"Whatever."

"They found Death."

It was Fear's time fall silent. He considered the information. Old Tony the tool was the ticket after all. d.a.m.n.

"They'll need me," Fear said.

"Yes."

"And soon."

"Yes. Very soon."

A car drifted by Fear's vision. "How long do we have?"

Another pause. "Not long." Time sounded worried. "Already there are those that suspect. Some have already tried, and it's just a matter of time before they are discovered.

Or... their remains are discovered."

Fear screwed up his face at the thought. f.u.c.king cattle-minded Mundanes. "I can do what I can."

"It'll be difficult now that the fear of death is wavering. Chance will bear a lot of the weight. But you must press on."

"She's still with Levin?"

"Yes, but she will manage. She has to."

"They're trying already?" Fear wanted to know for certain.

"Yes."

"f.u.c.king idiots," Fear spat out, shaking his head in anger.

"I know," Time said seriously. "Why anyone would risk their lives to take that chance. I mean, it's their lives. Their... existence!"

"f.u.c.king dolts."

Time sighed into the phone. The weariness in his voice was unmistakable. "Well, where are these two men now?"

"Sleeping."

"How do you know about them?"

"All things are connected. You know that."

"Can you wake them?"

Though Fear would never admit it, the concern in Time's voice worried him. He thought about it for a moment, and then he shook his head.

"No. Let them sleep for now. I'll be pushing them hard enough in the time coming."

There was silence on the line, and then, "How did it ever come down to this?"

"You know how," Fear told him. "We all know how."

They were both quiet for a moment. Finally, Fear sniffed and broke the spell. "I'll go then," and hung up. His request was put in. He did not want to listen to Time anymore. Time was too hopeful while Fear was black and white. Cut and dried. They balanced each other, but now they were apart, Fear had no stomach to argue or debate or even listen to Time. They would either succeed or they would not. Hope could do little for them, or so he believed. Part of him wondered what his existence would be like without the Mundanes. The others worried about it constantly.

He did not care.

Mundanes were a noisy, complaining herd of cattle.

A part of him thought that the cosmos would probably be a quieter place when they were all gone. For him, certainly.

He placed the cell phone on the dashboard before him, flicking a disgusted look at the man he had come to call p.u.s.s.y-beard.

"f.u.c.king idiots," he swore, and went back to staring at the night sky.

Chapter 32.

Funabashi City, Chiba, j.a.pan.

Hiromi gazed down past her twitching bare toes, past the Seiyu's department store's eight floors of steel and concrete, and wondered if she would feel it when she hit the pavement below. If there was a greater power amongst the heavens, it would grant her the little bit of relief of feeling no pain at all. Life had been agony to her, so at least death could be painless.

A gust of wind blew the black skirt of her high school uniform up past her white knees. Modesty made her press it down before the wind could lift it higher. The thought she was about to kill herself didn't make her worry any less about the wind blowing up and exposing her secrets to the world. She didn't care after she was gone, but for now, while she was still drawing breath, her skirt would remain three fingers below her knee.

She set her jaw and gazed out over the cityscape of Funabashi-shi. She had lived here all her life, and hated every f.u.c.king millimetre of its steel bones and concrete guts. The people in the city were indifferent to her plain looks, to her short bangs, to her eyes s.p.a.ced just a little too far apart. Her acne had turned both her cheeks into the surface of mars, and her mother allowed no makeup as it only inflamed the skin more. In the movies, a person with her lack of physical appeal would usually make up for it in school grades.

Not in Hiromi's movie.

Her exam scores smacked of mediocrity. The prestigious high school her parents wanted her to enter for so long would not take her. All the pressures of studying had been endured for nothing; all the nights when she could only sleep for three or four hours, if sleep came at all, had been for nothing. She knew what her parents would say. Their words would shame her to the spot. It was better this way. Get it over with. Reboot. Leave an apologetic note. She was so sorry to have been a disappointment, to her mother especially. Hiromi could care less about her salaryman father, whom she barely saw at all. He worked even harder than she did, starting with a two hour commute every morning and every night to and from Yokohama. She didn't know the man. All she knew was that he gave whatever money he managed to make to her mother.

