Void (The Far Reaches collection) by Veronica Roth

Author:Veronica Roth [Roth, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Published: 2023-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

In a lonely corner of the Arboretum, right at the edge of the tree line, was a pair of bright-green bushes with big, floppy leaves. Growing from a stalk right in the middle of one of them was a ball of blue flowers.

“It’s a hydrangea,” Abdi said.

He was wearing a filtration mask over his nose and mouth, but his eyes were still red and watery from the nearby pines. He took off one of his gloves and touched the cluster of small flowers with his fingertips. His eyes softened.

“You couldn’t grow them outside the Arboretum where the air isn’t trying to kill you?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Soil composition affects the color of the flowers,” he said. “The acidity in the growth solution here, which is just right for the spruce trees, is also right for producing blue hydrangeas.”

“And you just had to have them,” she supplied.

Abdi didn’t answer. He just kept caressing the flower with gentle fingers. Maybe she had judged him too quickly—maybe he wasn’t here because he hated humanity. Or maybe that wasn’t the only reason.

“They were someone’s favorite,” she guessed. “Someone you care about?”

“My late wife.”

She nodded. Abdi withdrew his hand and pulled on his glove again.

“Are you satisfied?” His gruff tone had returned. Now she recognized it as grief.

“Sort of,” she said. “You said you saw Tertio here? In the Arboretum?”

Abdi nodded. “He was . . . disheveled. Which is odd, for Polaris. I know he saw me, but he didn’t say anything, just hurried away, fast.”

“And you didn’t see anything else? Or hear anything?”

“If I did, I would have reported it,” he replied curtly. “Now, if you’re done playacting as June Park, I’ll be returning to work.”

He walked away. It took her a few seconds to realize he’d just referenced Frontier Justice.

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