by Kate L. Mary
“Five?” My friend shook her head in disbelief.
“You know that is the minimum.”
“I thought she might be merciful with you,” Mira murmured. “You are her favorite.”
“Favorite?”
She kept her gaze on my palms. Our skin was the same shade, pale but freckled from years of being exposed to the harsh sun. Once summer returned, though, that would change. Mine would tan to a nice golden color while hers would refuse to comply. It had two shades, ivory and pink, and Mira always said she spent the entire summer fighting a battle with the sun, knowing that she would lose no matter what she did.
“You must know that Saffron likes you the best,” she said, finally pulling her gaze away from the welts. Her eyes met mine; they were as pale blue as the sky on a clear day, and as pretty as the rest of her was.
“Saffron does not like anyone.”
“You are too modest, Indra.” Mira released my hands. “We should put ice on these.”
“You know we cannot. The freezer is off limits to us.” My gaze moved to the small window above the sink. I could see a sliver of sky from where I stood, and it seemed to me that the gray clouds were thicker now than they had been this morning. “Maybe it will snow.”
“If we are lucky,” Mira replied, and when I looked back, her head was bent.
We both knew that snow would not be a lucky thing for anyone in the village but us.
“I will be fine,” I assured her. “But if Saffron catches us standing around instead of working, I will not and neither will you. We need to get back to work.”
Mira nodded her assent, and together we retreated to the sink where the dirty dishes sat waiting.
Want to read more? You can get Outliers on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!
Also by Kate L. Mary
The Broken World Series
Broken World
Shattered World
Mad World
Lost World
New World
Forgotten World
Silent World
Broken Stories
The Twisted Series
Twisted World
Twisted Mind
Twisted Memories
Twisted Fate
The Oklahoma Wastelands Series
The Loudest Silence
Zombie Apocalypse Love Story Novellas
More than Survival
Fighting for a Future
Playing the Odds
The Key to Survival
The Things We Cannot Change
Surviving the Storm
The Blood Will Dry
Collision
Tribe of Daughters
The Book of David
The Outliers Saga
Outliers
Uprising
Retribution
When We Were Human
Alone: A Zombie Novel
The Moonchild Series
Moonchild
Liberation
The College of Charleston Series
The List
No Regrets
Moving On
Letting Go
Anthologies
Prep for Doom
Gone with the Dead
About the Author
Kate L. Mary is an award-winning author of New Adult and Young Adult fiction, ranging from Post-apocalyptic tales of the undead, to Speculative Fiction and Contemporary Romance. Her Young Adult book, When We Were Human, was a 2015 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Silver Medal winner for Young Adult Fantasy/Sci-Fi Fiction, and a 2016 Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal winner for Young Adult Science Fiction, and her dystopian novel, Outliers, was a Top 10 Finalist in the 2018 Author Academy Awards for Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and the First Place Winner in the 2018 Kindle Book Awards for Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Don’t miss out on the Broken World series, an Amazon bestseller and fan favorite.
For more information about Kate, check out her website: www.KateLMary.com
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