"Tanya Huff - When The Student Is Ready" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

"To teach you before the test."

Uh-huh. A test. "Is that what thatтАж thing is? Was?"

"Spare some change?"

Isabel slapped her hands together an inch in front of his nose. "Hey! Let's maintain focus here!" He
jerked back, his eyes clearing. "Is thatтАж thing, the test?"

"No. It just wants your power."

"Great." A hundred new questions joined the earlier half dozen. She settled on the most mundane.
"What's your name?"

His brow furrowed. "I have names."

"Good. Pick one."

"Leonardo."


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"di Caprio or da Vinci?"

"What?"

"Pick another."

"Fred."

"There used to be one here, but now there isn't, and so I came. The others are all still arguing over which
one of them it should be, but there isn't time." Fred tapped his chest lightly with a grimy fist. "I know."

Under normal circumstances, Isabel wouldn't have believed a word he'd said, but normal circumstances
had been a little absent of late. The elevator chimed, and she held up a hand as the door began to open.
"Wait here until I check the hall. I'm so not explaining you to anyone."

The coast was clear. She got him out and moving fast; hopefully fast enough that no oneтАФspecifically
Mrs. HarrisтАФcould trace the nearly visible scent trail to the door. She didn't breathe until it closed
behind them. Then she learned that breathing in an enclosed space with Fred was not a good idea.

By the time she stopped coughing, Fred had left the foyer and was standing in the middle of the living
room.

Isabel hurried in beside him. "Look, my father is going to kill me if this place ends up smelling like the
inside of a hot dumpster. You need a shower and some clean clothes."

"Clean." His tone suggested he was searching for a definition of the word. "Okay."