34
- 34 -
The alley was dark, and a rank odour hung in the air, suspended in the moisture. It wasn’t a place Leopold would have chosen to spend much time, but he smiled.
He was outside again.
The rain felt refreshing, and he tilted his head back, closing his eyes as water found paths down his face. He opened his mouth and tasted it, and what did it matter that it was nowhere near as pure as the rain that fell in the Dome? It was more honest, the weather out here. It had its own kind of purity.
But he couldn’t be side-tracked.
Derras stepped closer to the end of the alley, where the plaza awaited, leaving Leopold and Shorack a couple of paces behind. The youth held a screen in one hand, and a wire in his other, and Leopold could see that the two were attached. As he neared the corner
