Earthquake Read Online Free Page B

down. She bandaged him as well as she could, tucking under the end of the cloth strip. As she worked, her fingers began to tremble. She kept glancing up at the buildings, imagining for a split second that she could see them move.
    â€œLook at this.” The Fon Kwei boy held out his hands. “I’m shaking.”
    Dai Yue clasped and unclasped her own hands. “I, too.”
    The Fon Kwei boy looked around, his eyes searching. A second later Dai Yue realized what had made him turn. Somewhere, someone was crying. The crowd had begun to move again, aimless, dreamlike.
    The sea of Fon Kwei faces made Dai Yue uneasy. None of them seemed to notice her, but Dai Yue knew it was only a matter of time before someone did. Chinese men rarely ventured out of Chinatown unless they worked for Fon Kwei families. Chinese girls of good families were never seen in public like this.
    Involuntarily, Dai Yue looked down at her clothes. Her slippers were soiled, dirt clinging to the heavy black cloth. Her trousers and tunic were filthy, smudged with blood. It was his, Dai Yue realized. Fon Kwei blood.
    Dai Yue’s thoughts spun in a circle and made her dizzy. Had the boys who had beaten her cousin to death been spattered with his blood? Had they washed it off or worn it with pride? She shivered with hatred.
    â€œAre you all right?” the Fon Kwei boy asked again.
    â€œNo,” Dai Yue snapped at him.
    â€œAre you hurt?”
    Dai Yue glared at him.
    â€œWhat’s your name?”
    Dai Yue hesitated. She had never given her name to a Fon Kwei—not even the policemen who sometimes came into her uncle’s pharmacy to ask questions about opium or some mysterious poison they had found. Dai Yue’s uncle knew every mushroom, every snake’s venom, every bitter herb that could cause illness or death—many of these things, in tiny doses, acted as cures.
    The Fon Kwei boy was studying her face. “My name is Brendan O’Connor.”
    Dai Yue looked at him sidelong. What did she care about his name? “I go,” she began, then stopped, searching for the right word. “I go . . . home.”
    His face changed. “I’ll go with you.”
    Dai Yue looked aside. “No. I go alone.”
    The boy reached for her hand. Before she could react, he had taken it and was looking into her eyes. “You can’t. It’s too dangerous.” He gestured, taking in the stunned crowds, the broken glass, the piles of brick and wood in the street.
    Dai Yue stepped back, pulling her hand free from his. “You go home now?”
    The boy shook his head. “The only place I need to go is to St. Mary’s. You know it?”
    Dai Yue nodded. “The Fon Kwei church?” The words felt awkward and misshapen in her mouth.
    The boy looked puzzled. “What’s your name?” he repeated.
    â€œLi Dai Yue. Dai Yue,” she repeated, just as the earth shook beneath them once more.
    The throng of people around them froze in place. Women screamed and one of the men who had been praying began to curse. Dai Yue felt the coldest fear of her life grip at her heart. Was the Earth Dragon going to destroy the whole world? The boy reached for her hand and she gave it to him. Together they stood waiting, holding their breath, until the tremor ceased.
    â€œI hate this,” the boy whispered. He clutched at a silver chain around his neck.
    Dai Yue had seen the silver coin that hung from it. It meant something to the Fon Kwei boy, that much was very clear. His lips moved a little. Prayer?
    A shower of bricks and chunks of broken mortarfell into the crowd. A woman howled in pain. “I want to go home,” Dai Yue said, without meaning to.
    Somehow, in the noisy confusion, the boy heard her. He began walking away from the rising sun, leading her through the broken glass, the people who wandered in blind, terrified circles.

Chapter Four
    At first, Brendan walked slowly. His legs