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  mouth, I hated myself for saying them. But I couldn’t stop. “What if you’re heading into some

  kind of trap?”

  Hunter didn’t reply. He didn’t have to. We both knew that Sky would never have told Hunter he should go to Canada unless she had some overwhelming evidence. I pulled out a chair and sat down at the breakfast table, my forehead in my palm. This can’t be happening, I thought dizzily. Now that I was safe, Hunter was leaving. I tried to focus on my breathing, on pulling the fresh air into my lungs and letting the old air go. For a crazy moment I wished that I could be in some sort of horrible danger. It was a very strange thing, to realize that I would rather have my life in jeopardy with Hunter than to be safe . . . without him. “Morgan,” Hunter said. His voice grew quieter. “We’remùirn beatha dàns . You know I love you completely. But you also know how I feel about my parents. You wouldn’t want me to pass up this chance, would you?”

  Yes, I thought. I opened my mouth to say it, but I couldn’t. How could I tell him that? What would it do to our love?

  “No,” I whispered. “I want you to find them.” “I knew that was what you would say.” Hunter’s voice was a caress. I inhaled. I exhaled. I ran my fingers over the ridges of the cotton place mat. It felt impossibly normal to me, incongruously simple.

  Out of nowhere, the words Alisa had spoken over a week ago echoed in my mind.I wish things could stay the way they are.For a brief moment I’d been safe, my family had been happy, and I’d

  known who mymùirn beatha dàntruly was. And now he was leaving me. I remembered the vision I’d had, the one in which Hunter had waved good-bye, and I tried not to think that this separation was permanent.

  Trust me.The words hadn’t been spoken, yet they seemed to be all around me, spinning lazily

  like dandelion fluff on a summer wind. I looked out the kitchen window. The night was dark, and the moon was out. I couldn’t see any stars, but I knew they were there. I could picture them, waiting patiently, their light cutting through the infinite darkness. Fire had never looked so cold to me.

  Trust me.

  What choice did I have?

  “I do,” I said.

  All quoted materials in this work were created by the author. Any resemblance to existing works is accidental. Strife

  SPEAK

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada

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  Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, This edition published by Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc, Copyright © 2002 17th Street Productions, an Alloy company, and Gabrielle Charbonnet All rights reserved

  Produced by 17th Street Productions,

  an Alloy company

  151 West 26th Street

  New York, NY 17th Street Productions and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Alloy, Inc. eISBN : 978-1-436-23217- The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content. http://us.penguingroup.com

  To the real Erin Murphy

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  1 - The Meeting

  2 - Contact

  3 - Attack

  4 - The Vision

  5 - Forces

  6 - Restricted

  7 - Danger

  8 - Loss

  9 - Fear

  10 - Confrontation

  11 - Connection

  12 - Restoration

  13 - Flame

  14 - Heal

  15 - Lift

  16 - Letting