MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX

“Who?” Kheelan asks. “The Crows?”
Caro says, “That’s right. Now give me
that water. Soli asked for it for the queen.”
“Soli is with her?” Kheelan asks. He
sighs.
“I’ll take her a cup. You stay here with
Lucy.”
The cool air brushes my face again, and
Caro grabs my hand. She leans her face
close to mine—I can feel her breath. “Now,
Lucy,” she says. Her voice is still low and
angry. “Let’s go.”
And I hear the flap of wings.
COOL READS FOR COOL KIDS
SOLI
Calandra is asleep when Kheelan bursts
into the tent.
I drop her hand.
“Here,” he says, thrusting a cup of water
toward me. “Caro said you needed this.”
“Thank you,” I say.
I reach for the water. My hand brushes
his as I take the cold cup, and I feel the
familiar tingle slide down my spine.
I smile up at him, and he reaches out and
strokes my cheek.
Then Calandra moans from her bed.
“Andria, find Mommy,” she says. “Find
Mommy, I’m sick.”
“Who is Andria?” Kheelan asks. “Isn’t
that Lucy’s mother?”
“My sister,” the queen says, shaking her
head. “Tell her to find my mother.”
I try to help her drink the water, but it
mostly drips down her face.
The proud queen, once so beautiful,
looks broken, dying.
Then she’s asleep again.
Motherbird races into the tent, her face
flushed.
“Come, Soledad,” she says. “Quickly.
Lucy has been taken.”
She holds up one black feather.
From Hope by Beth Bracken and Kay Fraser,
Capstone Press 2013. www.capstoneyoungreaders.
com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
25