The Waters & the Wild by Francesca Lia Block Read Free Book Online Page A

illness that poured
    itself between bodies
    through the elixir of the blood
    wasting men before their time
    their faces sunken and lumpy from the drugs
    no immune systems to speak of and all
    because they loved
    the queen’s own husband had had his
    share of male paramours
    it angered her enough to want
    to change the seasons
    but she had sense not to destroy the world
    the towers crumbling as the cards
    foretold they would
    bodies flying from the windows like
    burning birds
    that tsunami wiping out so many in its wake
    the queen saved a young sylph put her in a tree
    impressed with her lithe beauty
    but the girl’s beloved with his camera
    perished along with all the rest
    what of the climate change? it
    terrified even the queen
    a powerful sorceress witch and lesser deity
    the ice melting the dying animals
    everything backwards
    skin cancer more common now
    no ozone to protect
    the queen once fair as milk cowered
    in her underground lair
    avoiding mirrors and the realization
    of how she had changed
    become a wizened monster
    maybe it was better here
    she no longer really missed the world
    it was only her daughter
    she needed

14
Progeny
    H aze and Sarah were eating lunch together when they saw her. They knew immediately when she walked right past them. She did not even smile or say hello, but she did glance their way for a moment. Her eyes were completely different. The pupils that had made you want to jump inside themwere now tiny pricks.
    She was wearing new clothes—a pink tank top and pink camouflage pants. Her hair was freshly washed and pulled up in a high pony-tail. She wore makeup—mascara, lip gloss, blush on her cheeks.
    A few nights before, Deena held her new daughter and wept with relief that she had recovered. Deena knew nothing of the change, but still she sensed it. This girl who snuggled in her arms had warmer, less translucent skin. She was less frail and less aggressively beautiful. Her breasts were starting to show. She sucked her lower lip like a baby so that her teeth protruded slightly. When did Bee start needing braces? Deena wondered. Even if Deena suspected something, she did not pursue it. She was relieved, deep down, that this new child had come to her. A real child.One who needed her. A child of the world.
    The girl walked right past Haze and Sarah and went to sit at Lindsey Carlisle’s table.
    â€œI miss her,” Sarah said.
    â€œMe, too.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œI don’t know.” He lifted his fingers to his mouth, then dropped his hand in his lap. “She had to go back where she belonged.”
    â€œI thought she belonged with us.”
    â€œI know.”
    They were quiet for a while; it was too hard to speak about it. Plus, there was a part of both of them that wondered if they were wrong, if they were experiencing some kind of mutual delusion. It struck them, though, that whatever they were experiencing, they were not alone with it the way they had once been alone. Something had changed in bothof them. It was as if they were seeing each other for the first time.
    â€œI’m glad I have you, Alien Boy.”
    â€œYou’ve got me.” He could feel his chest tingle with the surprise of saying the words out loud to her. He never stammered anymore, and his mother had taken him to get contact lenses. He’d also gained a few inches, suddenly, almost overnight, so he towered above the other boys his age—above Sarah, now the tallest girl in their grade—and his skin was clearing up. It had started to get better the day after Bee had touched his cheek. Come to think of it, that was also when the stammering had stopped.
    Sarah had changed, too. The dreams didn’t haunt her anymore. Just yesterday, Haze had filmed her singing “Strange Fruit.” They were going to send it in to American Idol forfun. In the video he’d made, she wore a gold satin dress that had been her mother’s, and her grandmother had