Read Online Naomi Grim (The Silver Scythe Chronicles) Part 1 by Tiffany Nicole Smith - Free Book Online Page A

wife, and their
three children trudged across the platform while we
waited.
    Before an execution, Grims with years left must
go through the subtraction process. If a Grim had less than one
hundred years, they could be killed.
    I remembered the feel of the crowd. Some people
were sad. Most were angry. My father was one of the angry ones. He
said Ares was a traitor. That may have been true, but I didn't
think his actions warranted death, especially for his wife and
children, who had nothing to do with it.
    The Watchers began with the children.
Dunningham wanted to make sure Ares suffered the full extent of his
crimes. The Watchers lined the three little ones up side by side.
Samara, the seven-year-old, was to be first. Samara was a
sweetheart. She would often come with Ares when he visited with
Father and beg me to paint her fingernails. She stared into the
crowd with her tiny porcelain face, not shedding a tear.
    Ares and Delores had to be held back from
trying to protect their children. I closed my eyes and covered my
ears. The first shot pierced the air. I closed my eyes tight and
pressed my fingers into my ears until they hurt. The second shot
made me fall to my knees. My body couldn't hold me up anymore. Bram
called my name, but I ignored him. On the third shot, I tore my
hands from my ears only to wipe the tears away. By the fifth shot,
I had become numb.
    I'd knelt until we were dismissed. I pulled the
hood of my cloak over my face and turned, careful not to catch a
glimpse of the dead bodies on the platform. I walked quickly,
pushing my way through the crowd. I didn’t want my family to see I
had cried. No one was supposed to be crying. The execution of a
traitor was a joyous occasion. I hated Nowhere for a long time
after that.
    "Nobody's getting executed," I assured my
friends. "We'll be fine."
    We reached the stone wall. I kept my eye out
for the spot where the cement blocks could be removed. It took us a
little longer to push the blocks away than it had taken Bram, but
we got through.
    On the other side, Keira brushed the dirt from
her knees. "How do you propose we find this kid's mom?"
    That was a good question. "We'll just ask
around. Everyone knows each other."
    I spotted a woman holding a stick with chunks
of meat over a tin can of fire. She looked aged, as did many of the
people of Litropolis. The woman was silver-haired with bulged and
wrinkled skin. Her fingers were abnormally curved and deformed.
People in Farrington and the Upper Estates didn't look like that.
Her appearance was the result of someone who was running low on
years.
    With Chase and Keira on my heels, I moved
toward her. I cleared my throat, and the woman jumped. That was
unusual. It was hard to sneak up on a Grim.
    I felt bad for startling her. "Excuse me. Can
you tell me where I can find the families of two boys named Starkin
and DeCarlo? Someone named Claudia?"
    The woman looked at the three of us
apprehensively. Then she looked down at the meat and shook her
head. The woman probably thought we had bad intentions and wasn't
willing to rat out her fellow Litropolites.
    "Please," I pleaded. "It's very important.
Something happened and their families should know. Starkin asked me
to relay the message. He told me his mother's name is
Claudia."
    The woman thought for a moment before pointing
straight ahead, which really wasn't helpful.
    "Straight where?" Keira asked. The woman
pointed to the right.
    "We go straight and then make a right?" I asked
to clarify.
    The woman nodded. I thanked her and left her
alone. Her fear of me made me uncomfortable.
    It took us about five minutes to get to the end
of the street, navigating through people preparing their suppers
over tin can fires. We made the right and found ourselves at a dead
end. One tent sat at the corner right, before a brick
wall.
    "Think that's it?" Chase asked.
    "We'll see," I answered, walking toward the
tent.
    I knelt at the opening. A woman sat on the
ground with a whining infant cuddled