“Check it out."Jonah removed the bubble wrap and held up the picture for his three cousins.Dan took a step backward. The shock was almost as powerful as it had been the day before at the Uffizi. "It's perfect! It's every bit as disgusting as the real one!"Amy nodded. "And so fast. We only called you yesterday."Jonah shrugged. "Even the Janus take a short cut every now and then. You can do a lot with digitization these days. You break the picture down to squares and reproduce them one at a time. The other two are just as fly.""You mean, hog ugly," Hamilton amended. "The serpents don't help," Dan put in critically. "Live fat spaghetti. Lady, if you're thinking of a modeling career, forget it!" The rapper clucked sympathetically. "You guys just don't appreciate the power of the visual image. The Wiz used to be like that–until Gangsta Kronikles. When you're in film industry, you understand the whole picture's-worth-a-thousand-words deal."Hamilton rolled his eyes. "Here we go again.”

“You're a model? Never would have guessed," Jonah said in a lazy, teasing voice that caused Hamilton's head to swivel. He'd never seen Jonah flirt before.The girl tilted her head. The glossy hair spilled down one bare shoulder. "Un moment...you look familiar."Jonah grinned. "Yeah?""'Ave we met? Are you an 'airdresser?""A hairdresser?" Jonah choked out."Guys, we'd better get going," Hamilton said."The name is Jonah," Jonah said, pronuncing his name carefully. He waited for a sign of recognition."Nicole.""Jonah Wizard."Nicole squinted at him. "You are a wee-zhard? Like the Harry Potter, non?""I'm Hamilton," Hamilton said, even though nobody asked.”

“Jonah peered critically up at the Renaissance masterpiece. "Man, those copies don't due it justice. This one's the truth!""Only a Janus," groaned Hamilton.”

“Yeah!" shouted Jonah, twirling the much larger Hamilton around the restaurant in a victory dance.The other diners watched in amazement. This wild display was hardly the public image of the too-cool-for-school Jonah Wizard."What's the matter?" Hamilton challenged. "Haven't you ever seen a happy rapper before?”

“Amy bit her lip. "I was so scared, Dan. I couldn't think. She shook her head. "I feel so ashamed of myself. If it wasn't for you, we would have been toast.""Whoa," Dan said. "If you're throwing a pity party for yourself, don't invite me." He poked her. "You were the one who got Jonah to find us. Awesome lung power. I thought you only used that volume to get me out of the bathroom.”

“How do you know when you're There, I had once wondered. Maybe you're lucky enough to notice the moment it's happening to you. Maybe you're able to block out all the other stuff that is, in the end, just background noise. But, most often, you don't know that you were There until you lose it, or until it gets taken away from you. When you look back, you clearly see that time, that place, when all the pieces of you had finally fit together to make you blissfully happy, make you your whole self. Like one of those jumbo puzzles that take up your entire kitchen table for weeks, the tiny pieces are just cardboard shapes with colors splashed on them, and they don't make any sense until you find their rightful place among the other pieces. When you put the last piece into place and the pieces now form a complete picture, that's when you're There. But while you were busy thinking about gluing the puzzle together, so that the pieces would never be apart again, someone comes from behind you, destroys the last piece and throws the rest of the pieces away. Even if you could muster up enough courage to put the pieces back together, the picture would never be complete again, because of the last missing piece...which, as it turned out, was smack in the middle, or in the heart, of the picture.”