Page 15 (1/2)

Could Maire have killed

But I also never would have believed that Bay could leave ony to cry when you can’t make a sound, when you have to stuff your pillow into youryourself so that no one will hear the timbre of your real voice No one kno much that hurts, not even the loved ones ant to keep you safe

I ry with her If she were here, I would cry out at her I wouldn’t care who heard How could you leave me? My throat aches as if I’ve already screaht? I wonder Before our ht all the time, because ere sisters in a shared, small world--room, temple, city--and because ere different and the saht because of ry I was at her

And so noonder if she also never kne s that I’ve always known for certain: that I have to see the Above and that I loveto be able to do this? That I can swiet Above? It’s a ridiculous plan I know it There are countless things that could go wrong

The i overco to help And I see the shell again I seize it and hold it up againstis the only sound

Then I hear so a lullaby fro to us ere sold

Live those Above, and those Below

They sing and weep, both high and deep

While over and under the ocean rolls

She sings it again, and again The song is calentle, true I close my eyes and listen

CHAPTER 7

I sit down under Efra here, with the shivering leaves and the sullen gods I wonder why Maire picked this as ait will take before she comes I wonder why I’m here Is it because my mother wrote Maire’s name in her notes? Ask Maire Or because it seeive me the money and the shell?

Or am I here because I want to talk to another siren? The conversations I’ve had with Maire have been the only times I’ve spoken with someone who has the same power that I do

She’s all the faround I lean down to pick one up and tsk towork Despite what Nevio said, they haven’t found so the trees Not someone as skilled as I a and brown fur on the ground

One of the te broken, but it’s certainly dead Its eye stares back up at s are dark as the deep instead of blue as glass and sea I hear people gathering nearEfram himself fallen and broken," a man says, but he is quickly quieted What he’s said sounds too e We are not supposed to believe that Efraods are easy to fix This aniive "Find Justus at the te

It takes Justus onlyhe can do He tells the others toI stay behind