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safe. He was confident that both his and Sarah’s new multilayered identities would hide<br />
them from whoever was looking for them, both the good guys and the bad. They’d also<br />
found an apartment that rented by the month. After the encounter with Gabriela,<br />
Michael had decided he needed to move.<br />
Somewhere along the way, Sarah had forgotten the rule about not talking with your<br />
mouth full.<br />
“It’s not a bad place, really,” she said after shoving another spoonful into her mouth.<br />
She looked around at the small kitchen and the adjoining living room—empty—then<br />
down the hallway, where there were a couple of bedrooms. Each contained two items: a<br />
single mattress and a fully functioning, brand-new Coffin. The coffins hadn’t been<br />
cheap, and Michael halfheartedly promised himself to pay back the Porters someday.<br />
For the money, if not for stealing their son.<br />
“Well, not really how I imagined my first place on my own,” Michael said. “You<br />
know, living next to cranks and prostitutes.”<br />
“Cranks?”<br />
“Yeah.” Michael rolled his eyes. “Crankheads? Druggies?”<br />
She gave him a blank stare.<br />
Michael smiled. “You’ve lived a sheltered life.”<br />
“You were a computer program,” she countered.<br />
“Ouch.” He took another spoonful, chewed, swallowed. “I guess we can’t put this off<br />
anymore. Time for the Sleep. You ready?”<br />
Sarah put her spoon down. “I’m ready. But you’re sure you agree with me?”<br />
“Yep.”<br />
She’d been insistent that instead of trying to find Bryson in the Wake, they needed to<br />
Sink into the Sleep and search for him there. They had far more skill at hiding<br />
themselves in the VirtNet than they did in the Wake, and it would be safer for them and<br />
for Bryson. They’d purposefully held off on contacting him until they went in—no<br />
reason to risk testing how well they’d set up their new identities until they couldn’t wait<br />
any longer.<br />
“Things should’ve settled down by now, right?” she asked.<br />
“At least a little. If they’ve been watching the Sleep, I’m sure they expected us to have<br />
gone in by now.” The truth was that Michael been worried about this. Kaine was even<br />
more powerful inside the VirtNet, but then again, so were Michael and Sarah. They were<br />
doing the right thing. “Let’s just hope Bryson’s okay. I bet they’ve been watching him<br />
like a hawk.”<br />
“Like a hawk,” Sarah repeated with a grin. She always made fun of him for using oldman<br />
clichés. “I’m sure his new identity is even better than ours.”<br />
“Yeah. You get enough?” He nodded at the cereal. It was what passed for gourmet<br />
without his nanny, Helga, around. His heart ached at the thought of her. He missed that<br />
crazy old German woman so much. Even more than his parents, if he was honest. But he<br />
was trying his best not to let himself go down that road—it was possible they still<br />
existed. It was.<br />
“I think three bowls oughta do it,” Sarah confirmed.
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