the voice tumbled across the plain like an avalanche . `` so , um , when will you bring the others ? '' like everything else , you assume all these things were rightly yours just for the taking . her thoughts had gotten away with her somehow . they went through lost secret 's school system up until the third grade . there was no way they could jump and survive , and there was no other apparent way to get down . she sat there , pale and blonde against the shades of indigo and violet and gray that filled the alley . 