Moon (Glimpsing Stars, 1.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

them.
    I,
for one, revel in the emptiness of her chair, in the evacuation of her space.
It is the sight of my freedom. It is the physical manifestation of a year of
waiting and watching and burning with the injustice of her being Matched simply
because she has an important mother.
    After
work, I hurry out with the rest of the crowd. I hop on the bus, my mind teeming
with what I will say, how I will approach this.
    I
let myself into Miss Adams’s apartment with the master key and wait in darkness
for what seems like an eternity. Unsanctioned free time is not productive. I
cannot stop my mind from reeling with unbridled optimism as I consider what
Mercury has told me. After an entire year of waiting for one slip, one
opportunity, could it really be that this is finally it ? My chance?
    Though
I cannot be sure, I have an idea that the government chooses one person from
each department to emigrate. It’s clear that everyone expects Vika to be the
chosen one in ours. Her mother is powerful, she is Matched, and now she is
pregnant. Pregnancy is a woman’s most coveted condition. Every healthy woman in
New Amana is expected to produce healthy progeny in three tries. If they fail,
they are gassed. If they succeed they receive, as a reward, a seat on a ship to
China.
    What
could have happened to make Vika throw her only opportunity for freedom away? I
shake my head, try to clear it. It doesn’t matter what caused her to act this
way. What matters is that I act quickly to claim her seat on the ship. It must
be me.
    Finally,
when every muscle is trembling with the need for action, when every nerve is
screaming at me to do something , I hear Miss Adams’s key in the door and
she steps in. Anxiety begins to churn deep inside me. Just the scent of her—a
tinny, dark thing—is enough to make me perspire. But I force myself to stand and
face her.
    Miss
Adams’s teeth gleam in the dark as she smiles. “Ah. I thought you’d hear the
news. Not much stays secret from Mercury.” She comes forward and lights a
candle on the table. Then she trails her gaze up and down my body.
    Miss
Adams is old enough to be my mother. Her chin-length black hair is threaded through
with strands of gray, and her pale brown skin is like crepe paper. When she
smiles, a dimple appears on her cheek like a punctuation mark. I do not love
her. I do not even like her. When I think of her vast and almost insatiable
needs, all I can conjure up is a deep sense of revulsion. But I need her in
order to survive. I need her if I am to escape on a ship.
    And
so I do what I do. I’m not ashamed of it; I don’t know a single person in my
boots, with intelligence as shrewd as mine, who wouldn’t indulge in any activity—bar none—to ensure their survival. So while my mouth is kissing and
licking and tasting, while my body is doing what it must, my mind is elsewhere.
    I
dream of the future, of plentiful food, of air with healthy levels of oxygen. I
will be leaving soon; my time has come. I must play my hand carefully now if Vika’s
mistake is to be my step up and over the wall.
    Once
Miss Adams is sated for the moment, we get dressed in the near dark without
speaking. Then she offers me a cup of tea and we sit on the sofa. She waits in
silence; she knows why I am here.
    “Vika
Cannon is missing.” The words from my mouth sound like they are being spoken in
a tunnel; just an echo and a far away meaning. I cannot believe they are the
truth as it now stands.
    But
I watch in absolute wonder as Miss Adams nods, stirring her tea. Yes. Yes, she
is missing. Vika really has run away.
    “She
was with a group of Rads.”
    She
nods again and sips, her dimple appearing like a magic trick.
    My
heart speeds up. I am so close. I can taste the salt of the sea; I can smell
the tides. “Were they all captured?”
    “No.”
    “But
you must want them. For information.”
    Miss
Adams cocks her head to one side, just slightly. “We do. Vika Cannon’s group
has been under surveillance