Lotus and Thorn Read Online Free

“It is not entirely the girl’s fault.” Her face was all sympathy and sorrow, but as she stepped toward me, her eyes were full of a spiteful joy. “Your mother had this sickness in her heart too. How else do you explain being born . . . Corrupted.”
    The Abuela’s eyes lingered dramatically on my six-fingered hands, but my eyes were already looking to my sisters. The two of them were trying to fight their way up onto the stage, their faces masks of fury. I saw now that the Abuelos were toying with us. The elders had long suspected my mother’s sins went beyond outspoken words. As soon as they’d seen what was in my bag, they’d guessed rightly that
she
was the one who had stolen these things—but they had no proof.
    Now they were baiting my sisters and me, hoping that in our passion to defend our mother, we’d admit her crime. And then her sin would be inherited by
all
her children. Why punish one sister when you can punish all three?
    The bigger guard grabbed Tasch and Lotus. I don’t know if he was planning to help or hinder their path to the stage. Either way, it was over. The Abuelos would question my sisters and they would slip. In my attempt to protect them, I had condemned us all.
    Then, suddenly, Sarika was down there among them. A word from her and the guard was gone. Another word and Taschen and Lotus went silent.
    I met my sister’s eyes without fear. Without anger. But I couldn’t keep out the sadness. And I shook my head just the tiniest bit. Forbidding them to come to my defense. To our mother’s defense. The Abuelos had hated our family—our strange names, my Corruption, our mother’s obsession with what was forbidden—for as long as I could remember. We would not let that hate destroy us.
    Finally, seeing that we were not going to give her the family confession she craved, the Abuela grabbed me by the hair. With one great yank, she pulled me down to my knees. Then she picked up my knife. She couldn’t implicate my mother or my sisters, but she still had me.
    “You have sullied your hands and your heart for the love of these . . . these trinkets. For your worship of the corrupt. You have sullied all of us.” Her eyes shone with satisfaction—the only hard thing in her round, sagging face. Then she raised the knife and brought it down on the coil of hair she was still holding. Hacking it off with brutal slashes. “You will be exiled to Tierra Muerta for the remainder of your life.”
    Then, with all of Pleiades watching, she performed the ritual, shaving my entire head. The blade scraped at my scalp, leaving it raw and red. I kept my eyes fixed on the ground—lengths of straight black hair falling around me, drifting like crow’s feathers.
    When my humiliation was complete, the guards dragged me to my feet. I held my sisters’ eyes, realizing this was the last time I would see them. We’d never been separated—not for a night. And I didn’t even know how to begin processing the idea, because in truth I didn’t fully understand where I ended and they began. We slept, legs overlapping, elbows digging into ribs. We ate in a constant flurry of unnoticed, automatic trades. Removing unwanted carrots from each other’s plates, exchanging bread crusts for centers. We drank from each other’s cups and ran outside in whoever’s shoes were handy and made a shield with our bodies when one of us cried.
    How can you be exiled from yourself?
    I don’t know if I was crying, but I watched tears stream down Tasch’s face. Red blotches appeared on Lotus’s cheeks as the Abuelo made a show of placing the forbidden gifts back inside my pack. Walking to the edge of the stage, he opened the jug of water. He took a drink, then poured half of it out on the thirsty sand—the sin of wasted water underscoring the sin of my crimes. Finally, he put the half-empty jug and my knife back inside the pack.
    “Take your sins and your Corruption.” The Abuela took the pack from him and handed it to me.