Val turned all the way around. One of the walls was decorated with spray paint that read “for never and ever.”
“She’s impressed,” Lolli said. Her voice echoed in the tunnel.
Dave snorted and walked over to the fire. He took out flattened cigarette butts from his messenger bag and dropped them into one of the chipped mugs, then stacked cans of peaches and coffee.
The boy with the piercings lit up one of the butts and took a deep drag. “Who the fuck is that?”
“Val,” Val said before Lolli could answer. Val shifted her weight, uncomfortably aware that she didn’t know the way back.
“She’s my new friend,” Lollipop said, settling down in a nest of blankets.
The pierced boy scowled. “What’s with her hair? She some kind of cancer patient?”
“I cut it,” Val said. For some reason that made both the pierced boy and Sketchy Dave laugh. Lolli looked pleased with her.
“If you didn’t guess, this is Luis,” Lolli said.
“Don’t enough people find their own way down here without you two playing tour guide?” Luis demanded, but no one answered him, so perhaps his question was merely talking.
Exhaustion was starting to creep over Val. She settled down on a mattress and pulled a blanket over her head. Lolli was saying something, but the combination of brandy, ebbing fear, and exhaustion was overwhelming. She could always go home later, tomorrow, in a few days. Whenever. As long as it wasn’t now.
As she dozed off, Lolli’s cat climbed over her, jumping at shadows. She reached out her hand to it, sinking her fingers into the short, soft fur. It was a tiny thing, really, but already crazy.
Imagine a world where families are allowed only two children. Illegal third children—shadow children—must live in hiding, for if they are discovered, there is only one punishment:
DEATH.
Read the Shadow Children series by
MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX
Simon & Schuster • www.SimonSaysKids.com
For those who think faeries
are innocent little creatures…
prepare yourself for these exquisite and haunting modern tales of Faerie.
By #1 New York Times bestselling author
Holly Black
From Simon Pulse
Published by Simon & Schuster
Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?
In this futuristic world, all children are born “uglies,” or freaks. But on their sixteenth birthdays they are given extreme makeovers and turned “pretty.” Then their whole lives change….
PRAISE FOR UGLIES:
* “An exciting series…. The awesome ending thrills with potential.”
—Kirkus Reviews
* “Ingenious…high-concept YA fiction that has wide appeal.”
—Booklist
* “Highly readable with a convincing plot that incorporates futuristic technologies and a disturbing commentary on our current public policies. Fortunately, the cliff-hanger ending promises a sequel.”
—School Library Journal
Margaret Peterson Haddix, Swashbuckling Fantasy
(Series: # )
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