1. They were staring intently at their houseguest, who was taking up most of one side of the dining room table.
2. “That’s what the Chapeaux Noirs are all about: a clean slate for the Industrial Wastes. Wipe out the oppressors, the wreckers, the looters. Finis.”
3. And then, her son appeared from the curtain of shadow: a boy of fifteen summers, fourteen winters.
4. She thrust her hands into the robe’s pocket and retrieved the three things she’d stowed there: an eagle’s feather. A pearly stone. A boy’s full set of teeth.
5. The ship pitched in the waves that drew it closer to the rock’s only visible landing spot: a wave-racked wooden jetty.
6. The ivy hung from the creature’s frame like a shaggy coat and draped in long tendrils from its faceless head, like an overly hairy dog.
7. Alexandra held out her arms; her son stepped into them and laid his head, softly, on his mother’s chest.