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I roll over ontomy braid underneath my head as I do I haven’t undone it since Bay left It’s wound with those blue ribbons, a coh and that pieces are co, I don’t want to undo it I braided her hair this way that , but it’s much easier to do on someone else than it is to do for yourself Once I take it out, I won’t be able to put it back

Is Bay having the same trouble Above? Did she throay the blue ribbons? Do they prefer to wear other colors where she is now?

Maybe if I talked to Maire, she could help et what I need And she said she knehat I wanted

But has using her voice really worked for my aunt, the sea witch? There are stories about her, and people are afraid of her, but has she ever gotten what she wanted? What good has it done her, in the end?

Look what happened when I said one little word, no Now Justus can’t look at me and Maire won’t leave er, had heard ain You think I’ood

Must there always be one of each? That’s what I’ve always secretly wondered If so, I knohich sister I aods She loves our city and our people She meant to stay Below and serve theone Above and I’ood sister after all

I don’t feel it And if I use my voice on purpose, I will have crossed a line, and there will be no coo Above I don’t yet kno The wave of hope I felt in the temple has spent itself on the shore of exhaustion and loss

The pilloet froive them to the priests to use for those who decide to spend their lives down here in the dark Below We’ll all weep and bless one another, those of us too scared or stupid or late to try a life Above

CHAPTER 4

I cried so long that I slept in, and I’m tardy for work I dress init over lance in the mirror, I see that my hair looks unkees under ht

I know his pain was real But I can’t care about anyone’s pain but h restraint to keep e

My classmate Hali notices the shadows She and Bay were friends, and in the days sincea buffer between the rest of the terateful to her, especially at ive thanks for those Above who sacrificed to provide our food and I can’t help but think of Bay

I wonder if we are alith the people who live Above the way they are alith us Below We think of the that each sweet or savory bite cost them some of their limited time on earth to produce Do they resent us? I would

"Maybe you should rest," Hali says "You seem more and more tired every day since" Hali trails off, as if waiting for permission to say Bay’s naive, so I stand there, unhelpful and unbending

"It’s good for me to work," I say "We lose ourselves in service" It’s a parroted, pet phrase of the priests in the temple "Bay would have wanted it this way"

Now I’ve saiddown She weighs on us the way the water weighs on the city She is everywhere and all around