The Girl from Earth's End by Tara Dairman

Author:Tara Dairman [Dairman, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-5362-3171-7
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Lunch, served in the triple room, was corn cakes seasoned with fresh herbs, and dinner that night a stew rich with beans, kale, and tomatoes. Henna, finally on top of her hunger enough to taste the food, found both meals delectable. P, meanwhile, acted like it was the end of the world.

“I’m going to staaaarve here,” they complained. “My kingdom for a morsel of mutton!”

“Surely you didn’t eat meat every day before you came here?” Henna asked between bites. On Earth’s End, they’d eaten plenty of fish, but meat had been a rarity, coming in dried strips from Ferma once or twice a year if they had extra money from an art sale.

“We were friends with a butcher,” P explained. “And Mum was good at negotiating for the older, tougher cuts.”

They grew quiet then, and Henna remembered what Manol had said: that P’s mum had “done a runner” to another island, leaving P behind. P clearly didn’t want to talk about it, and Lora hadn’t spoken a word all afternoon. The fresh silence was broken only by the clinks of spoons and the occasional turn of a page in the book on rose-growing that had held Lora’s attention since lunchtime.

Henna would’ve liked to have a look inside that book, too, but she certainly wasn’t going to ask.

The roommates finished their stews, took turns in the bathing room, and when the window’s light faded, crawled into their beds to sleep. For Lora, it took several attempts to catch the iron grab bars and lever herself from her chair to her mattress. But when Henna dared to catch her eye, wondering if her roommate might want a hand after all, the glare Lora gave her was so furious that she felt herself wither like a scorched leaf.

Henna waited until Lora’s breathing evened out, then slipped out of her bed and tiptoed over to P’s.

“Changed your mind?” P asked with a yawn. “Ready for some late-night ransacking?”

“Not exactly,” Henna said. “I just thought we should make plans for how we’re going to go about things with the teachers and older kids.”

P grunted but sat up in bed. “All right, hop up.”

They strategized for a while and decided to divide their labors. P would focus on observing the older students, while Henna would try to get close to their new teachers.

Their schedules for the semester had been delivered that afternoon, so Henna knew they would have three classes: Soil Basics, Introduction to Water Usage, and Pollinators. That was three chances to find a sympathetic soul—someone who, if they heard about Henna’s sick papa and the plant that could save him, would lead her to the repository’s door without a moment’s hesitation. Henna would just have to be much more careful than she’d been when she’d blurted things out in Benedita’s office. She’d have to make sure the next person was trustworthy before she asked for the help she needed.

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