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A l l G o o d C h i l d r e n
Advance Reading Copy
Xavier mutters something incomprehensible.
Werewolf grabs his arm and tries to haul him up. “Get
out of this chair, you idiot!” he shouts.
Xavier snaps to attention. He never liked to be touched.
He grabs Werewolf ’s middle finger and snaps it back.
Crack.
The sound of breaking bone echoes off the walls and pierces the
surveillance camera. Werewolf emits a childish sobbing scream
and holds his hand in the air like it’s a foreign object.
A look of fury comes over Xavier, a look I’ve never seen him
wear before. He stands up and roars—a shocking primal sound
that spills into the hallway. He plows Werewolf in the face.
Werewolf ’s head swings over his shoulder and he staggers
backward into Brennan’s desk. His nose gushes blood, hot
and red, spewing onto his beard and his clean white shirt,
down to the floor tiles. Xavier steps through the splatter and
punches Werewolf in the gut, breathing so hard he’s almost
smoking.
Brennan pushes his chair back into the desk behind him.
Other students shake their heads, glance at the camera, chant
the rules prohibiting violence.
Xavier strikes again with an uppercut. Werewolf lands on
Brennan’s desktop with his hairy neck exposed like a chicken
on a chopping block. Xavier looks prepared to sever the head
with his own bloody hands while the class looks on in annoy-
ance. I almost want him to do it. I sit there and wait for it,
but Brennan stands up between them.
Xavier turns his fury onto Brennan, who’s ready for it.
Brennan blocks a punch and knees Xavier in the groin, then
gets him on the floor and pins his arm behind his back. “Easy,
easy,” he whispers.
