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completely sanguine about arresting him if he didn’t fit in. The fact that Raven was a Hex made him estimate his chances of being allowed to go free if he were caught worse than those of a snowflake in hell. He also secretly admitted that in allowing him to discover that she was a Hex, Raven had hardly been playing it safe. Whatever he might think of Wraith’s opinion of him, letting a streetkid know something that could get them flatlined was a disastrous move by anyone’s standards. But Kez was swiftly realizing that caution wasn’t one of Raven’s priorities. She had a kind of reckless confidence in her own abilities that led her to openly ignore Wraith’s warnings. But Kez had no idea of the true extent of those abilities and he suspected Wraith didn’t either, which was why he sat uncomfortably on the edge of his chair, wondering if at any moment he would hear the sirens of Seccies coming to get them.
    Raven was creating a new ID for Kez. It was in fact the first real ID he had ever had, never having made it onto any official census records. He was amazed at the ease with which Raven hacked into the government files. Despite the fact that he had never known a hacker before, the street price for fake IDs was high enough for him to gather that this kind of operation could only be attempted by the most electric of experts. But Raven wasn’t even concentrating properly, turning her head to talk to him as her fingers lightly touched the keypad.
    â€œHow would you like to be my cousin, Kez?” she asked.
    â€œA what?” he wrinkled his nose in puzzlement.
    â€œMy ID claims I’m a researcher for a US vidchannel named AdAstra. It would be convenient for you to be related to me.” She grinned. “I would tell the computer you’re my brother but we don’t look enough alike.”
    â€œYou don’t look much like Wraith,” Kez pointed out.
    â€œThat’s because he looks like a freak,” she replied, raising her voice a little so her brother would be certain to hear her. “Rachel and I were perfect little asylum orphans but everyone looked askance at Wraith. It’s ironic that he’s never shown the slightest sign of being a Hex, despite the fact that he looks about as freaky as you can get.”
    â€œWraith looks like a ganger,” Kez said, trying to smooth things over. “It’s not really freaky, just scary.” He bit his lip, thinking of the gangers he had been unfortunate enough to know, but Raven just laughed.
    â€œThat’s ironic as well. I’m much more frightening than Wraith,” she told him, then glanced back at the computer before he could attempt a reply. “OK, I’m done here. Would you like to know your new name?”
    â€œIt’s not anything weird, is it?” Kez asked, mistrusting Raven’s sense of humor.
    â€œWould I do that?” Raven asked facetiously. “No, it’s as close to your real name as I could make it. You are now Kester Chirac, a Canadian national. You flew over from San Francisco last week, traveling executive class, seat 14C. Your cousin, Elizabeth Black, had seat 14B. AdAstra’s research department paid for both fares—media people are expected to scam their company for their family’s benefit.”
    â€œIs that really all in the records?” Kez asked in astonishment.
    â€œAnd a lot more.” Raven leaned back in her chair with a self-satisfied expression. “Do you want to know about the flitter that took you from the airport to London, or the hotel you stayed in last week?” She leaned forward again, sweeping her hands across the keypad. “There’s your hotel bill at the Regent.”
    Kez stared at the screen in fascination and was aware that Wraith had come up behind them and was looking as well.
    â€œIt’s a large bill for just a week,” he commented.
    â€œKez charged a lot to room service,” Raven