I watched him leave, saw Max slink off after Amy was asleep, and caught the smell of popcorn. Cat emerged with a bowl brimming with the stuff, light on butter but heavy with salt. Though she no longer hunted and no longer changed, she still craved the occasional late-night snack, especially when she knew her brothers were roaming the old abandoned park and nearby woods looking for prey. I couldn’t be sure if it was a psychological need or a physical one still linked to her tweaked genetic code. I only knew she complained about it frequently. “Studies have shown people tend to put on more weight if they snack after seven in the evening.” She settled onto the couch beside me. “And here I am, seventeen and starving at nearly midnight! I am too young to have my body ruined by the tinkering your grandfather did.” “Da,” I said. Nodding, I changed the channel. “I am getting fatter.” “To get fatter you must first be fat,” I pointed out, switching channels again. “You are not even approaching plump.”
