Chapter 24: One More Year

A year later, the Gathering Hall had paper lanterns in the rafters again.

Nobody had needed to be asked.

The Beta had held the Alpha's seat for eleven months by then.

Clara and I had told the elders to ask him.

He was bad at speeches and very good at listening, and he hung his cap on the head chair every night.

Clara and I sat on the council with one vote between us, and we argued about it every week.

Today we argued about candles.

"Seventeen is a lot of candles," Clara said.

"It's seventeen candles."

"The cake isn't built for it."

"The cake is a yellow box cake," I said. "It's built for anything."

"The cook says the frosting will melt."

"The cook says that about everything."

"The cook," said the cook, behind us, "can hear you."

Rowan came up with a tray of cups and put one in my hand.

She had grown an inch since spring and hadn't stopped announcing it.

"Your sister is a menace," she said.

"Which one?"

"The one who ate half the frosting before four o'clock."

"I tasted it," said Clara.

She was standing without her cane, with her cheeks full.

She had put on weight over the year, and color.

She ran with Rowan every morning, and some mornings I could not catch her.

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