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“You with Ashley?” The Hatchling mumbled, cocking his thick head to the short cat-masked girl who was getting the door.

“’Fraid so,” said Alex, pretending not to know him. “Said she’s got some dope.”

The Hatchling raised his thick eyebrows when Ashley giggled. “Oh, relax, Manny, we’re supposed to reach a quota, remember?”

“But he ain’t here,” Manny grunted.

The door clicked open. Ashley turned to face them. Behind the cute cat-whisker mask, her eyes were wide and unblinking—not nervous, not friendly. Measuring. “Exactly. I am.” She motioned them inside.

Manny growled under his breath but held the door, following them in and posting up beside the desk.

As soon as they stepped in, Ken tapped Alex on the shoulder. “I don’t have a lot on me,” he rasped in his ear.

“Calm your tits,” he hissed back at him.

This room didn’t fit with the rest of the house’s shiny marble tile and glass walls. It was incredibly cramped, with boxes and stacks of paper piled in the corners and along the walls of the room.

Two worn black leather couches faced each other, with a frosted-glass coffee table between them. A wooden desk at the far end was completely buried under scattered papers and office junk. Unlike the rest of Covey’s glass-and-marble showroom, this room looked like someone had been living and working out of it for months.

Ashley plopped her ass onto the couch, crossed her legs, and snapped her fingers at Manny without looking at him. When he hunched over to open the drawer, she turned to them, motioning for them to sit. “How much you want?”

Alex settled in his seat, met her eyes, and held. Half her face was covered, but the half he could see was doing plenty of talking. “How much you got?”

Ashley curled two fingers at Manny. He came back with a medium-sized chrome suitcase, setting it on the coffee table, clasps facing her. She punched a code into the lock. Once the case hissed and popped open, she spun it around.

Sleek black sticks stood upright within the dark foam like rows of black graves. Ten sticks, probably for each row. Ashley pulled one thin bar out with her long flowery pink nails.

“One hundred each,” said Ashley. She flipped it between her fingers before catching it. The thick black liner around her eyes creased—a smile that didn’t need a mouth to land. “But… since you’re pretty cute… maybe eighty?”

Ken huffed a laugh, and Alex resisted the urge to kick him. He glanced at the bars in the case and leaned forward, resting his forearm on his knee with a cocky smile. “You always give out discounts to your favorite customers?”

Ashley giggled, clutching the bar. “I don’t know about that. You’re the first today.”

Alex licked his bottom lip, making sure she was paying attention to him and getting her to spill everything. But everything needed to have calculated timing. He pointed at the black sticks. “They all come with the Durden inside?”

She nodded.

Ken stirred in his seat, but Alex played it cool. This was a game, after all.

He held out his palm. “May I?”

Ashley leaned in until they were nearly eye level. A sweet perfume cut through the stale air of the room. She pointed the tip of the bar at Alex’s chest.

The bar was inches from his hand. The last time he’d been this close to Durden, it had been a different form—cruder, rawer. His stomach turned at the memory, but he kept his face still.

He took the bar between two fingers, held it up to the dim light, and turned it slowly. Same shape as the one Kana showed them. Same kind of bar that Rafael still had. Same switch and two buttons.

“Have you experienced Durden before?” Ashley prompted, leaning even closer, her hands gripping the edge of the couch cushion.

Alex looked at her over the line of the bar. “I have. Just not this version.”

He leaned forward and pointed it at her. “When they first distributed Durden, it was only available like this.”

He slid the safety switch. The top popped open. Ashley went still.

Alex tipped the tiny pink vial into his palm and held it up between his index and thumb, close enough to her face that she had to focus on it. Then he pinched both ends and gestured like he was about to snap it in half.

Ashley flinched.