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There are so ravitate toward All of the I can no longer discern which thoughts are useful and which are dangerous; all I know is that I’ what else to do, I start walking

Even a few yards down the street, I can hear the children and clattering dishes inside the orphanage I turn off Dawn Avenue, though, and they vanish There is nothing but the distant whoosh of city traffic, the faraway tide A gust of wind picks up, and I huga brown-and-pink-striped sweater that itches everywhere It was not made especially for me It is not inlaid with pearls and dia not to think that I don’t hear hiainst the empty street with his footsteps "Rhine! Wait up"

I stop walking, don’t turn around, and wait for hiood," I say, once Silas is beside nantly and shakes the curls fro colow, and the frizz gives theirls like about hi Normally this would be the time he’d disappear from the house to be with one of the their hands swing between them as they walk away But that’s his business, and I don’t care I’h to keep his escapades out of Claire’s ho of running away froain

"No Just going for a walk," I say

I try to stay out of Silas’s hair If he goes to bed before I do, I busy o to bed first, I pretend to be asleep as he tiptoes over ive hiht that swim around before ht now, for instance

Gabriel has been concerned about me too, but I don’t need to avoid hie the topic, and that’s the end of it

If Silas questions ain, I a potential alleys as we go

It’s not until he speaks again that I realize there is another reason I’ve been avoiding him It’s so I won’t have to try to answer his question--the one that’s been hiding in his sleepy, disinterested-looking eyes from day one "Gabriel’s not really your husband, is he?"

The least exhausting thing would be honesty And I have so little energy to spare these days "No," I say "But you knew that"

"Mm," he says

"How?" I ask "You always look at us like you know, but how?"

"It isn’t a lack of affection; you obviously care about each other, or whatever," Silas says "If I say this, you’re going to think I’m crazy"

"No," I say "Trust me, I won’t"

"How do I explain it?" he says "It’s like there’s an invisible cord on that wedding band, and it doesn’t lead to hiood way to put it Thoughts of ed father-in-law, seem to never truly leave me

"I ran away," I say "I was Gathered, and I escaped, and I caone"

I don’t realize how badly I’ve needed to say those words until they’ve leftin the air And all I want now is to be away from the about it, I certainly don’t want to face it

I turn off thedownhill, careful not to slip on the grass that’s slick with dew In a brighter city, with cleaner air, this would be a place flowersat the bottoled shrubs I thought about that when I caet away from the chaos of the orphans for a while, and this little area see the da

Today there is a different srippingme not to look

But it’s too late I’ve already seen the dead girl lying faceup in the shalloater, her eyes full of clouds

There are so ht that it hurts h theirl’s features, the color of her hair A bizarre thing happens I see her bones instead I see right through her skin, to the blood and tissue that’s blackened and still I see the torn muscle that used to be her heart That’s where the Gatherer’s bullet hit

Silas talks to lass He pushes h, and I’ limply as he forces me uphill Then he sits next to me on the sidewalk curb, watches as I brace my hands on either side of ain The bits of light dwindle and disappear

"That could have beenot chosen They shot the rest Threw them somewhere Left them to rot in a ditch until someone came to cremate them"

The words sound so ahen said out loud I should probably be crying, or even hysterical But I can’t see in particular