Sovereign Ground (Breaking Bonds) Read Online Free PDF Page A

every
grandma should have. Gentle, even when she scolds—always cheerful.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Nope. I figured whoever took it needed it more
than me.”
    I start to pull it from my shoulders.
    “Wait.” She motions me up on to her Astroturf
porch. “Finish the sunrise with me. I’ll make you hot cocoa in a minute.”
    “Do you have grape soda?”
    “Always,” she says this firm, matter of fact.
    I sit in a chair next to her, thankful for the
blanket to shield me from whatever spiders are hiding under the dirt and leaves
on her porch.
    “How did you get your car back?” I point to the
blue Volkswagen Rabbit.
    “Lorna had it towed.”
    “Really?”
    “No kidding.”
    We laugh together and then sit in silence until
every corner of darkness has been replaced by a swirl of desert dawn.
    “Raenah, do trees have spirits?”
    “Yep.”
    “Are there gods?”
    “Nope. The Great Spirit’s the only god, living in
the unseen world with the spirits.”
    So spirits have a ruler, too. Do wars and poverty exist
in this unseen world? Do they have to look for jobs?
    Do spirit parents beat their kids and get them
taken away?

Chapter 5
    Sunday. The Sunday. It’s only half past eight in
the morning so I’ll be ready early. I wash my hands and dry them on my jeans as
I turn and look in the mirror. I look good in these jeans. They were my first
purchase from Wild Lily money. The first thing I ever bought for style, rather
than price. My hair sways just above the leather Silver brand patch.
    I brush it—a long, tedious job. I don’t really
like my hair. It’s just very dark, very thick and very straight. I’ve wanted to
cut it for years, but every time Lorna suggests it, I decide not to.
    I set the brush down and look at the finished
result. The stitches are out. I turn my face from side to side. A little makeup
and the bruising is hardly noticeable. Too bad the makeup couldn’t change the
way my high cheekbones have squished my eyes, my square-ish jaw and wide mouth.
    Why did Hayden ask me out? He didn’t look at me
with that I’m-really-in-to-you expression, not that it matters. I need to get
out; I’ve only left twice during the past two and a half weeks. Once to get the
stitches removed, and once for a walk to The Wild Lily, where only a charred
shell remained. I cried when I saw it, but not for the building.
    “Where are you going?” Lorna asks from outside the
bathroom.
    “Morning, Lorna.”
    She wears a bright pink, fuzzy robe with the belt
cinched above her belly.
    “I’m going....” I finish with a mumble. Usually
this deflects her. It’s not like she really wants to know.
    “Where?”
    “Church.”
    Her dark skin lightens a shade, but only on her
face. I was prepared to yell back and storm out, but she looks genuinely
afraid. A pressure slides across my digestive tract. I can feel this morning’s
toast moving through.
    Lorna reaches a quivering hand out to my shoulder.
She draws back before she touches me.
    “That’s not a place for you.” She holds a
fingernail with chipped red polish in front of my nose.
    The sleepless night reaches tentacles of fatigue
around my body. It’s all I can do to remain standing.
    “After all I have done for you. Brought you here.
Cared for you. Cleaned for you.” Her words come in sharp angry beats that she
tries to muffle.
    “Yeah, cleaned. Tossed the one item I brought with
me.”
    “Are we going to talk about this again?’ She pulls
at the hair near her temple, like she is talking to a toddler.
    I don’t want to tell her about the money, just in
case she is hiding my flute from me and hasn’t found it yet. “I can go where I
want.”
    “Shut up, you little…” Her hands grab my shoulders,
and like a whip—her arms pull me back into the bathroom and spin me behind her.
I plop onto the closed toilet seat. One of these days, I’m not going to let her
do this kind of thing. I mean, she’s four inches shorter than I am.
    She makes a show of looking down