Six Moon Summer Read Online Free PDF Page B

seen.
     

 

Five
     

New Moon
     
    A few days later, Group B was assigned another round of archery. The afternoon was perfect for it. A cool breeze carried cool air down the mountain and the sky was slightly overcast so they could easily see the targets. Louise gave Rylie an encouraging smile when she lined up to take wrist and finger guards like everyone else.
     
    Picking out her equipment, Rylie moved aside to watch everyone else string their bows. Louise wedged one end of the staff between her feet and forced the other into a curve, hooking the string over the end. The bows resisted being bent. It looked difficult.
     
    Rylie hooked the end of the string over one side, braced the bow between her hiking boots, and used all her strength to push down.
     
    It shattered.
     
    The loud crack made everyone look over at her. Rylie stared at the fragments of wood in her hand.
     
    “What happened?” Louise asked, hurrying over.
     
    “I don’t know. It broke.”
     
    “The wood must have been rotten,” she said. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
     
    Rylie shook her head and the counselor left to dispose of the fragments. She selected a different bow. This time, she bent it gently, and it gave easily under her weight. She slipped the string into place.
     
    She gave a few test draws without putting an arrow on the string. It pulled smoothly. Rylie felt like she could have drawn the string back far enough to snap this bow, too, if only her arms had been long enough.
     
    She got at the back of the line and waited her turn to shoot at the hay targets. Since she strung her bow so much faster than everyone else, she was one of the first to shoot. Rylie mimicked Kim at the next target down, pointing her left arm straight out to the side of her body and aiming down her fist.
     
    “Good, Rylie,” Louise said encouragingly as she passed.
     
    Patricia and Amber were whispering two lines away. By all means, Rylie shouldn’t have been able to make out what they were saying, but their voices rang out crystal-clear in her ears.
     
    “Have you seen what Rylie is wearing?” Amber whispered to Patricia. “With those skinny legs and that face, she looks like a horse in drag.”
     
    Rylie glanced down at her clothing. She had tried to make the best of a bad situation and picked a bright red shirt out of the lost and found, coordinating it with a loose skirt. It didn’t match her hiking boots, but she had no alternatives.
     
    Her hand clenched on the bow. They shouldn’t have talked badly about someone holding a weapon.
     
    “Did you hear she tried to sneak off to the boy’s camp the other day?”
     
    “Yeah. She’s so desperate for action. It’s sick.”
     
    Anger made her vision blur. Rylie felt hot all over. She reached for her inhaler, recognizing the signs of an impending attack, but it wasn’t in her pocket. It took her a minute to remember she had dropped it in the forest.
     
    “Your turn,” said the archery instructor, and she stepped up to accept her arrows.
     
    Rylie’s throat didn’t close up. She didn’t need her inhaler.
     
    But she needed to do something with her anger.
     
    Patricia went to the front of her own line. Rylie felt the weight of eyes on her back, and she turned to see Amber watching her. She was wearing sandals and toying with the gold anklet with her toes. When she noticed Rylie looking, she pretended to be paying attention to Patricia instead.
     
    “Loser,” Amber muttered in a sing-song voice.
     
    “Do you need help?” asked the instructor.
     
    Rylie shook her head and got into position. She aimed carefully. She had never shot a bow before, but she felt confident and powerful. Rylie could do anything.
     
    Focusing closely, she pulled back on the string and released it.
     
    Amber yelled, “Miss!”
     
    Rylie’s arrow whistled through the air and hit the tree behind the target.
     
    “Miss Louise!” Amber finished. Patricia snorted. She had done it on purpose to make