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but sometimes she half expected her husband to come up behind her and place his large, warm hands on her shoulders. Sometimes she forgot, and expected little Hunter to pounce on her when she came through the door after work. They were both gone now, and she did better when she forgot them altogether. The forgetting was just a different kind of pain. Every path just led to a brand new something breaking inside of her, and she wasn't sure how much more could be broken before she gave up on repairing herself. Viv roughly pushed the radio in front of The Book, obscuring it from curious eyes.
         The words scrawled in the margins of The Book stayed fresh in her mind. She was too terrified to even think about it. Viv put her cup in the sink and got ready for work. She managed to catch an early bus and was seated at her station in the lab, already working, when the others came in.  
         “I heard he can read minds,” the lab assistant, Sonia, was saying to Mark, who laughed pompously.
         “Those are rumors. The Revs haven't read minds since the old times.”
         “And just when were these old times?” Viv called, not even daring to look up from her microscope. “Were you there, sharing the joy of reading tiny human minds all those centuries ago?”
         “It's in the memo they sent,” said Mark, narrowing his eyes. “Did you even bother to read it, Viv? He's coming today.”
         Viv looked up then, to see Mark smile unctuously at her. Without realizing it, Viv clenched a fist.
         “Who's coming?”
         “You don’t know anything, do you?” said Mark. “The president?”
         “What?” said Viv. “Why?”
         “Not so snarky now, are you?” said Mark. “We're not testing samples today, so you can put that microscope away. Today is all about Ambrose Conrad.”
         Viv's heart beat in her chest. The president. The first voice everyone heard after the Blackout. The monster in charge of the world. What if he really could read minds? Would he know? Would he be able to tell just by looking at her? She stared at Mark. Sonia walked to the break room to hang her coat.  
         “Why is he coming here?” she said, trying not to sound as breathless as she felt. “Is it publicity? It's not like he needs to win an election or anything.” She tried for a smile, but it faltered. Mark frowned at her.
         “It's his country, he can go wherever he pleases.” He raised an eyebrow. “You know, Genevieve, you'd do best to curb your remarks. You never know who could overhear and be less...forgiving than I am. You could get in some very hot water talking about the Revenants that way.”
         “Right. Sorry,” Viv said, hoping she looked sincere. “I'm very tired today. I'm not feeling myself.”
         “You're not sick are you?” Mark said, suddenly anxious. “You can't be here when you're sick. You know how they are about illness.”
         “No, no, nothing like that. Just bad dreams is all.”
         “Okay,” he said slowly, as if he didn't quite believe her. “Just be careful. Especially today. We don't want anything to go wrong.”
         Mark turned and left to put his peacoat away, and Viv took a deep breath. When her heart slowed a bit, she bent back over the microscope. Mark would be flitting around all morning, tidying things, yelling at the intern. She couldn't stand the thought of watching it all. She needed work right now.  
         The knock on the door came at exactly ten o'clock. To the second. Viv scratched out some notes before getting up to retrieve another sample. Mark glared at her as he hurried to the door. No amount of cajoling had torn Viv away from work today. Mark behaved as though he were in charge, but in truth no one was in charge. Not really. Viv would have wondered if what they were doing was even necessary, had she not seen what Griff had written in that book. Viv shook her head, pushing the thought away. She