A Town Called Dust: The Territory 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

mouth.
    Ms Apple breathed in through her nose, short and sharp.
    “That may very well be,” she said, “but it is no way for a young lady to speak.”
    Lynn heard a sniggering behind her and instantly knew who it would be. She turned in her chair and shot Bren Millner a cutting look. The boy nonchalantly tucked a lock of his thick black hair behind his ear and smiled a superior grin, which infuriated Lynn even more.
    “What?” she snapped. “Have you got something to say, Bren?”
    “Lynnette,” Ms Apple said. “That’s quite enough.”
    “He’s laughing at me.”
    “ Lynnette ,” Ms Apple said with implied finality.
    Of course Ms Apple would side with him , Lynnette thought. Bren was the youngest in the class, having only just turned thirteen, but that wasn’t the reason he was treated with such favoritism. Bren was the only son of the Administrator. Everyone else in the school, the teachers, the staff, even the other children, all of them from wealthy or powerful families in their own right, tiptoed around him, petrified they might insult him and send him crying to his daddy. Despite the fact that he would one day inherit his father’s title and all the power that came with being the head of the Central Territory government, as far as Lynn was concerned Bren was just an annoying boy.
    Lynn opened her mouth to speak but was silenced when Ms Apple lifted her hand, all knuckles and calluses, and raised a single finger.
    “None of your cheek today, child. Your mother would never have behaved in such an inappropriate way.”
    “I’m not my mother,” Lynn said.
    “That much is certain, child.”
    Lynn stared at her. She could tell Ms Apple wished there was a string attached to those words, something she could use to pull them back.
    “My mother is dead,” Lynn said, hoping to compound the old lady’s discomfort with a sting of her own. “It will be four years next month.”
    Ms Apple smoothed her dress with her hands, her expression shuttered. Lynn knew the old woman had taught the children of powerful Alice families since before Lynn’s mother was born, and she would not concede to her.
    “That she is, child,” she said.
    Lynn was quiet.
    “I do not wish,” Ms Apple continued, “for the dignity of her family to be dead with her. You will behave, and you will learn.”
    “I hate all this,” Lynn said. “I want to practice the sword and go shooting and ride the steamcycle. I’m going to be a Digger.”
    Muffled laughter from her classmates greeted this statement, more than just Bren Millner this time.
    “Lynnette,” Ms Apple said, her tone unchanged, “it is not my place to question why your father let you learn to wield a sword or shoot or ride with him on that infernal contraption, but you know as well as I that you will never be in the army.”
    “And why not?” Lynn asked pigheadedly, though of course she knew the answer.
    “Because you’re a girl, stupid!” Bren called from behind her.
    The class giggled a little louder.
    “Shut your face, Bren!” Lynn said without turning to look at him.
    “Now, Bren,” Ms Apple said. “That wasn’t necessary, was it?”
    Bren didn’t say anything but Lynn could almost feel his sulky sneer penetrating the back of her head.
    “Lynnette,” Ms Apple said, returning her attention to Lynn, “the fact remains that Bren is correct. You know women aren’t permitted to join the army. We’ve discussed this before. If you wish to serve the Territory, you’ll have to become a Sister and serve the Holy Church.”
    “I don’t want to be a Sister,” Lynn said. “I hate them!”
    The room went quiet, and suddenly cold; nobody laughed now. Even Ms Apple’s calm exterior was cracked by just the thinnest sliver of concern. She looked toward the door as if expecting to see it swing open to reveal the red-cloaked clergymen of the Holy Order. No one wanted a visit from the Holy Order, the instrument through which the Sisters acted when persuasion was