The smell of bacon cooking wakes me. I roll out of bed and wrap myself in my robe, then go downstairs to the kitchen to see what magic is being worked. “Good morning,” Nikola says as I walk in. He is standing over the stove, bacon in a pan, eggs already on plates on the […]

Bez lays beside me on the mattress, still asleep. It was a late night last night, and she and Juteau were up long past the point when I went to bed. I never felt her slip in with me. She is facing me, hand curled palm-up beside her chin, the blanket riding low and covering […]