“Uh, hi.”
“Mr. Zerezghi, a pleasure!” The tousled man reached out his hand and Yared shook it on instinct. “Jonas. Happy to meet face to face at last.”
Yared straightened up. “Jonas? Really? Nice to meet you as well. Is this…are you the Council of eight?”
-True Name nodded. “That’s us, yep. Michelle could not be here tonight, so I am here in her stead.”
+True Name nodded. “That is us, yep. Michelle could not be here tonight, so I am here in her stead.”
“You meet at a diner?”
“We meet all over,” Jonas said. “There is no headquarters, per se. We just find interesting places and meet there.”
“Wherever’s most boring.” The nondescript person shrugged.
@@ -148,11 +148,11 @@“One!”
It was all for these smiling faces and complete and total freedom.
Everyone began cheering at once. The windows lit up with a fireworks display. True Name stopped clapping in order to hug him around the shoulders, and after a moment’s hesitation, he returned the gesture.
-“This is why you wanted to be the last one, isn’t it?” she murmured in his ear just loud enough for him to hear. “You greedy son of a bitch. You just wanted to be the last one to join the party.”
+“This is why you wanted to be the last one, is it not?” she murmured in his ear just loud enough for him to hear. “You greedy son of a bitch. You just wanted to be the last one to join the party.”
He laughed. “You know, I think you may be right.”