Thumped
Page 18
melody
I TAP THE NURSERY WINDOW AND GIVE HARMONY A DOUBLE thumbs-up. She and Jondoe join me and Zen in the hall to give the Jaydens time alone with their new daughters.
“I can’t get over your hair,” I say.
“I wanted something different,” she replies.
“Well, you certainly got it!” I joke, giving her hair a playful tousle.
“I mean in life,” she says. “I want to give living in Otherside a try. I want the freedom to . . .”
To what? Harmony is overwhelmed by how much she doesn’t know.
“To make your own decisions?” I suggest.
“To sometimes succeed and to sometimes fail spectacularly?” Zen adds.
Jondoe searches my sister’s eyes. “And start all over again?”
She holds his gaze, nods wordlessly. I put my arm around her.
“Me too.”
harmony
THE JAYDENS APPROACH THE GLASS AND BECKON FOR MELODY and me to come inside.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Melody says. “I’ve never actually held a baby before. . . .”
After we’re sufficiently sanitized, I show Melody how to cradle her arms. The Mrs. gently places one of the infants right into the crook of her elbow.
“This is Mercy,” the Mrs. says.
Melody is saucer-eyed and stiff as a board, terrified to move.
I’ve helped care for babies since I was barely out of diapers myself. I take Faith from the Mr. and show Melody how to relax her posture.
“Thank you,” the Jaydens say before leaving us alone in the nursery.
Melody looks panicked.
“They’re so helpless,” she says, staring agog at Mercy’s sleeping face. “They have no idea what they’re in for.”
I gently press my hand against the rise and fall of Faith’s tiny chest. I can feel her heart pulsing against my fingertips: thumpthumpthumpthumpthump.
“They’re stronger than you think,” I say.
I pray that it will be different when they’re our age.
I pray for a cure to the Virus so they can choose not to share their bodies before they’re ready. I pray that they will have the power to choose when and how they will marry, make love, make babies. And I pray that they will not be judged if they choose not to do those things in the “right” order.
“We’re stronger too,” Melody replies.
My sister and I close our eyes. We dream of a better world. We imagine what we can—and will—do to make it possible.
For us.
And for the girls.
About the Author
MEGAN McCAFFERTY is the author of Bumped as well as the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series, which includes Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, Charmed Thirds, Fourth Comings, and Perfect Fifths. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with her family. You can visit Megan online at www.meganmccafferty.com.
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Credits
Cover art © 2012 by MINORU KIDA / Getty Images and rubberball / Getty Images
Cover design by Alison Klapthor
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Copyright
Thumped
Copyright © 2012 by Megan McCafferty
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCafferty, Megan.
Thumped / by Megan McCafferty.
p. cm.
Summary: Melody and Harmony are without a doubt two of the most powerful pregnant teens on the planet, and there’s only one thing they could do that would make them more famous than they already are: tell the truth.
ISBN 978-0-06-196276-9 (hardback)
[1. Pregnancy—Fiction. 2. Honesty—Fiction. 3. Infertility—Fiction. 4. Twins—Fiction. 5. Sisters—Fiction. 6. Virus diseases—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M47833742Thu 2012
[Fic]—dc23
2011042149
CIP
AC
12 13 14 15 16 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition © April 2012 ISBN: 9780062114600
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