Titus barks, jarring me awake the next morning. He is cross. I know it before I’ve opened my eyes but there is more proof in his expression. He stands over my bed with drawn eyebrows and fisted hands. I shrink back into the mattress and clutch the sheet. Somewhere in my mind, I know that he will not kill me. But only because I am more valuable to him alive so someone else can try. Beyond that, I am absolutely positive nothing else is off limits. He is the Creator. Even sleep could not blur my recollection of this. It makes me more scared, though it shouldn’t. Nothing else has changed—except that I know something I didn’t twelve hours ago. “What is it?” I ask. I can hear the timidity in my voice and I hate it. “We have an agreement. Or have you forgotten? You will abide by the terms or you will be removed,” he says in a voice that isn’t yelling but is much scarier. “And if you think that means you can go home to the City and back to your meaningless existence consisting of tennis and cafeteria food, you are mistaken.”
