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No one has fol owed the orders yet Even though the Official is the highest-ranking one we’ve ever seen and he’s ordered us to do it, we’ve heard years of ruo first?"

"I wil ,"forward

"No," I say, but a look fro to telthis for us For you And soht

"I wil , too," he says, ether, as we al watch, they both s their tablets down The Official checks my parents’

mouths and nods briefly "They dissolve within seconds," he tel s us "Too quickly for you to try and throw it back up, but it’s unnecessary anyway It won’t hurt you Al it does is clear your mind"

All it does is clear yourto take theet that the Eneers there are al dead And I realize why they didn’t have us take the tablets when so happened to the first Markhaerous Anomalies can be How vulnerable ould be without the Society to keep them al away

Did they let that Anomaly out on purpose? To remind us?

What wil they tel us happened to Ky, later? What story e al believe instead of his true one? Wil we take the green tablet next, a cal?

I don’t want to be calet

As much as it hurts, I have to hold onto the whole story of him, the painful parts, too

My mother turns to look at me and I worry I’l see blank eyes or a vacant, slack expression But she looks fine So does my father

Soon, everyone lines up, red tablets in their palo back to their lives What wil I do when they find out I got rid of rass beneathto see a tiny patch of it seared and obliterated, wiped clean Instead it looks exactly as it did before I can’t even see the red fragrass I must have crushed them completely

Brah to carry his own red tablet, so ives him the extra one he carries

My Official starts checking people, too She moves closer and closer to me, but I can’t take my eyes from Bram and then from Em as she takes the tablet For a moment, I re happens Nothing that I can see, anyway

And then it is Xander’s turn He glances over and seeshi but pain I want to look away, but I don’t I watch as Xander nods to me and lifts the red tablet toward me, almost in a toast

Before I see him take it, someone blocks my view of everyone and theirs of me It’s my Official

"Let me see your tablet, please," she says

"I have it" I hold out my hand but I don’t open my palh I know she carries extra tablets--I’ve seen thelance flickers down to the grass at my feet and then back up toin my mouth and then I s, hard And she h this is what I want, I hate her She wants me to remember what happened here What I’ve done

CHAPTER 30

When the darkness final y lifts, it is a flat, hot, steel-coloredwithout dimension or depth The houses around ; they could be pictures on a bigscreen I feel that if I walk too far I’l walk right into canvas or through a paper wal and then out into black-nothing and the end of everything

Soic instead, which is almost worse Why care about a flat planet populated by flat people? Who cares about a place where there is no Ky?

This is one of the reasons I need Ky, I realize Because when I aone I saw it happen

I made it happen

Did Sisyphus have to do this, too? I wonder Stop for athe rock just enough to keep it fro hiain?

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