down greatly one day , and pondered if the change had any meaning . And he slept lightly . This last part was the most essential to his plan . Having an asshole of a stepdad growing up , Grey had learned young to modulate his sleep to the situation . When life was good , he could sleep so deeply that nothing short of a tornado could wake him up till dawn . But when life was difficult or downright horrible , and it certainly was horrible right now , his consciousness would instead float in a hazy area between the waking world and the oblivion of sleep , enjoying his dreams while at the same time keeping an ear out for any sign of danger .
It was in this between-world that Grey floated and waited . And finally , while drifting one day , he heard it . He quickly rose to wakefulness but pretended to still be asleep as the door to the lockup opened . Cracking one eye open , he watched as Old Man paused in front of this cell and murmured something to himself . Grey waited . Old Man stopped muttering for a moment and stepped in front of Lita ’ s cell . Again , he began to murmur and Grey wondered what he was up to .
Old Man ’ s feet shuffled further along the cells , stopping finally at Annie ’ s . Then a new sound entered the lockup . For a moment , Grey wasn ’ t sure what it was , but he heard it repeated at Knives ’ cell , and then at Princess ’ s . By the time he heard it at Lita ’ s , he recognized it : the sound of a new Lunchables being placed on the ground and an old one being picked up off the ground . He just had to wait for Old Man to place one in his cell —
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