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“Let it go,” she said

They couldn’t pere in behavior worried her A Freak who displayed such intelligence constituted an enor the enclave believed about the monsters It also er; the thingfor their next encounter A chill ran down Thimble’s back and she clutched Boy23 close

Fetid blood spattered the broken stones; she smelled it, rotten, like bad hts, not actions, except for those that created things She longed for the safety of her workshop, but it was no more Now she must find another way to live

At least I’ the shelves, breathing through her mouth to block the stench of their putrid blood Next to her Boy23 chattered; rest and food had cheered him considerably With chubby fists, he pulled at her hair Such a dear pain The pile of corpses stood nearly to her knees outside the doorway, and before them, Stone—with her weapon in his hand The elders would have said he was too dumb to survive such a catastrophe, and she too weak, but they’d proven theether, they had a chance

He reached across the carnage to take his offspring Even though she had no claim to him, Boy23 felt like her brat too

“It’s safe,” he said “And you were right Using the threshold to keep theh to block the doorway It was a good guess”

“You kneould work”

“I hoped” She’d watched the Hunters train more than once, because that had been her friend Deuce’s favorite pasti hting styles Soies in her head

“Bah,” Boy23 babbled, waving his arle step sent anguish shooting up toward her knee The long hike the day before had taken its toll Exhaling a staccato breath, she knelt to fasten her brace, though her ankle was nearly too swollen for her to secure the straps Deterhtened them further

I won’t slow hi for Stone and Boy23

He slung his pack over his shoulder, and then hers, before she could protest Then she decided not to er; she was sths, they would make it So better not to insist when it would be all she could do to keep ht forward, let alone her share of the supplies Stone set his weapon against the wall as Thi per her as if she weighed nothing at all He spun her out of the closet and into the tunnel with the sheer physical power that had made hi over those,” he said softly

Ah The corpses in the dark She was just clu blood Then her stink would draw all Freaks within sniffing distance Best not to test her luck But she also luxuriated in his strength; the arm curled around her felt sure and safe

Too soon, he let her go It took the pleasurable chills s distracted from the steady throb of her weak foot Crippled Malfor her with Whitewall It had been just before her na ceremony, and she’d been so excited that she had sneaked up on the to discuss her prospects She’d never forgotten his words

“I think she’s worth her keep,” the elder had said “Our predecessors chose well”

The Wordkeeper had nodded “Her deformity doesn’t affect her hands, so she’s able to work Useless as anything but a Builder, of course”

“At least she shows aptitude and desire,” Whitewall had said

“UnlikeFreak food?”

She hadn’t, until that moment Thimble crept away, cold with terror and shaainst her teeth Thereafter, the scene of her birth haunted her She could see it in herdown on the squalling little red-faced thing The elder who ruled before would have studied her foot, turning it this way, and that She saw the discussion that took place, an argument, really, and then someone with a modicum of kindness prevailed They decided not to leave her out in the tunnels to die

Which made it so ironic that her life had come to this

Chapter 10

You’re such a Breeder

Though they had countless other things to worry about, Stone kept thinking about that kiss He wanted to ask her about it, but if he read too iven they only had each other now I shouldn’t have done that He wasn’t allowed to lie doith Thimble and touch her as he had others

But those rules don’t exist anymore

And she , there was kissing, but with her, his whole body caught fire A tre her soft lips

So he kept thinking The days passed in endless monotony Tunnels led off in so many directions that he had no clue where they were anymore To rest, they found small spaces they could block off in soh what they were looking for, he had no idea

Soined it would be He sive Boy23 to Thi as he was They were thin and wretched things ild eyes and keening voices Stone often thought they sounded sad And why not? Who wants to be a Freak?

This tirowls Thi him room She never doubted Never panicked While he worried that her trust ht be misplaced, he didn’t falter He went for soft spots, away froh the chin He’d learned so fast, the best ways to kill these things, and it sickened him