to do-"
"Then you can do it right here. You're not staying out overnight on a school night. If you think that, you've got another think coming."
Jenny's stomach had a falling-elevator feeling. She opened her mouth, trying to think of something, anything to say. But she could see by her uncle's face that it wouldn't do any good. He was as stubborn as Zach; stubborner.
The door banged again as he left.
Jenny whirled in dismay. "What are we going to do?"
"Nothing." Face turned from her, Zach slapped the art book shut and put it back on the pressed-wood shelf.
"But, Zach, we have to-"
"Look, if you argue with him, he'll just get madder -and he might start calling around. Do you want him to talk to your parents?" He turned back, and his thin face was calm, although Jenny thought his eyes looked a little sore. "Don't rock the boat, Jenny. Maybe he'll let me come tomorrow."
"But for tonight-"
"I'll be okay. You just-just watch out for yourself, all right?" He moved when Jenny tried to put a hand on his arm and added, "Tell everybody else what happened, will you? I think I'll just stay here a while. Do some work."
Jenny's hand dropped. "Okay, Zach," she said softly. She blinked. "Goodbye. I mean-see you later." She turned and went quickly out of the garage.
"Now what?" Dee said when they were back at the apartment. They were all quiet, their triumph deflated.
"Now we order some pizza and wait," Michael said.
"Mid think," Jenny said. "*We have to figure out where that base is."
Jenny woke up with a start and thought, iypnopompic hallucination? I think I'm awake, but I'm still dreaming.
Mian was leaning over her.
"Tom!" she cried, turning to see him lying on the floor beside her, his breathing deep and even. Her cry didn't wake him.
"Don't bother. It's only a dream. Come in the other room, where we can have a little privacy."
Jenny, who was wearing her own sweatsuit tonight instead of Michael's, pulled her blanket up higher. Like some Victorian girl in a lacy nightgown. "You're crazy," she told him with dream-calmness. "If I go in there, you'll kidnap me."
"I won't. I promise." His teeth gleamed at her briefly, wolflike. "Remember Perthro?"
The rune of gambling, Jenny thought, seeing in her mind's eye the lines he'd sketched in the air on the night of the prom. The rune of fair play, of sticking to the rules. Meaning he kept his promises, she supposed. Or that he would keep this. Or that he said he would.
But he might give me a clue about the base, Jenny thought She and the others hadn't had much luck figuring it out for themselves. And it was a dream, anyway. She got up and followed him to Michael's bedroom, where the clock radio said 4:33 a.m.
"Where's Audrey?" she demanded as he turned to face her. If this had been reality, she would have been frightened of him, maybe too frightened to speak. But it was a dream, and everything she did was governed by dream-logic.
"Safe."
"But where is she?"
"That would be telling." His eyes swept over her and he smiled. "I have to say it; you look equally good in grunge and high fashion."
It wasn't a dream. The way he disturbed and excited Jenny was too real. By Michael's bedside lamp she could see his eyes, which at the prom had been shadowed by his mask. She had finally figured out what color they were. It was the blue you see when you're washing your face in the shower and your fingers press on your closed lids. You see filaments of brightness etched against the black, more vibrant than electric blue. A color that isn't really in the wavelengths of light that the human eye can perceive. The color Jenny had seen in afterimage when the computer flashed,
Jenny looked away, simultaneously holding out her hand to him. "I want this off, please. Just until the Game is over, take the ring off."
He took her hand instead, stroking her palm with his thumb. "Is it making Tommy nervous?"
"No-I don't know. I don't like it." She looked at him again, trying to pull her hand away. His fingers were cooler than Tom's, but just as strong. "I hate you, you know," she said earnestly. She couldn't see why he never seemed to understand this. "You make me hate you."
"Is that what you're feeling? Hate?"
Jenny was trembling. Stubbornly she nodded.
Very gently he reeled her in by the captive hand, drawing her to him. She'd