Nona the Ninth Sneak Peek by Tamsyn Muir
Author:Tamsyn Muir
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
4
THE MORNING ROUTINE was that they would walk together until Pyrrha had to split off, and then Cam would drop Nona off at school and go off to do her own thing, clean the house or do crimes that Nona wasnât allowed to partake in. Nona liked the walk, but the early morning was as cold as the afternoon was hot, so to keep warm she had to stamp her feet and put her hands in her pockets. They walked alongside all the other workersâthe ones who didnât get picked up in the morning in the worker vans, or didnât have a job that merited a worker van, or didnât have a job but lived in hopeâand they all trudged slowly through the street in clusters, parting only when a truck ground through, the driver leaning on the horn if someone didnât move out of the way quick enough.
Nonaâs breath was misting on the inside of her mask and escaping out its cracks in ghostly grey puffs by the time they made it to the park, comfortable but not talking. It was always the same routeâstraight down the street all the way to the gates of the thing that had used to be the big parkâand then Pyrrha would say something like, âLetâs cut through, itâs so smoky,â or sheâd say, âLetâs not. Parkâs full of mercs,â and then theyâd go around. This morning she said, âLetâs go through the park. Move with the crowd,â so Nona took Camillaâs hand and moved with the crowd.
The plants filtered out some of the clinging smoke, and Nona loved to look at the trees and the bristly, curving shapes of the shrubs and bushes. Much of the vegetation had been turfed up, some in an attempt to make a community garden, some of it into shanty houses skulking against the big concrete fence. Another place had been cleared and ineptly concreted over, and they put the cages there. The cages were bone-cold and theyâd been almost fully cleaned, but Nona didnât like looking, so she spent her time gazing at the mist of trailing vines on the tree trunks instead.
Once they were out of the park and out of the crowd, Pyrrha kissed the top of Nonaâs head and said, âBe good,â like she always said. She did not kiss the top of Camillaâs head but told her, âGood hunting, you two.â
âGood hunting,â echoed Camilla.
Pyrrha melted into the crowd in her big steel-toed boots and her over-the-shoulder bag with her helmet and extra batteries for her helmet light and her gloves and her lunch. It was easier now than when Nona had been very new and Palamedes said she had no object permanence, but Nona still always felt a pang watching Pyrrha walk away, commingled with the pride of having Pyrrha, the familiarity of seeing someone and knowing they belonged to you. Camilla drew her back to the pavement with a guiding hand on the small of her back, and said the magic words: âYouâll be late for school.
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