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Few things orth the risk to my life, but the juicy vinefruit was one of thery If I didn't eat soer anyway

Not ier Ma nawing on those thick crusts for yet anothera vinefruit this close, in perfect ripeness

Getting it would be simple

Well, not simple in the traditional definition of the word But siet that fruit if it was the last thing I ever did

It required a cliood dress I still owned I also had to avoid the sticky vines that loved to tanglebehind a terrible rash wherever they touched skin So far, so good All I had left was to shinny across a thin branch, avoiding the hecklebird that nested there Hecklebirds werenarrow beaks that pecked s Well, I didn't want the eggs; they were disgusting anyway I only wanted the vinefruit next to the nest

So out onto the li for the hecklebird's ugly caw I got about halfway out and then heard a crack

The li that could keepMy hand found the vinefruit, which actually ht've helped save me if it had not been so perfectly ripe Instead, it came with me as I fell

I went down headfirst, crashing into another hecklebird nest, which sent a particularly foul-ser It'd be back Then a vine caughtround

I caught a yelp in irl who panicked over ordinary near-death experiences I was, however, a girl whose heart was racing far too quickly I needed to breathe, to think But mostly, I needed to not fall any farther

Granted, this had not turned out as well as I'd hoped But my best friend, Weevil, had said he'd meet me here today If necessary, he could help It wouldn't be his first ti me from my own stupidity This wasn't even the worst ht me in

Blood rushed intoaround me turned upside down My skirts threatened to tumble over my head as well until I bunched them between inally intended to bring it home whole to my parents, but it had crushed in my hand and would never last Thick red juice ran in lines up o to waste

That's what I toldselfish I knew ry as I was But I'd have to drop the vinefruit before unwrappingfrom the vine, and that'd ruin it

The longer the vine stayed on my skin, the worse the rash would be, but I didn't care My hunger noorse than a little itching later Despite the aard angle, I ate the fruit, trying not to let the red juice stain my mouth the way it had stained my arm

I finished the fruit, letting the pit fall somewhere into the underbrush, when I heard the crunch of leaves beneathmy friend Then I immediately went still

"It figures we have to coer than us who should be doing this work"

These ardens Their cocked woolen hats gave them away I prayed they wouldn't look up and see me The wardens and my people weren't exactly friends