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but my last school was in Switzerland.
So I'm used to the cold.”
    “Switzerland, huh?” Trevor stopped looking
nervous and started looking impressed. “Why'd you leave?”
    “It didn't work out.” Seph rolled his eyes.
    Trevor nodded, as if this answer wasn't unexpected.
“The Havens your parents' idea?” He gestured vaguely at their
surroundings.
    “My parents are dead. I have a guardian. A
lawyer. He set it up,” Seph replied, thinking that he should buy a T-shirt
that said, ORPHAN from TORONTO.
It would save time in these situations.
    “So what's the deal here? How do you get along
with the staff?” Seph continued. Not that Trevor's advice was likely to be
helpful in his case.
    Trevor leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees.
“Oh, I was in trouble a lot before I came here, too. You just need to
follow the rules. Do that, and you'll be okay. They specialize in boys who've
had problems at other places.”
    “Really?” Great, Seph thought. I've landed
in some kind of upper-class reform school. Trevor seemed normal enough, though,
and he'd been there three years. “Do they kick you out if you get in
trouble?”
    “No one gets expelled from the Havens,”
Trevor said. “You'll see. Their program is very—what they call—
effective.”
    Something in the way he said effective sounded
almost sinister. It made Seph want to change the subject. Trevor's laptop
caught his eye. “I have my computer set up, but I don't see any jacks in
my room. Is the cabling included or do I have to pay for wiring?”
    “We don't have our own Internet access,”
Trevor said.
    Seph stared at him. “Why not? It's so easy. They
could use a campus-wide wireless network if they didn't want to lay
cable.”
    Trevor shook his head. “No, I mean, we're not
allowed. They have computers in the library. You can do searches in there if
you want, but they screen the sites.”
    “That's crazy. They can't do that. I have friends
online.” Seph didn't remember that being mentioned in the glossy
brochure.
    Trevor shrugged and looked at his watch again.
“Well, it's about time for swimming. You'd better get changed if you don't
want to be late.”
    Seph rubbed his aching temples. “I'm going to
pass. It's been a long day already.”
    Trevor's eyes widened in surprise. “Dr. Leicester
excused you?”
    “Not exactly.”
    Trevor stood up. “Then you'd better get
ready.”
    It seemed that the visit was over, so Seph stood also.
“Oka-ay, guess I'll get ready, then,” he said.
    “I'll wait for you, if you hurry up.”
    But Seph didn't hurry fast enough, because a few
minutes later he heard Trevor at his door. “I'm going ahead. I'll see you
down there.”
    Seph changed into his trunks and pulled his sweatshirt
and jeans on over them. Descending the stairs two at a time, he left the
building and followed a wood-chip path back through the woods toward the
waterfront. He didn't see any students around; they must've already gone down
to the cove. A sign at the dock pointed him to the right, down the shoreline,
to a well-worn path along the water. A cold slither up his spine said he was
being watched. Twice, he turned and scanned the path behind him, then shrugged
and walked on. Finally, the path turned back into the woods. Hey.
    He turned again, and this time a stocky boy with
wire-rimmed glasses and a ruddy complexion stood in the middle of the path. He
wore husky-style jeans and a sweatshirt, and blinked his eyes really fast, like
he was nervous.
    “Hey,” Seph said. “You late for
swimming, too?”
    “No, I … ah … I d-don't …”The boy began
coughing, struggling to draw breath. He groped in his pocket and produced an
inhaler. He took a long pull off of it, and put it back. Then, with a
determined look on his face, he extended his hand to Seph.
    “I'm Seph McCauley,” Seph said, thinking
maybe you got excused from swimming if you had asthma. He gripped the other
boy's hand, then flinched as he recognized the sting of power.