Page 12 (1/2)

Chapter 1

Sham Sacrifice

An offer of material, which is made at no risk

The burst of pollen hit Scout’s nose, like a feather laced with pepper No, she couldn’t sneeze If she sneezed, she’d get glassy-eyed and look as if she were crying when she certainly had not been crying

As a matter of fact, she hadn’t cried for days After as likely thefive days of her

life, Scout ain Tears were useless and, frankly, a big pain in her girly ass

As she shifted to the shade out of the warht cover to

her skin Her heavy gray wool slacks, however, were not Co out of

a s for the past week hadn’t left her much choice in the wardrobe department Pavement

s the busy Folsom sidewalks with each determined stride

For five long days, Scout conte more

than homeless, but tolerated her circued There

was no way she was going back to where she’d started

Herdoor of strife, covered in a bleary haze, s the

prettier things in this world Scout never had pretty things Well, that wasn’t true Lucian gave her

ave her away

The pain hadn’t subsided It was very real and seething angrily inside of her Scout simply made a

decision to channel that anger into so hile And that hat today was all about,

so hile

She hile So hile, it was possible to put aside the hurt and the sting of his

betrayal to do so for herself

For twenty-three years she had struggled to survive At age four she was diving in dumpsters for the

se seven she’d been scavenging while other girls her age

played house and learned their ABC’s Scout never played house, because she didn’t know the first

thing about living in a home And she never learned her ABC’s, because her mother, the only person

Scout ever had to look up to, didn’t kno to teach her

Pearl wasn’t a typicallullabies or kissed scraped