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The Rising has thoroughly infiltrated the Arest in Cao sht have so from the ports, the rest of the people should follow soon

Another fighter ship co ship that drops down to land When I get to the door of theofficers They must have already secured the inside "Xander Carrow, physic," I tell one of the officers He glances at hisblack sprint fro field where the ship cania

Is that what I think it is?

The cure

The officer waves me inside "Physics report to the office on the main floor," he says

Inside thefro the Anthem of the Society What would that be like? I catchTo hear the ht?

Two officers drag an Official pasthis hand over his heart, his lipsto the Anthem I feel sorry for him: I wish he knew that this wasn’t the end of the world I can see hoould feel that way

When I get to the office soht there in the hall like the others are doing I roll up the sleeves because it’s tiet to work, and I throhite Official uniforain

"We separate the patients into groups of one hundred," the head physic on duty tells me He smiles "As the Pilot said, some of the old systems from the Society will remain in place, for now" He points to the rows of patients, who to as the still "You’ll be in charge ofthe cure Once they’ve recovered and moved on, we’ll move new patients to your area"

The ports are silent Right now they’re flashing pictures of the still in Central

Central: where Cassia is For the first time I feel a hint of worry What if she didn’t join the rebellion and she’s watching this? What if she’s afraid?

I was so sure Official Lei was part of the Rising

Could I be wrong about Cassia?

I’m not She told ht, but I heard it in her voice I kno to listen, and I could tell shefor more nurses and medics to co the cure for now?"

This is not like the Society The lines are already beco blurred The Society would never have let me do the work of a medic after my promotion to physic

"Of course," I say

I scrub my hands and take one of the tubes from the cases Next to me, a nurse does the same "They’re beautiful," she says over her shoulder, and I have to agree

I ree and slide the needle into the line so that the cure flows into the patient’s vein The Pilot’s voice comes over the ports in the medical center and I have to smile because his words fit perfectly "The Society is sick," he tells us, beginning his ain, "and we have the cure"

CHAPTER 8

CASSIA

I can’t wait here any longer My whole body trembles with the cold

Where is he?

I wish I could re’s sort coh? Did I do what they needed?

For awith the cold I never wanted to be here in Central I wanted the Rising to senddidn’t find

That’s all right I a, not defined by them I have my own poems and I kno to trade Perhaps it’s tiain h

I look down at all the little fish bodies bu into each other I shudder at their glossy, dead eyes; their scaly, slick stink They’ll brush against et the box Their s that I think I can taste their flesh in er on my skin when I’ve finished

Don’t look Get it done

I prop the flashlight on the ground under the dock and peel the papers from my wrists and set theh to cover them over so I have a barrier between my skin and the water As I wade out, I try not to feel the fish against s, the steady bump-bump of dead little bodies in a lake that used to be a safe place I hope h to protect me from whatever poisoned this lake

The s and I can’t breathe as I put my hands in I have to try not to throw up as I feel scales and fins and eyes and tails touchingout of the lake as fast as I can, fish swar my shins, pushed by the motion of the water As I wade my way to the shore, little corpses part around and follow behind rass and away froles of brush As I wipe my hands off on a dry spot on my shirt, I make sure not to drip on the papers I left here earlier

Would I know the value of these fragile pages if I hadn’t seen the place where they’d been hidden? If I couldn’t picture Hunter looking through thehter’s headstone? Perhaps that’s why I wear theainst my skin Not only to hide them, but to feel them, to retiled and layered like the scales of the fish behindto cover me as I move

But the scales of the fish did not protect the I should have noticed earlier, when I first lifted it But I was too distracted by all the little bodies

The box is empty

Someone’s taken my poems

Someone’s taken my poems, and Ky didn’t come, and it is cold

I know it’s too late, but I find ht Then I wouldn’t know everything I’d lost

As I draw closer to the City and look up at the apart, not just the lake