The white cube on the grassy patch of lawn behind the brownstone looked like it had been constructed of elongated Legos, thousands of rectangles sheathed in a milky film like dried Elmer’s glue.

At Boone’s signal, Nomika unfurled into an angular skeleton with spindly jointed legs and a bony mass that swiveled and slotted and swung.

She rose from the backyard of the brownstone and climbed a sheer wall, her angular legs pistoning with a double-jointed grace. She sniffed the air. Or maybe ‘tasted’ the air, considering she didn't really have a face. She sensed the air, at least. Then she flashed along the glass and concrete cliffsides of the city. People occasionally blinked and squinted, and shook their heads, unable to see what their minds couldn't comprehend. Nomika shifted and clattered, pivoting on internal joints, then she expanded with an abrupt clattering and lofted herself across a wide avenue.

When she located her prey, she dangled by one arm--one leg--one limb, I guess--from a second-story ledge and unlatched herself downward. Three bony coils wrapped around the warmsoft bundle that she snatched from the sidewalk, with another covering the girl’s mouth for silence.

Then she caught wind of PJ and fled in a terrified limb-struck scuttle, rocketing to the rooftops and away.

----------------------------------------

When Nomika set Maddie gently down in the backyard in front of him, Boone thanked her with a wordless touch, and smiled at the girl. "I apologize for summoning you so abruptly."

"I--I--wow." Maddie showed him her trembling hand. "Wow. I'm shaking."

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"I’m sorry we frightened you."

"No, I--" She spun toward Nomika and laughed. "That was amazing--you’re amazing."

The bony structure shivered, then collapsed into a loose-limbed cube. Praise embarrassed Nomika.

Maddie's smile died as the adrenaline rush faded. "Sorry," she said. "I just … wow."

"I have news," Boone told her. "And didn’t know where to find you."

"You don’t always know?"

He shook his head. "The certainty comes in flashes. And this is what I’m most certain of right now, Madeline." His expression turned grave. "Our action is spiraling out of control."

"Oh, God," she said, paling slightly. "That's not good."

"PJ is getting stronger exponentially. After eight victims, he’s not eight times stronger--he’s hundreds of times stronger. He’s accelerating beyond anything I’d imagined."

Maddie shivered. "That’s why he’s in my head. Can’t--can’t Nomika stop him?"

"She's vulnerable to his power. She’s a scent hunter, that’s how she found you." Boone touched the white cube. "If he controls her, we don't stand a chance. And … there are things she won't do."

The two of them looked at the cube for a moment. It rippled like a thousand white piano keys.

"I let PJ slip the leash for good reason," Boone told Maddie. "But he's changing too fast for me to control. He’s turning the mission into his private revenge fantasy."

"What does that mean?"

"He was supposed to recruit two bombers, then we’d step in and save the day. We'd develop leverage with the Department of Defense. That’s the goal, that’s the prize. If we want to stop the terminal event, we need the full backing of the government of the United States of America. But PJ’s not stopping at two, he’s not stopping at two hundred. He’s out of control. He doesn’t need explosives. He’s got eight million people in the city, and he'll turn every one of them into a guided missile."

"Can we stop him?" she asked, her voice faint.

"You can."

"Me? How"

"By neutralizing Lark. Our best chance--our only chance--requires that you pull Lark’s fangs."

Maddie shook her head. "How does that stop PJ? I don’t understand."

"Neither do I, but I know. You have to trap his orbs. I don’t care how. Secure his orbs, then give him to PJ."

"The orbs are too fast--they’re too strong."

"You’re stronger," Boone said.