Read Online The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow - Free Book Online Page B

stuck in one of the pails. Her tail lifted; she appeared to be turning apples directly into excrement. “Hhawu!” shouted Thandi. “Get out of there!”
    The goat lifted her head, working her jaw from side to side like a man chomping a cigar. Lacking upper incisors, goats cannot eat apples without comedy, but this does not stop them from trying. Bat Brain looked at all of us looking at her, remembered that she cherished freedom, and took off like a suborbital rocket.
    â€œHan, you catch her,” said Thandi. “You’re the one who likes them.”
    â€œI don’t like them —I just like cheese.”
    â€œJust catch the damn goat,” said Thandi. So Han and Atta went to catch Bat Brain, and the rest of us—Grego, Xie, Thandi, Elián, and I—picked up the full pails and went into the shed.
    Inside, it was close and sticky with cobwebs, cluttered with coiled ropes, stacks of baskets, hoes and forks and spades in racks, scythes hanging from the rafters with more symbolic import than any of us were comfortable with. The light was sepia toned, coming through the warped slat walls in lances.
    Grego and I carried our pails over to the ancient hulk of the apple press, but Xie and Thandi stopped just inside the door.
    Elián ducked under the lintel and found himself between them. He blinked. “You girls aren’t gonna beat me up, are you?” His voice was soft, free of the braggadocio that seemed characteristic of him. He put his pail down and stretched upward, wrapping his fingers around a low rafter. He was startlingly tall. “Got no doubt you could take me, but, no offense—” He cupped a hand loosely over his heart, the nursery spider there. “The job’s already covered.”
    â€œOf course not,” I said. “It’s—we’re merely pressing cider.”
    â€œYes,” said Grego. “Certainly there is no subtext.”
    â€œThe Abbot would have us show you the ropes,” said Da-Xia.
    â€œRopes?” said Elián. “We just met, Xie—sure you don’t want me to buy you dinner first?”
    â€œStop it,” said Thandi tightly.
    â€œStop what, fighting?” said Elián. “When pigs fly.” Spiders twitched. The bolt must have been stronger this time, because Elián made a sound, a kind of helpless exhalation. He raised a hand to his heart, and his voice was suddenly breathless. “Or when they kill me. Gotta say, that seems more likely.”
    â€œThe cider—” I tried again.
    â€œWe have to explain to him, Greta,” said Xie. “The Abbot said—”
    And Thandi cut in, “We’re supposed to be getting him under control.”
    â€œ AčiÅ« , Thandi,” murmured Grego, even as Elián said: “I’d like to see you tr—” And the word dissolved into a little cry.
    Da-Xia hadn’t dropped her dark-goddess thing yet: her smile was a strange mix of distance and compassion. She nudged an upturned bucket toward Elián with the side of her foot. “Sit,” she said.
    Elián dropped onto the bucket and let his head fall forward, lacing his hands behind his neck. Sunlight fell in stripes across him, one turning a streak of his shorn black hair into gloss, one giving shadows and gleam to the knots of his knuckles.
    Da-Xia dropped into a crouch beside him. “What are you doing, child?”
    â€œI’m the same age as you,” Elián muttered.
    â€œDo you like ‘peasant’?” said Grego. “We might call you ‘peasant.’ ”
    â€œWas crucifixion too subtle?” snapped Thandi. “You need to behave better, or—”
    Elián didn’t answer, didn’t lift his eyes from the floor, but he shook his head.
    Xie stepped in front of him. “Look at me.” When he didn’t, she reached out and put her fingers against the corner of his jaw. He lifted his