Burn Bright by Marianne De Pierres

Author:Marianne De Pierres [Pierres, Marianne De]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2011-07-17T22:00:00+00:00

Retra didn’t wait for Suki on the Vank platform, but went looking for Charlonge straightaway. She found the Vank supervisor up in the gallery listening to the organ and staring down at the crowd in the cruciform. Charlonge was dressed in her resting lingerie, a pearly satin shift with bunches of black ribbon around the hem and neckline. With one arm she hugged a small parchment book to her chest while she held a small set of binoculars.

The book took Retra by surprise. In Grave the Council kept books locked in the library. Her mother went to the library once a week to read but the wardens had prohibited her from doing that when they put them on probation.

‘Why did you lie to me?’ Retra asked.

Charlonge started from her seat but, when she realised who had spoken, she fell back as if tired. ‘You should be resting, baby bat.’

‘I saw my brother, Joel, tonight. They call him Clash and he runs with Dark Eve.’

‘Hush!’ whispered Charlonge. She hastened to the end of the gallery and put the binoculars away into a small hutch, next to several other sets. Then she closed the narrow door and checked carefully to make sure the shadows were empty before she spoke. ‘Do you realise what will happen if they hear this … did y-you speak to him?’

Retra nodded slowly, absorbing the girl’s nervous, almost excited, expression. ‘Joel said I should stay here. That you would watch out for me. Yet you told me you didn’t know him.’

Charlonge took Retra’s arm and pulled her closer. ‘Dark Eve is an enemy of Ixion. She breaks the rules.’

Retra pulled away in rejection of Charlonge’s words. ‘Rules? Ixion is supposed to be free of rules, yet it seems as strict as Grave in its own way and more … more dangerous.’

Charlonge stared at her for a long moment. Retra saw something change in her eyes, as if a layer peeled away, letting her see further in. ‘You are learning quickly, baby bat,’ the older girl said. ‘But then Joel’s sister would.’

Retra quivered. It was not what she’d wanted to hear. She’d wanted comfort – Charlonge to tell her that she had misread the way things seemed.

A sob caught in her throat, a croaking sound like an old person gasping for breath. It took a moment before she could speak. ‘Joel said that I should stay away from him. Why has he joined the League? If they find him what will happen to him?’

‘He will be withdrawn.’ Charlonge’s lips quivered.

The chill fist of fear that held Retra’s heart captive squeezed tighter. ‘Tell me how you know my brother?’

Charlonge pressed her eyes with her fingers and sighed. ‘We arrived on the same night – though from different places – and went through the Register together. Then we came to Vank for our first rest cycle. It stayed like that for a time: together at the clubs and the parties. I loved it here. But he was always restless and he didn’t like the Ripers looking over his shoulder.

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