Page 70 (1/1)

Mr Today blew his nose into his hanky Loudly And then he looked out over the throng of Unwanteds and said, "And with that we leave our sorrows for another day, because today is a day to celebrate"

A cheer rose up froan to chant, "To-DAY, To-DAY, To-DAY!"

Marcus Today raised his hand and s the chant He went on to say, "Friends, this is the traditional day of the Purge, and High Priest Haluki, having had little tie as usual--that is the wish of his people And before you scowl at the practices of Quill, please rees take time Today elcome the thirty-t members of Artimé, seated in the front row"

A round of riotous applause burst forth, causing the fresh, wide-eyed group of thirteen-year-olds to cover their ears in wonder Lani poked Meghan, Samheed, and Alex and pointed out her little brother, Henry, just ten years old, sitting in the front row "Father wasn’t going to waste any

The crowd buzzed, and then their voices died down as Mr Today continued "For now, let us welcome new friends to Artimé Let us remember the ones we lost And let us also remember this day as the day we have been redeee of honor, for we have prevailed!"

The crowd erupted in applause and, for those who couldovation for their leader But Alex couldn’t help but recall his conversation with Aaron and wonder if everything was really going to be as easy as Mr Today implied In fact he kneouldn’t be

After the lawn had mostly cleared, Alex remained seated with his friends, not quite ready to battle the crowds Sihan and Sa off while listening to the platyprots chatter and giggle When Mr Today finished speaking privately to High Priest Gunnar and they said their goodbyes, Lani hopped up, hugged her father, and bid farewell for now, proain and leaned back, resting her head on his ar she’d learned the day before fro

"So," Lani said, "what do you suppose will happen to Aaron? Do you want to see hiain?"

"We talked," Alex said

"My father says Aaron’s feeling terrible--terrible about hurting you and about how he exposed Arti Father says he seems sincere"

"I don’t know about that," Alex said "I don’t believe it He’s quite an actor, no matter how much he denies his creativity" He closed his eyes and paused, thinking "I just don’t know if I can ever trust hirew so far apart, there’d have been no way they could ever get back to each other again with all that junk between theain At least for a while"

Lani turned to look at Alex "That’s sort of sad"

Alex was quiet "Yeah, it is"

"I think you’ll know if you’re ever ready to give it a try," Lani said

Alex smiled He reached for a strand of her hair and twirled it lazily on his finger, his eyes closed, his heart als weren’t perfect, and they never would be, he knew But for a fourteen-year-old boy, resting on the lawn in the war at the shore, his friends all around … He sighed At least for now, things were good

It was more than any Unwanted could ever hope for