Guardians Read Free Page A

Instead, Esther’s arms tightened around the infant in an automatic and protective way.
    Skar seemed to understand what she was thinking. “What will you do?”
    Esther was already fumbling with her shirt; the baby was crying, and she had only just realized it was probably hungry. “I’m keeping her.”
    â€œHer?”
    Esther smiled. Variants, she knew, raised their young without gender until they were ten; then each child was allowed to choose his or her sex in a special ceremony. “I can’t help it. Maybe she’ll change her mind when the time comes. But it’s what she seems to me.”
    Skar smiled back, a dimple flashing in her cheek. “Me, too.” Then, once again, her expression grew serious.
    Esther thought she understood. Back in Prin, her neighbors, even her older sister, Sarah, had viewed variants as the enemy, with fear, disgust, and contempt. When the earthquake forced them away from their home and they had all taken off for Mundreel together, Skar had been the only variant amongthem. It had not been not easy for her. Even though she never spoke of it, Esther sensed that on the road, Skar had experienced more than a few examples of the townspeople’s ignorance and hatred.
    But all at once, Esther was distracted from the idea. She was preoccupied by a strange new feeling, something that suddenly seemed far more important than anything else.
    Her baby was nursing.

TWO
    B Y THE TIME E STHER AND S KAR RETURNED TO THE MALL, THE SUN WAS well overhead. Following her friend’s advice, Esther took care to wrap her sleeping child in a tattered towel she found in a subway entrance. Flattening themselves against a neighboring building, they both kept an eye on the guard, who was watching from the roof. Only when he turned did they hasten across the street.
    The girls peered through the side door and waited until there was no one in the lobby. Once they had slipped indoors, Skar kept lookout as they ran to the windowless stairwell at the far end of the hall. There, they slowly made their way toEsther’s home on the tenth floor, the girl leaning on the banister every few minutes.
    The mall itself was made up of open levels that occupied the bottom four floors of a large indoor courtyard, including a basement. Above were seven more stories, each filled with dozens of windows that revealed darkened hallways beyond. High in the ceiling, a brilliant glass panel let in sunlight, which streamed past the strange man/bird sculptures that hung at various points. Most of the mall’s inhabitants—Esther’s small band and the three dozen or so Insurgents—chose to live on the lower levels, in various stores and restaurants that were scattered throughout the commercial space. Only Esther and Aras opted to live higher up, in one of the offices on the top floor. Their room was close to the roof garden, where Esther spent most of her time. It was also clean and quiet, its enormous window looking out on the city and the nearby mountain.
    Esther and Skar emerged on the top hallway without running into anyone. Then they stopped.
    â€œI should go,” Skar said.
    Esther was hoping her friend would come with her. She had not realized how worried she was about her partner’s response; if Aras rejected the child, she would need Skar’s support. Then she shook off the feeling. As hard as it was, this was something she had to do by herself.
    Esther’s tread was light on the thick beige carpet. Still, Pilot was already waiting for her at the door, his tail wagging, when she walked into their room. Inside, she could hear Aras moving about.
    â€œWhere you been?” He appeared at the door, his lean and handsome face etched in worry beneath the dark glasses he always wore. His right hand extended, brushing the air for her. “Skar went out after you, but it’s been a long time.”
    Esther hesitated, then took his hand. Her heart was pounding; Pilot was