THERE IS NO WAY those people aren’t genetically modified,” I said, taking another handful of popcorn. In the other city that never sleeps, we weren’t sleeping. In fact, we were at one of the Cirque du Soleils, watching some little Chinese girls fold themselves into knots while spinning plates on their feet and balancing balls on their heads.

“It’s completely unnatural,” Fang agreed.

“So they’re mutants, they’re weird, and here they are, holding down jobs. There is hope after all.” I ate more popcorn, unable to tear my eyes away from people doing stuff that I just couldn’t believe they could do.

We’d just come from the MGM resort, where it had happened to be Cub Day — they’d had two super-cute lion cubs playing in a huge glassed-in area.

“Now, why couldn’t they have put just a smidge of lion DNA into our mix?” I’d asked. “That would be so cool.”

Fang had groaned. “That’s all we need. Another two percent of something else in our genes. Excellent.”

“Still, just a touch of lion — we’d be even stronger, faster,” I had said wistfully. “And more graceful.”

“You’re already strong, fast, and … somewhat graceful, sometimes,” Fang had said. “You want fuzzy ears?”

I had dropped the subject. But now, looking at act after act of inhumanly flexible and powerful humans, I almost wanted just a little touch of something else.

“I’m thinking those kids have extra vertebrae,” I whispered to Fang.

“Be happy with your ninety-eight-two-percent split,” he whispered back. “Next thing you know, you’ll be grafted with, like, DNA from an elephant seal. Or a bear. ‘Where’s Max? Oh, she’s hibernating,’ “ Fang said. I had just taken a sip of soda, and now my graceful self snorted it through my nose.

Max.

“What?” Oh. Voice. ’Ssup?

Get out of there now.

Without hesitation I got to my feet. Fang looked at me in surprise, saw the expression on my face, and immediately got up too. I did a fast scan and saw guards at each entrance, but they didn’t seem to be paying attention to us.

So where …

Max, up!

I crouched down, ready to jump into the air and to take flight at the slightest sign of danger, but in the next second, strong arms grabbed me.