The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

Author:Kristen Simmons [Simmons, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Young Adult, Romance
ISBN: 9781466828780
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2015-02-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

THE CATS WAIT TO pounce until the mayor’s footsteps have gone silent.

“What’s that smell?” asks one of them, a girl with a purple streak in her hair.

“I think it’s fresh meat,” says another with an intricate pattern of tattoos winding up her arms. “Yes, definitely fresh meat.” She wafts a hand in front of her face to clear the air.

I catch my reflection in one of the wall mirrors. My curly black hair is messy from sleep, and my eye makeup is smeared a bit. My white dress is wrinkled. It looks like I’ve just rolled out of bed, though not in the way they’re thinking.

“How’d you like me to break your nose?” I ask Tattoos.

Her little smile flips upside down as she scoots back to make room for me.

“You must be new to the city,” says Purple Hair. “I remember when my brother brought me from my little waste of a town in the outliers.…” She forces a laugh. “If he hadn’t tricked me and told me we were going to the fair in Anders, I would have scratched his eyes out. Traitor.”

“Didn’t turn out too bad, did it?” asks Tattoos.

Purple Hair shakes her head, then narrows her eyes at me. “What town did they haul you in from? Somewhere up north, am I right?” She laughs again, like this should be funny.

“No town,” I say.

Tattoos’s brows rise. “Born and raised city? I hadn’t heard the mayor was pulling stock from the locals. The census must be low.”

“Free,” I tell them both clearly. “And wild.” I smile as fiercely as I can.

I kneel on a flat blue pillow and snag one of the little treats on a silver platter in the center of the room. It’s sweet and warm, creamy too. I sort of hate that it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted. But the memory of the young girl walking out of the room hand in hand with the mayor makes the food curdle in my stomach. Just a few more years and that could be Nina.

The guilt is thick on my skin, weighing me down. I should have tried to stop them, but what good would it do? It wouldn’t change anything.

The girls stare at each other, then at me. There’s no mistaking the jealousy there.

“Lucky you,” says Tattoos. “You’ve got it made.”

I don’t ask what she means.

“I have to get out of here,” I say, more to myself. This place is a palace of nightmares. I know they’ll probably tell on me, but I don’t care. I’m already sold. Things can’t get much worse.

“Sure, all right,” says the girl with the purple streak. One bony shoulder sticks out from the neck of her shirt. When she sees I’m serious, her eyebrows hike up beneath side-swept bangs. “Why would you want to?”

“That’s not your problem,” I say.

“There are walls,” says Tattoos. “Walls ten stories high. And Watchers manning the gates. And sensors all over.”

“You don’t know,” says Purple Hair. “You haven’t been off this level since you were brought here.

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