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Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Chapter Forty-Five
  48. Chapter Forty-Six
  49. Chapter Forty-Seven
  50. Chapter Forty-Eight
  51. Chapter Forty-Nine
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. About the Author

Can you see me? It takes some getting used to.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

My body is healing itself, they tell me. But I don’t know.

They took skin from my legs and back and stomach to fix my arms and hands. I am a patchwork of pieces. A puzzle unmade.

Can you touch me? Am I still marked?

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Or are these just scars? Who knows how to put me together again? Who can read my story now? Do you know what it says?

Can you love me? Am I enough?

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Just a girl. Surrounded by souls that are so beautiful. I can see your soul. You are good.

And I have wings.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Forty-nine

One year later

I am woken by a kiss on the back of my hand. His is the first face I see and, although it hurts a little, I can’t help but smile.

“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Oscar whispers. “Your mum said it would be OK to come and say hi.”

Oscar was there every day I spent in the hospital and we’ve been together every day since. He tells me that he and Fenn have grand plans to go back to Featherstone one day and start using the bricks that were left from the wall. They want to build a pathway through the forest, joining our towns. But there’s time for that. For now, we are adjusting to how everything has changed.

We’ve been waiting for the next attack. There has been no sign of Sana or her gang, and some say they’re gone for good. But I know they’re out there, somewhere. We have learned not to be so foolish – we are not the strongest or the greatest. We are just us.

And us is a strange bunch.

Jack Minnow’s body was never found, and although there were rumours for a while that he was seen running from the burning town, those have died down. I still wake from dreams where I see his face before he fell. With Minnow gone, we needed a new leader. Someone chosen by the people.

There are signs that we might have something like a government again soon. It turned out that Mel was the one who put her arms around me and leapt out of the museum’s window. She could see people below holding a blanket calling at us to jump. She had spent months in the room with the books of the storytellers, locked away, being kept alive by Minnow, who knows why. But once she recovered, the vote was clear – Mel is in charge of things here in Saintstone.

Oscar climbs under the covers with me and we lie nose to nose whispering about our plans for the day. He runs his fingers up my arm.