Tarnished Read Online Free Page A

felt natural after seeing Ruby do it so many times. “If you need a refuge, I’m sure they’ll house you back at the center. All you have to do is ask.”
    Missy’s face was wild with fury. She crossed the few feet that separated us in a flash.
    “You fool. They’re killing us, okay?” Missy spat in my face. “The pets! They’re murdering pets! And here you are, clueless and free when other people are dying because of you.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Do you understand English? I said they’re killing the pets ,” Missy said. “A dozen pets have turned up dead in the last week.”
    “But…” It felt like I’d been struck in the gut. I tried to get a breath, but I couldn’t.
    She folded her arms and her face settled into a look of satisfaction. She hadn’t just come to rub it in. She actually thought I’d want to know, didn’t she?
    But what could I do about it?
    “I need you to help me,” I said.
    She brushed at her legs as if she was wearing a long satin ball gown. Maybe our gestures were so ingrained in us they would never disappear. “Why would I help you?”
    I swallowed, thinking of the refugee center. The dinginess was a glaring difference from the opulence that we were used to, but that wasn’t why I needed to leave. None of that stuff really mattered. There were more important things, things that no amount of money could buy, like the slant of light through a window, or a slice of crisp blue sky, the feeling of strong arms pulling you in tight.
    “I need to get back,” I said.
    “Back?”
    “Home.” Maybe the word seemed peculiar to her. I didn’t mean home, as in staying at the congressman’s house. But it was the only word to explain where I needed to be. Home. With Penn. Next to him. Together, we’d figure out what to do.
    She shook her head, turning away from me. “No,” she said matter-of-factly.
    “No?”
    She glanced back over her shoulder. “No,” she repeated. She bent down and grabbed her backpack.
    I lunged at her, grabbing her arm. It felt surprisingly small beneath my fingers. “I have to get back to Penn and you’re going to help me. You made it here. You can make it back.”
    I expected Missy to tear her arm away from me, but I didn’t expect her to throw her head back and laugh. It rang clear into the night air, three loud barks, deep from her belly.
    “You really are that stupid, aren’t you?” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I’m never going back there and neither are you. You couldn’t even make it away from your friends at the refugee center without getting caught. If it weren’t for me, you’d be back inside right now, locked away in your little room. If you go back to the United States, you’ll get caught by someone worse.”
    My face burned red in the dark. “You don’t know that.”
    She snatched the pillowcase out of my hand. “You were going to get there with this?” she asked, peering inside. “That master of yours has started a war over you, and what? You’re going to fight him with a pocketknife? It’s not safe for anyone, not the black market dealers, not the Liberationists. Certainly not the pets. Not any of them.”
    She moved closer, like maybe she wasn’t done with me. “You can’t just go marching back. It’s not that simple. If you aren’t caught outright by your master, you’d get picked up in less than a minute by someone wanting the reward money he’s offered to get you back. You’re better off here. Stay for a little bit. Get on your feet. I bet you might even start feeling happy in a month or two.”
    “Happy?” The word felt like a slap. The thought of being happy without Penn was almost more painful than being separated from him to begin with. “I could never be happy if I stayed.”
    Missy snorted and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Fine, don’t be happy. What do I care? At this point I’ll just be satisfied with making my own choices. Heck, I’d be fine just staying alive.”
    “I don’t