which had been mowed aggressively close to the ground. The sun was sinking over the tree line, a fiery ball, coloring the clouds a bloody red. Taryn would've probably said "rose-red". /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Even though the camp grounds themselves were deserted, the cabins practically vibrated with energy. That was probably a natural consequence, considering that about half the counselors were holed up in Madoc's quarters and laughing at Oriana. Vivi and Heather's cabin especially seemed to rock on its foundations with the combined energy of fifteen rowdy teenagers, and Jude debated for a short moment if she should go in there and see to order./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Then her eyes fell on Cabin 4, where Cardan was probably in the middle of some horrible prank, and kept walking determinedly for its door. She had her own priorities, she told herself, even as her skin prickled with nerves and her knees knocked traitorously together. To see to it that Cardan Greenbriar behaved himself, to keep mayhem to a minimum. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She stopped at the cabin door, listening. Her stomach felt as though it had pressed itself into a small, tight ball of anxiety. Her every muscle felt strung tight, tense and unmoving like the strings on a violin. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""This is what Cardan does to you," a nasty little part of her whispered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Shut up," the rest of her hissed back./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And then, as if to prove a point, she ripped at the knob and let the door fly open. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected to find. The entire cabin laid to waste, maybe. Something on fire. A camper rolling a blunt on her bed, under Cardan's expert tutelage. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Instead, all fifteen campers sat on the floor, criss-cross-applesauce, with Cardan reclining amongst them like a king among his courtesans. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"There was the unmistakable bloom of a hickey on Cardan's alabaster neck. Her eyes had been drawn to it as soon as she'd laid eyes on him and she tore them away, embarrassed. Nose Job Girl evidently hadn't wasted any time. It was an odd thought, one that itched uncomfortably at her. She imagined Cardan and the navy-haired beauty, wrapped together, a sweaty tangle of lips and grasping hands and whatever the hell else people did when they had sex. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She shoved the thought forcefully out of her head and looked down at what they were doing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Exchanging Pokemon cards. What?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It caught her wrong-footed. Out of all the horrible things she'd grown to expect from Cardan, this took her by surprise. It was a trick. It had to be./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The room was full of proclamations like "Oh my god, you have the shiny Charizard?!" and "No fucking way that card has like 200 HP that's totally unfair!" and Jude could already feel the beginnings of a migraine because this was exactly the sort of bullshit that induced incapacitating headaches. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She leveled Cardan with the most unpleasant look she could muster. There was something in the bush here, she could sense it./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Right," she snapped. "The adult is here, no thanks to Greenbriar. Put those away, I'm taking roll." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She was probably being too harsh, she noted. The camp did have a no-cardgame policy, after one too many non-sanctioned fistfights had been traced back to a card deal gone sour. But Jude didn't exactly agree with her father on a lot of things and didn't make a habit out of enforcing most of his rules./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan seemed to have picked up on this, too./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Now Jude, what's gotten into you," he cooed derisively. "You're not usually quite this nasty. If you'd be so kind as to ease the massive stick out of your ass for just a few seconds-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her face flamed./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan was looking at her with that look, that infuriatingly familiar facial expression he seemed to have reserved just for her. He tilted his head just a bit to the side, letting his L'Oreal commercial curls fall out of his face. The shitty fluorescent lighting gleamed off of glass-sharp cheekbones. But worst of all were his eyes, coal-black and mocking, looking up at her with that cruel amusement she'd come to know well. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Suddenly, it was hard to get the words out. Her mouth felt dry, like she'd just licked a sandbox. And Cardan was still looking up at her. Laughing at her, silently./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rules are rules," Jude said stiffly, not believing it herself. "No card games. Unless you'd like to take it up with Madoc?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan's lips curled up into a sneering smile. "Well, I'm afraid that's that. Madame Commandant has spoken." He spoke the words with impressively stinging disrespect./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And as Jude watched the campers grumble angrily and shoot her reproachful looks, she felt her own rage mount. She was a fool, she realized. Five minutes into camp and Cardan already had his fingers in the puppetmaster's strings, doing what he did best. Manipulating. Turning her campers against her, making her the villain. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He plays the fool to mask his own cleverness, she remembered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She'd known that, and walked directly into the trap./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"…/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It was times like these where Jude was exceptionally happy that her father ran a martial arts camp and not some boy scout getaway. She drove her fist into a training dummy and felt something inside the thing give. Somewhere, a spring creaked, and the stuffing burst out of the dummy like the innards out of a kill. It was a morbid comparison, one that directly mirrored her mood, and Jude stepped back to admire her handiwork. The training dummy had been torn off its rope and lay deflated on the mats. Her anger had slightly dissipated, and she threw a glance at the walls of the dojo where the rest of the camp stood watching./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Her father was smiling at her approvingly. