The Hawkweed Prophecy by Irena Brignul EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author:Irena Brignull
- Language: English
- Genre:Dark Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
The uniform felt like a straitjacket, secondhand and too small. Poppy’s
father had learned long ago never to invest in a brand-new one. When
she was a child, Poppy had been nervous about starting at a school, daunted
even. Now, as a teenager, she was numb to all that. It was just the uniforms
she hated—the idea that by wearing the same clothes, you’re on the same
side, like a team, or an army, all with the same sense of purpose. More like
inmates, Poppy thought to herself bleakly, as she regarded her reflection in
the mirror. Maroon—the bright ones were the worst. It was like she was
donning a disguise. But she knew she was different, always had been, and
no uniform could hide that. For this was going to be Poppy’s eleventh
school.
Poppy finally found her shoes in the bottom of a box that hadn’t been
unpacked yet. Outside the window, litter and leaves were lifting in the air,
leaping across the street, and she stopped and watched them for a while,
wondering dispassionately how long she was going to last at this next place.
A whole year was her record. Something always went wrong. Either
intentionally or by accident, Poppy would break too many rules, cause too
much disruption, or lose her temper, and disaster would strike. Like the
time Mrs. Barker, her science teacher, slipped and fell, fracturing her wrist.
Mrs. Barker had sworn Poppy had tripped her, and despite Poppy’s
protestations that she’d merely looked at her teacher, this offense had been
the last straw. Her father had been called from work, and Poppy had been
expelled in disgrace. Other schools had been more kind about it, suggesting
gently but firmly that theirs was not the right environment for Poppy and
that she’d be better suited elsewhere.
John Hooper, Poppy’s long-suffering father, had tried everything. He’d
sent Poppy to the most expensive, traditional boarding schools, to the most
progressive and nurturing day schools in the country, and even once to a
convent. (That had not ended well—a broken stained-glass window dating
back centuries and a vast restoration bill.) But the last expulsion had been
the worst yet—a series of prank fire alarms that unleashed the wrath of the
fire brigade and the local police department.
Poppy remembered seeing her father emerge through the smoke. There
was no rush or panic, just the slow, heavy footsteps of a man resigned to
disappointment. In all the heat, his eyes were cold blue ponds; when he saw
her, they iced over. On the way home Poppy tried to deny the pranks, but he
didn’t want to hear it.
“Stop! Just stop!” he ordered.
“But I—” Poppy didn’t get a chance to finish.
“Not another word.”
And she knew he meant it.
They drove back home in the most itchingly uncomfortable silence.
Poppy stared out of the car window at all the people busying themselves
with the mundanities of life and wondered if a single one of them could
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