And then there was Yui Okikawa.

Kazuo had been the only boy that had ever showed any kindness to her, that ever showed any interest in her, until Yui stole him away. That theft left Hiromi both livid and miserably depressed. It happened just before her exams to make matters worse. Yui was beautiful in Hiromi's opinion. She was beautiful enough to have any boy she wanted, but she decided to lay Kazuo above them all, the only boy Hiromi ever had any feelings for, and later boast about it in the girls' locker room. Just to show Hiromi that she could. Hiromi didn't know what she had done to incur Yui's wrath. Perhaps she saw Kazuo talking to her and that had been enough. That would be enough for someone like Yui. She demanded the attention of all the boys.

Hiromi pushed it from her mind. She pushed everything from her mind. The only thing she concentrated on was the ground, so far below. This life was over for her. She wrote those exact words on the note she sealed in a plastic bag and stashed in her vest pocket. She looked down again and wondered what it would feel like to fly for mere seconds, and then hit the hard ground. She tried to imagine it, succeeded somewhat but then gave up. Reality was but seconds away. All she needed to do was take a step, one foot and then the other, as if she were descending steps.

Her bare toes edged over into air, pressing against the concrete. Fear flared up in her, trying to make her stop. But it wasn't enough. She thought of Yui and Kazuo. She thought of her d.a.m.n acne, she thought of her parents and how disappointed they would be once they saw that their daughter would not be getting into the school they wanted.

She stretched out her arms and stepped into air.

The rush of wind and nothingness smashed into her resolve to kill herself, and in an instant, Hiromi's fear exploded in her head and heart. She shrieked. She did not want to die. She had made a mistake. Windows flashed by like silver in the sun. Her stomach went up into her throat, and she screamed again. This was not right! She wanted to take it back! She fanned her arms, attempting to slow her fall, but the earth sucked her down. Pavement rushed up to meet her.

And she smashed into it.

The people nearby heard the heart-wrenching scream. They looked up in time to see the shape of a person freefalling against the glare of the sun, and they heard the wet, bursting splatter not unlike a balloon filled with water.

As they drew close, they could see that she had landed on her back, arms and legs flung wide. Lines of blood like the tails of doomed comets left the starburst pool of blood surrounding her. Blood spilled from her eyes, ears and nose. Her skull looked like an egg dropped to the floor, crushed on one side. Bone shards stretched a blackening scalp. Her face was paint white, and while some simply stood in shock at the blood blooming before them, others speed dialled 119.

One man, thinking more of the women and children pa.s.sing by in the street, took off his runner's jacket. He meant to cover up this poor girl, to give her some dignity rather than leaving her on display for the death watchers. The ambulance chasers. It was with great effort that he summoned up the nerve to approach the mess of a human being before them all.

He only got three steps, his jacket spread wide in his hands, when Hiromi opened her mouth and moaned.

Chapter 33.

Paradise wasn't exactly what Tony expected when he pulled into its parking lot. It was a roadside bar, brown, with its windows full of faded tropical islands and trees. The double doors were just closing as the Mustang parked itself, and Tony wondered if the place was busy so late in the afternoon.

"Paradise," H2 announced from the back seat. "Looks like a s.h.i.thole. But you warm up to it."

"I really wish you would not talk that way," Lucy said.

"I am what I am. Therefore," H2 snapped his fingers in what he probably thought was cool. "Am I wrong, chief?"

"f.u.c.k off," Tony said clearly. He wondered if the man actually forgot his name. He glanced over at Lucy, mouthed a silent 'sorry'. The man did have a point, however. The place did look like a s.h.i.thole. A brown caked one. The thought made him smile, but he did not share it with Lucy. She already controlled him, and he liked it. G.o.d above help him if they ever got together once this was all over. She'd probably have him wearing couple's clothing. And liking it.

"What are you smiling at?" Lucy asked him.

"Nothing."

"I know what he's smiling at," H2 chided.