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The other campers, who had been watching her demonstrate a particular martial arts tactic, looked somewhere between impressed and terrified. Cardan, she noted with satisfaction, looked distinctly uncomfortable. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What an excellent demonstration, daughter. Well done," Madoc rumbled. "I hope the rest of you were paying attention."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"An uneasy murmur rose from the crowd. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Now," Madoc continued. "I don't expect such skill from anyone here quite yet. It's only the first day, and if you apply yourselves for the rest of this camp, you'll learn soon enough."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He waved his arm at the other counselors, gesturing for them to join Jude out on the mats. Taryn and Vivi, who had just as much experience in the field of "beating the shit out of things" as Jude did, bounded out happily. Heather looked somewhat nervous, but trailed Vivi regardless, smiling somewhat weakly at the campers./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The freakishly muscled blond strolled after them, confident and equally unconcerned. His two companions, Fox-Face and Nose Job followed suit, looking carefully unruffled. Only Cardan hesitated, Jude noticed, before he went to join his newfound friends with long, easy strides. Jude watched them, hawk-eyed and mistrustful. There was a little clique forming there, she could see it from a mile away./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It spelled bad news./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Counselors!" Madoc's voice tore through her thoughts and Jude came back to Earth. "Introduce yourselves." /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The first three counselors had been there a long time. Nicknamed the Bomb, the Ghost, and the Roach, Jude had never known their actual names. The campers that attended every year recognized them with glee and cheered happily. The three of them group-counseled Cabin 5, which was by far the largest cabin and took in Camp Redcap's more difficult campers./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Bomb was a wisp of a girl, deceptively tiny with deep brown skin and fluffy white hair. Many, many people, including Jude herself, had fallen into the trap of underestimating her and had promptly gotten their asses kicked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Ghost was almost extraordinarily plain-looking, with sandy hair and cheese-white skin. He was entirely washed out of color. Even his eyes, which were a light blue, had a somewhat desaturated look to them. Despite that, he was a sensible and quiet person who doubled as an extremely talented slyfoot. There wasn't one secret Jude had ever had that the Ghost hadn't immediately ferreted out. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The Roach, in contrast to his companions, stood out because of how absurdly ugly he was. It looked like his face had, at some point, been run over by a truck. His face was covered in scars, his mouth was twisted, and his nose practically bent backwards because of all the times it had been broken. And despite that, he was still one of the nicest people Jude had ever met./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She smiled at the three of them and waved, incredibly happy to see them again. The Bomb, bouncing on the balls of her feet, waved back gleefully./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The attention shifted to the beautiful little group in the corner, and Jude was paying attention now, because she wanted to know who exactly Cardan's groupies were. Nose Job tilted her head sweetly, her sharp, long-fingered nails on Cardan's sleeve. Her sleek hair gleamed like wet sharkskin in the light. "Nicasia," she said, in a sugary sing-song, as though it was simply common knowledge./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Fox-Face stood on Nicasia's other side, his tawny eyes sparking with amusement. "I'm Locke," he announced. "I can't wait to get to know you all." There was a certain self-assuredness about him, an easy confidence. Amusement, too, Jude thought, not quite able to place it. Not the wicked, unpleasant kind she'd come to associate with Cardan, but something dangerous nonetheless./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The last unfamiliar face, the blond jackass with the giant biceps didn't opt for the fanfare the other two had. "Valerian," he said gruffly, and didn't bother to elaborate further. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Cardan's introduction of himself caused a small amount of mayhem on its own, as the campers recognized his name and placed his unfairly attractive face to the one they'd seen on magazines and screens. She heard them muttering amongst themselves, the echo of Cardan's name still lingering long after he'd stepped back into line and let the next person introduce themselves./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude looked over surreptitiously. He was smiling his self-satisfied smile. Inside, she felt a deep rooted itch to put her fist through it. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"They went down the line like that, giving their names, smiling at the campers. Taryn gave the sixty waiting campers the friendliest smile she could muster and waved happily. To Jude, she was just a little too chipper to be convincing. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Vivi and Heather, standing close, gave easy, relaxed hellos./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jude, standing at the end of the line, was last. She almost hadn't noticed, as Heather finished her own introduction and the gazes of the campers settled expectantly on her. Madoc cleared his throat pointedly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"For the second time in five minutes, Jude felt as though she was snapping out of a trance. She was distracted, she noted angrily to herself. It was all Cardan's fault, he was doing this to her, breaking her usual focus with nothing more than a mocking curl of his lip./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Jude Duarte," she snapped brusquely, more harshly than she intended. "This is my sixth year at Camp Redcap." She left the most important part unspoken. /spanspan style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Don't piss me off."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Across the room, Locke made eye contact regardless. And smiled./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; text-indent: 36pt; text-align: center; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"End Chapter 2/span/p
