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Cara’s feet slapped down the stone-paved path, her tearsthe house, the sky, the trees blurred and unreal Xan’s voice called out froo answered back She ignored the into a different world Rays of light pressed in fro motes of dust For the first tis burned, and the vast, oceanic sadness and horror stopped up her throat so that when her mother stepped into the roo a necklace of resin and glass around her neck like she was getting ready for a party—all Cara could do was hold up the body of Momma bird She couldn’t even ask for help

Her mother led her to the kitchen and sat there with her and the dead bird’s body while Cara coughed out a version of what had happened between sobs She kneas s, the babies, the bread—but she just had to get it all out of her and hope that her mother could make sense of it And then make it make sense to her too

Xan came in, his eyes wide and scared, and touched her back to cohosted into the doorway and out again, curious and trying to seeedy drew attention

Eventually, Cara’s words ran out and she sat there, feeling empty Deflated Defeated Momma bird’s corpse on the table didn’t seem to care one way or the other Death had robbed the bird of her opinions

“Oh, babygirl,” Cara’s mother said “I’m sorry”

“It was me, wasn’t it?” Cara said “I killed her, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t mean to It was an accident That’s all”

“But it was in the book,” Cara said “Feeding bread to birds The lady in the park in the book did that And they didn’t die They were fine”

Her e, but Cara knew if she’d been just a little younger—Xan’s age, even—hergirl now, and hugs weren’t for big girls Holding hands was

“These aren’t birds, babygirl We call them that because they’re sort of like birds But real birds have feathers And beaks—”

“No bird I’ve ever seen”

Her h her exhalation “When life comes up on a planet, evolution forces a bunch of choices What kinds of proteins it’s going to use How it’s going to pass inforeneration to the next Life on Earththat cos in coet cheenes work But other planets row on Laconia We have to grow them special so they’ll be part of our tree of life”

“But the old lady fed bread to the birds,” Cara said Herthe problem, and she didn’t kno to say it any more clearly In the books, the old lady had fed bread to the birds, and the birds hadn’t died And Momma bird was dead

“She was on Earth Or someplace where Earth’s tree of life took over Laconia doesn’t eat the sas we do And the food that Laconia makes, we can’t use”

“That’s not true,” Cara said “We drink the water”