“No,” the child said. “And you better believe me, because if you don’t you won’t get out of this world alive.” “You can’t die in a hallucination,” Leo said. “Any more than you can be born again. I’m going back to P.P. Layouts.” Once more he started toward the stairs. “Go ahead and climb,” the child said from behind him. “See if I care. Wait and see where it gets you.” Leo climbed the stairs, and passed through the luminous hoop. Blinding, ferociously hot sunlight descended on him; he scuttled from the open street to a nearby doorway for shelter. A jet cab, from the towering high buildings,
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