Lina felt as though a lid that had been on her...
Lina felt as though
a lid that had been on her all her life had been lifted
offLight and air rushed through her, making a song,
like the songs of Ember, only it was a song of joy
She looked at Doon and saw that he was smiling and
crying at the same time, and she realized that she was,
too

Everything around them was springing to lifeA
glorious racket came from the branches--tweedling
notes, peeps, burbles, high sharp callsBugs? wondered
Doon, imagining with awe the bugs that could make
such soundsBut then he saw something fly from a
cluster of leaves and swoop down low across the
ground, making a clear, sweet call as it flew"Did you
see that?" he said to Lina, pointing"And there's
another one! And there!"

"There there there there!" repeated Poppy, leaping
from Lina's lap and whirling around, gucci watches for women pointing in every
direction

The air was full of them nowThey were much too
large to be insectsOne of them lit nearby on a stemIt
looked at them with two bright black eyes and, open

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ing its mouth, which was pointed like a thorn, sent
forth a little trill

"It's speaking to us," said Doon"What could it
be?"

Lina just shook her headThe little creature
shifted its clawlike feet on the stem, flapped its brown
wings, and trilled againThen it leapt into the air and
was gone

They leapt up, too, and threw themselves into
explorationThe ground was alive with insects--so
many that Doon just laughed in helpless wonder
Flowers bloomed among the green blades, and a
stream ran at the foot of the hillThey roamed over the
green-coated slopes, running, sliding, calling out to
each other with each new louis vuitton backpacks discovery, until they were
exhaustedThen they sat down by the entrance to the
path to eat what was left of their foodThey untied
Doon's bundle, and Lina suddenly cried out"The
book! We forgot about the book!"

There it was, wrapped in its blotched green cloth

"Let's read it out loud while we eat," said Doon

Lina opened the fragile notebook and laid it on
the ground in front of herShe picked up a carrot with
one hand, and with the other she kept her place on the
scribbled pageThis is what she read


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CHAPTER 20

The Last Message

Friday
They tell us we leave tonightI knew it
would be soon--the training has been over for
nearly a month now--but still it feels sudden,
it feels like a shockWhy did I agree to do this?
I am an old woman, too tired to take up a
new lifeI wish now that gucci bag black I'd said no when they
asked me
I have put everything I can into my one
suitcase--clothes, shoes, a good wind-up clock,
some soap, an extra pair of glassesBring no
books, they said, and no photographsWe have
been told to say nothing, ever again, about the
world we come fromBut I am going to take this
notebook anyhowI am determined to write
down what happensSomeday, someone may
need to know

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Saturday

I went to the train station yesterday
evening, as they told me to, and got on the train
they told me to takeIt took us through Spring
Valley, and I gazed out the window at the fields
and houses of the place I was saying goodbye
to--my home, and my family's home for
generationsI rode for two hours, until the train
reached a station in the hillsWhen I arrived,
they met me--three men in men's gucci wallet suits--and drove
me to a large building, where they led me
down a corridor and into a big room full of
other people--all with suitcases, most with gray
or white hairHere we have been waiting now
for more than an hour

They have spent years and years making
this planIt's supposed to ensure that, no
matter what happens, people won't disappear
from the earthSome say that will never happen
anyhowDisaster seems very
closeEverything will be all right, they teU us,
but only a few people believe themWhy, if it's
going to be all right, do we see it getting worse
every day?

And of course this plan is proof that they
think the world is doomedAll the best scientists
and engineers have been pulled in to work on it
Extraordinary efforts have been made--efforts


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that would have done more good chanel top elsewhere