"f.u.c.k you squared," Tony fired off, and grimaced at Lucy, "Sorry."

"Oh, whatever," Lucy threw up a hand. "You're both going to do it, anyway. Knock yourselves out. When it really starts to bother me, I'll just leave. So, there."

"We goin' in?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Lucy said, and looked at him, concerned. "You ready?"

"Yeah," but he wasn't. He delivered messages with his fists. Not with his brain.

"Good," H2 declared. "'Fraid I wasn't going to be able to walk if I stayed back here any longer."

"That would be a shame," Tony sneered.

H2 got the jab and was ready. He had two eyes. "But you'd take care of me, wouldn't you Lucy? Just like that time in the hot tub down in Boracay?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and did not rely. The words made Tony set his jaw. The man in the back had his number, and he knew it.

They got out of the car and walked into Paradise. Tony glanced at his watch. It was 5:30. There was no one on the door. They went inside, and the smell of marinated steak and onions. .h.i.t them. Tony loved bar food. Loved chicken fingers. Back in Halifax, he used to be a regular at the Thirsty Duck and the cheap Chicken Finger Night there. Then, there was Pedlar's decadent hot turkey sandwich with a hill of golden corn giblets on one side and a mound of home fries on the other; all deep in gravy. Heaven.

He hadn't had bar food in a long time. Not since his mom. He couldn't. How could he enjoy eating when she couldn't eat anything? When he finally did eat, he felt guilty. Tony set his jaw and tried hard to concentrate on what lay ahead.

They stood at a nexus in the bar and turned right. They moved past a long, lacquered, wood counter top complete with beer taps and spouts all gleaming and longing for the lights of Las Vegas. The two bartenders behind the counter wore black and blue t-shirts, and greeted the new customers with smiles. The three of them moved past high bar tables, all empty, and down a short flight of stairs into a pit area lined with alcoves and filled with tables and cushion chairs. At the far end of the room, a decorative fire place made the room quite looking, except for the chicken wire covering the unlit fire logs. To the right of this, in one of the alcoves, Frank and the man called H were sitting and talking. Tony saw the man he had come to talk to. Frank sensed the gaze immediately. He looked at Tony and shook his head. H looked in the same direction, his expression unreadable.

Nodding their heads in greeting, Lucy and H2 moved to a neighbouring alcove. Lucy went in first, and Tony blocked H2 from following her. With an evil smile, H2 sat down on the other side, placing Lucy between them. If she noticed this, she did not let on.

She s.n.a.t.c.hed up the menu on the table. "Mmmmm, they have chicken fingers. On special, too. And a happy hour. I like Paradise already."

"Let's get a pitcher," H2 said.

"OK," Lucy agreed and waved for a waitress. "You want some of this?"

Tony frowned. He did not want to think of eating. Not even chicken fingers. "Maybe just some water. I'm driving."

"d.i.c.kless," H2 commented with a disapproving shake of his head.

"What did you say?" Tony said, leaning forward.

"I said 't.i.tless,'" H2 cupped his hand to his mouth and coughed. "The waitress."

This drew a frown from Lucy. When the woman arrived, Lucy did the ordering. The waitress wore a pink casual shirt with Labatt's written above its breast pocket. Tony thought it was cute and not at all t.i.tless as H2 had said.

"Full of s.h.i.t," Tony muttered.

"What was that? Lucy asked.

"I said he's full of s.h.i.t."

"Frank?"

"Him, too" Tony said, ignoring H2's glare. "I'm going over there now and getting this s.h.i.t over with."

"Wait for a bit," Lucy said, placing a hand on his. The contact made Tony become very still. "He's a lush when he drinks."

"What?" Tony made himself say.

"He's a cheap lush," Lucy told him. H2 was nodding. "He was on a pitcher when we came in. Let him finish it. H won't drink much cuz he's with us. He knows Frank can't drink much, either."

"We all know that," H2 remarked with contempt.

"Even Frank," Lucy went on. "But he doesn't care. He likes his beer. So wait until that first pitcher settles in."