âHey, Mel,â Fawn said. âMind taking the scenic route with me? Iâve got a few things to tell you. From one dork to another, you know?â âS-sure,â Melanie said. âSo thatâs all true? With the giant tree and stuff?â âI dunno about âas big as a mountainâ, but yeah, it was real, far as we know. So were dinosaurs. Doesnât mean theyâre still around. Anyway, I trust him. Mr. C wasnât talking about him with that âstay alertâ stuff. That was aimed straight at me, and he was talking about Shanti.â âJordyâs ex?â Fawn looked surprised. âSo he acknowledged her existence? Thatâs an improvement. She was on the Foundlings most of last semester at Jordyâs request. Definitely not mine. I thought she had a mean streak and one day it would show. Over winter break, I was proven right. I wish I wasnât.â âAnd Iâm sorry, but thatâs all Iâll say. I donât like remembering it, and itâs Jordyâs story, not mine. He screwed up, but heâs my friend and heâs paid his dues. I wonât apologize for being right about Shanti, though. Thatâs why Iâm captain now, not him. And itâs why Miss Vernon owes me one.â âAnd now, three months later, Iâve got deja vu. A girl who thinks Wardenry is her path to the good life. A guy whoâd kiss her feet if she asked. Sorry if Iâm a bit cold on the power of love right now. And if the Foundlings melt down the second the gender ratio approaches 50-50 for the first time? Because of some teenage love affair? A lot of Florentinoâs old fart buddies think I stole Jordyâs rightful place and theyâre waiting for me to break down. And donât get me started on what theyâll think of Lynd. So Iâm asking youâbecause girls like Tabby donât listen to girls like meâdo not fuck this up.â Melanie laughed. Something about Fawnâs intensity, splayed across the cool-blue light of dawn and the rustling of palm leaves, was hilarious. It was the wrong reaction. âYouâre not listening.â âYes I am.â âI donât get mad about it anymore,â she lied, âbut my grandpa was kind of right. Five-foot-zip, voice like Minnie Mouse, glassesâŚtaking orders from me goes against five million years of monkey-brain instincts, even for other girls. I get it from my dadâs side: he always trained me more on the social side of things.â âFawn Hanson!â came Miss Vernonâs sharp voice. She was storming down the footpath toward them in a nightgown and bathrobe. âWas this your idea?!â âWhat do you mean?â Fawn said sweetly. âOh, justâcome here.â She turned and stormed back to her house. Tabby and Lynd sat on the front porch, surrounded by the latterâs luggage. âSheâs not going for it,â Tabby said. âOf course Iâm not! If he was âjustâ a random kid I didnât know, Iâd say no. But a new student? What on earth are you thinking?â âMiss Vernon, letâs be real, youâre not getting in troubleâ She cocked her head back towards Acquaviva Circle. âHe needs a place to live, more help getting started than I can provideâheâs never gone to school before, you know? Like, at all.â âI suspect I wonât be in your class, if that helps,â Lynd said. âIâm not smart enough.â âI just thought maybe youâre in the mood to do a good deed. Melanie and Tabby are new too, we canât put it all on them. I wonât pretend Iâve fully vetted him, but he got this far with a police detective watching him, I really donât think youâll regret this.â âI promise you, all I need is four walls and a roof,â Lynd said. âAnd an education.â Every word, Melanie could tell, was meant to say something, without saying anything, about the Shanti Incident. It occurred to her that Fawn and Miss Vernon were at most seven years apart. The latterâs crossed arms and flinty expression said Iâm not your cool older cousin who will break the rules for you anymore. Iâm an adult now and youâre going to treat me like one. Fawnâs affable grin responded No youâre not, and no I wonât.
âEducation,â Miss Vernon repeated. âThis is a long shot, but were you at Hanging Rocks?â âNo. The Ash Branch sent Otho as our parlier.â âIt was a summit,â she said to Melanie and Tabby. âThree years ago next week. West Virginia, waaay up in the mountains. First time that many Wardens negotiated with that many Marksteppers in decades. I was in Florentinoâs delegation. We were hashing out territory claims on the East Coast. Negotiations were a bit one-sided.â âOtho came back wishing he could destroy your safehouses brick by brick.â âFirst time I met any Marksteppers. Mostly Lowbranchers. Only one each for the Big Nine. I wanted to go. And after years of hearing Travis and the rest of those yahoos talk about how Marksteppers were savages, I was going to see the truth.â âFirst day, I talked to these kids, maybe ten years old, two boys and a girl. Asked them if they knew anything about the outside world. If theyâd ever wanted to go to school. The girl looked at me and said sheâd kill me if I tried to make her. I said, perhaps unwisely, what if the Wardens teamed up and made you go? You canât kill us all. âThen Iâd kill myself.ââ âThey made a snare trap for a woodchuck and let me watch after they baited it. Poor thing must have been hungry, because it didnât take long. Then the two older kids started a fire and got a few sharp sticks. The youngest dug into the burrow and got the pups. I guess you can digest burnt animal fur if you really want to.â âEarly spring is the worst time for foragers. Iâm sure they were all hungry.â âOh, thatâs not the fun part. The girl said they were gonna do the same to me. And they did! I heard them outside my tent that night. My bunkmate waited until they set the snare, then came out, ripped it up and chased them away with our rifle.â










