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CHAPTER 1

Now that I’ve found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings aren’t white or feathered; they’re green, reen silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I move--first in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shape of my own invention The black behind me doesn’t worry me; neither do the stars ahead

I sination People cannot fly, though before the Society, there wereof theold circles above their heads, eyes turned up in surprise as though they couldn’t believe what the artist had painted theround

Those stories weren’t true I know that But tonight, it’s easy to forget The air train glides through the starry night so sh I could soar into the sky at anyabout?" Xander wonders as I sreen silk dress down neat

"Everything," I tel hi for this: for my Match Banquet Where I’l see, for the first time, the face of the boy il be my Match It wil be the first time I hear his name

I can’t wait As quickly as the air train ht, its sound a background for the low rain of our parents’ voices, the lightning-quick beats of my heart

Perhaps Xander can hear , too, because he asks, "Are you nervous?" In the seat next to hiins to telnow until Xander and I have our own stories to tel

"No," I say But Xander’s my best friend He knows me too wel

"You lie," he teases "You are nervous"

"Aren’t you?"

"Not me I’m ready" He says it without hesitation, and I believe him Xander is the kind of person who is sure about what he wants

"It doesn’t entle now "Al their Match Banquet exhibit sons of nervousness"

"Did youHe holds his hands out as if to say, What did you expect?

The gesture h, and besides, I memorized al of the material, too It’s easy to do when you read it so many times, when the decision is so important "So you’re in the minority," I say "The seven percent who don’t show any nerves at al "

"Of course," he agrees

"How could you tel I was nervous?"

"Because you keep opening and closing that" Xander points to the golden object in my hands "I didn’t know you had an artifact" A few treasures froh citizens of the Society are al owed one artifact each, they are hard to cos along through the years

"I didn’t, until a few hours ago," I tel hied to his mother"

"What’s it cal ed?" Xander asks

"A compact," I say I like the name very much Compact means smalI am smalI also like the way it sounds when you say it: co the word makes a sound like the one the artifact itself makes when it snaps shut

"What do the initials and nuer across the letters ACM and the nuolden surface "But look," I tel hi the compact open to show hilass, and a sinal owner once stored powder for her face, according to Grandfather Now, I use it to hold the three ereen, one blue, one red

"That’s convenient," Xander says He stretches out his arms in front of him and I notice that he has an artifact, too--a pair of shiny platinum cuff links "My father lentin them They’re coh" My gaze travels up to Xander’s face, to his bright blue eyes and blond hair above his dark suit and white shirt He’s always been handsome, even ere little, but I’ve never seen him dressed up like this Boys don’t have as irls do One suit looks et to select the color of their shirts and cravats, and the quality of the material is much finer than the irl who finds out that he’s her Match wil be thril ed

"Nice?" Xander says, lifting his eyebrows "That’s al ?"