o_18vdqvms01tdp1ck54q91frg17mg2d.pdf

paced, unsure what I should do. She ran her fingers over a stack of books on animal behavior
and evolution.
"Are these for a report?" she asked.
"No. I'm just interested in it, that's all."
Her eyebrows rose. She hadn't known that. But how would she? She didn't know anything
about me. She continued her appraisal, stopping to study little things that apparently surprised
her about me. A picture of Lissa and me dressed up like fairies for Halloween. A bag of
SweeTarts. It was as though my mother were meeting me for the first time.
Abruptly, she turned and extended her hand toward me. "Here."
Startled, I leaned forward and held my palm out underneath hers. Something small and cool
dropped into my hand. It was a round pendant, a small one—not much bigger than a dime in
diameter. A base of silver held a flat disc of colored glass circles. Frowning, I ran my thumb
over its surface. It was strange, but the circles almost made it look like an eye. The inner one
was small, just like a pupil. It was so dark blue that it looked black. Surrounding it was a larger
circle of pale blue, which was in turn surrounded by a circle of white. A very, very thin ring of
that dark blue color circled the outside.
"Thanks," I said. I hadn't expected anything from her. The gift was weird—why the hell would
she give me an eye?—but it was a gift. "I… I didn't get you anything."
My mom nodded, face blank and unconcerned once more. "It's fine. I don't need anything."
She turned away again and started walking around the room. She didn't have a lot of space to
do it, but her shorter height gave her a smaller stride. Each time she passed in front of the
window over my bed, the light would catch her auburn hair and light it up. I watched her
curiously and realized she was as nervous as me.
She halted in her pacing and glanced back toward me. "How's your eye?"
"Getting better."