The Night Country (Melissa Albert) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

34

Finch thought sometimes about the things he missed.

Showers. Real coffee. Soup dumplings. New books. Opening his eyes under the serene blue roof of a chlorinated pool, seeing the wobble of the distant lights. He missed dogs. The closest thing the Hinterland had was a roving tribe of mad cats, who slipped serenely into and out of the tales and looked so knowing he’d tried a few times, quietly, to start a conversation with one of them. No dice.

Despite all that, he didn’t think he really missed life on Earth. He told himself he was glad to let it go.

But when Iolanthe’s words opened a new door, and the molecules of the next world came through, he knew. When he breathed in the chemicals and metal and dead skin dust of the place that had made him, he understood he’d been telling himself another lie.