taught will matter.
I grab Basil’s hand and peer down the ladder as Judas undoes the series of locks.
“Wait,” I say. “What if the air is different? What if it’s diseased, or those ice flurries are dangerous?”
Judas smirks at me. Then, having undone the last lock, he pushes the door open.
The cold is immediate, assaulting my skin. My hair flies away from my face. We have chilly days on Internment this time of year, but they’re nothing at all like this. Cold like this could kill a person.
Over the sound of the wind, I hear the laugh on Basil’s breath. He squeezes his arm around my shoulders. “Would you look at that,” he says.
I stare at the white ground, accumulating more whiteness from the sky, until I see a strip of red fluttering about on a post. The only thing in sight. It must be some sort of flag.
Judas sets one foot outside the bird, preparing to climb his way down the side, and a voice calls out, “Halt!”
The voice is so loud that it echoes in all the metal walls.
Judas is too stunned to step back into the bird or to go forward.
There’s a mechanical quality to the word. Not a god. A machine that’s being shouted into. And the word is heavily affected. No one on Interment speaks quite that way.
Amy grabs Judas by the collar and tugs, which brings him to his senses, and he climbs back inside.
Vehicles appear on the horizon, smaller and more colorful versions of Internment’s emergency vehicles. A peculiar mist trails behind them. Their lights are like pairs of eyes, and the flurries glimmer in their rays.
None of us move. Uncertain.
I like to think we’re brave.
Lex starts to say something, but Alice holds his arm and tells him to be quiet. “Where’s Morgan?” he says. I find his hand, and he squeezes hard. Whatever’s to happen to us, we’ll be together. I want him to know that, but I can’t speak. How can I? What words would be enough for this?
There are more vehicles than I can count, surrounding us on all sides. And then in that affected way, a voice says, “We won’t hurt you. Exit slowly. When you get to the ground, put your hands up where we can see them.”
When we get to the ground.
A hand touches my back, and when I turn around, I see Pen and Thomas behind me, clinging to each other. I don’t know how long they’ve been here. For her, I muster the words, “It’ll be all right.”
She doesn’t seem convinced.
Judas climbs the ladder on the outside of the bird first, Amy behind him, then Alice so that she can help Lex.
The princess is left to stand in the doorway, shivering. She looks at me, and a wicked grin begins to form. “Don’t look so glum,” she says. “This is going to be an adventure.”
Her hair is full of icy wind and daylight. She is every princess, every queen, in the history book. In this instant, I don’t see a bratty princess, but rather I see greatness in her.
She doesn’t bother with the ladder. She turns to face the strange world beyond the door, and she jumps.
About the Author
Lauren DeStefano earned her BA in English with a concentration in creative writing from Albertus Magnus College in Connecticut. She is the author of
Visit http://www.LaurenDeStefano.com to learn more about Lauren.
ALSO BY LAUREN DESTEFANO
The Chemical Garden trilogy
Copyright
Harper
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First published in Great Britain by Harper
Copyright © Lauren DeStefano 2013
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Lauren DeStefano asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007541201
Ebook Edition © October 2013 ISBN: 9780007541218
Version: 2013-09-11
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