Table of Contents
For Scott, who always believes
CHAPTER 1
Now that Ive found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings arent white or feathered; theyre green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I movefirst in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shape of my own invention. The black behind me doesnt worry me; neither do the stars ahead.
I smile at myself, at the foolishness of my imagination. People cannot fly, though before the Society, there were myths about those who could. I saw a painting of them once. White wings, blue sky, gold circles above their heads, eyes turned up in surprise as though they couldnt believe what the artist had painted them doing, couldnt believe that their feet didnt touch the ground.
Those stories werent true. I know that. But tonight, its easy to forget. The air train glides through the starry night so smoothly and my heart pounds so quickly that it feels as though I could soar into the sky at any moment.
What are you smiling about? Xander wonders as I smooth the folds of my green silk dress down neat.
Everything, I tell him, and its true. Ive waited so long for this: for my Match Banquet. Where Ill see, for the first time, the face of the boy who will be my Match. It will be the first time I hear his name.
I cant wait. As quickly as the air train moves, it still isnt fast enough. It hushes through the night, its sound a background for the low rain of our parents voices, the lightning-quick beats of my heart.
Perhaps Xander can hear my heart pounding, too, because he asks, Are you nervous? In the seat next to him, Xanders older brother begins to tell my mother the story of his Match Banquet. It wont be long now until Xander and I have our own stories to tell.
No, I say. But Xanders my best friend. He knows me too well.
You lie, he teases. You are nervous.
Arent you?
Not me. Im ready. He says it without hesitation, and I believe him. Xander is the kind of person who is sure about what he wants.
It doesnt matter if youre nervous, Cassia, he says, gentle now. Almost ninety-three percent of those attending their Match Banquet exhibit some signs of nervousness.
Did you memorize all of the official Matching material?
Almost, Xander says, grinning. He holds his hands out as if to say, What did you expect?
The gesture makes me laugh, and besides, I memorized all of the material, too. Its easy to do when you read it so many times, when the decision is so important. So youre in the minority, I say. The seven percent who dont show any nerves at all.
Of course, he agrees.
How could you tell I was nervous?
Because you keep opening and closing that. Xander points to the golden object in my hands. I didnt know you had an artifact. A few treasures from the past float around among us. Though citizens of the Society are allowed one artifact each, they are hard to come by. Unless you had ancestors who took care to pass things along through the years.
I didnt, until a few hours ago, I tell him. Grandfather gave it to me for my birthday. It belonged to his mother.
Whats it called? Xander asks.
A compact, I say. I like the name very much. Compact means small. I am small. I also like the way it sounds when you say it: com-pact. Saying the word makes a sound like the one the artifact itself makes when it snaps shut.
What do the initials and numbers mean?
Im not sure. I run my finger across the letters ACM and the numbers 1940 carved across the golden surface. But look, I tell him, popping the compact open to show him the inside: a little mirror, made of real glass, and a small hollow where the original owner once stored powder for her face, according to Grandfather. Now, I use it to hold the three emergency tablets that everyone carriesone green, one blue, one red.
Thats convenient, Xander says. He stretches out his arms in front of him and I notice that he has an artifact, tooa pair of shiny platinum cuff links. My father lent me these, but you cant put anything in them. Theyre completely useless.
They look nice, though. My gaze travels up to Xanders face, to his bright blue eyes and blond hair above his dark suit and white shirt. Hes always been handsome, even when we were little, but Ive never seen him dressed up like this. Boys dont have as much leeway in choosing clothes as girls do. One suit looks much like another. Still, they get to select the color of their shirts and cravats, and the quality of the material is much finer than the material used for plainclothes. You look nice. The girl who finds out that hes her Match will be thrilled.
Nice? Xander says, lifting his eyebrows. Thats all?
Xander, his mother says next to him, amusement mingled with reproach in her voice.
You look beautiful, Xander tells me, and I flush a little even though Ive known Xander all my life. I feel beautiful, in this dress: ice green, floating, full-skirted. The unaccustomed smoothness of silk against my skin makes me feel lithe and graceful.
Next to me, my mother and father each draw a breath as City Hall comes into view, lit up white and blue and sparkling with the special occasion lights that indicate a celebration is taking place. I cant see the marble stairs in front of the Hall yet, but I know that they will be polished and shining. All my life I have waited to walk up those clean marble steps and through the doors of the Hall, a building I have seen from a distance but never entered.
I want to open the compact and check in the mirror to make sure I look my best. But I dont want to seem vain, so I sneak a glance at my face in its surface instead.
The rounded lid of the compact distorts my features a little, but its still me. My green eyes. My coppery-brown hair, which looks more golden in the compact than it does in real life. My straight small nose. My chin with a trace of a dimple like my grandfathers. All the outward characteristics that make me Cassia Maria Reyes, seventeen years old exactly.
I turn the compact over in my hands, looking at how perfectly the two sides fit together. My Match is already coming together just as neatly, beginning with the fact that I am here tonight. Since my birthday falls on the fifteenth, the day the Banquet is held each month, Id always hoped that I might be Matched on my actual birthdaybut I knew it might not happen. You can be called up for your Banquet anytime during the year after you turn seventeen. When the notification came across the port two weeks ago that I would, indeed, be Matched on the day of my birthday, I could almost hear the clean snap of the pieces fitting into place, exactly as Ive dreamed for so long.
Because although I havent even had to wait a full day for my Match, in some ways I have waited all my life.
Cassia, my mother says, smiling at me. I blink and look up, startled. My parents stand up, ready to disembark. Xander stands, too, and straightens his sleeves. I hear him take a deep breath, and I smile to myself. Maybe he is a little nervous after all.
Here we go, he says to me. His smile is so kind and good; Im glad we were called up the same month. Weve shared so much of childhood, it seems we should share the end of it, too.
