She is Louise - стр. 6

The school day of the hot summer was coming to the end, but Niels was in no hurry to go home, even though he didn't like to miss his Latin lessons (he had to have time to eat and get his textbook). His red hair was even hotter, and it was as if the boy had suddenly become a walking sun himself. At the entrance to the school, Roxy and her friends lingered too. The girls were discussing their current idol, Edol, the boy from the eleventh grade. They were saying that he had single-handedly slain some terrible forest monster, though they all knew that no one had ever seen one. And no one ever will.

Niels would be a warrior, but Edol knew nothing of the border, nor of the Forests and Fields beyond it. Fairies and elves certainly didn't live there (but you never know!), but ancient priestesses or witch doctors might.

The inhabitants of the City were afraid of who could be found outside of it, and those who lived in the border village didn't really want to be pessimistic, but it was ridiculous to deny the fact that there was no one in the neighborhood.

– Where are you going, Niel? " Roxy asked cheekily. She often pretended to be the real ruler of the world, if not of the world, then of the school.

– Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and moved away from the gate, taking his time.

– Why are you being so rude? " the girls, Evie and Thea, started.

– Nothing.

– Goodbye, then! " snapped at Evie, then whispered: "I'll find someone else".

– Evie, don't take offense. He's nothing. He doesn't look like anyone. We're so much cooler," Roxy told her friend as she flipped through the news feed. The first line of the day read: "A heat wave is coming. Be careful." Why now, she wondered, with important exams looming? Roxy turned off her smartphone and turned to Evie and Thea:

– Shall we play, detectives? Let's find them and destroy. I bet I know who's responsible. Let's show them who's boss.

"Dear Mommy,

Louise, your daughter, writes to you. Although, am I really your daughter? I want to see you very much, but I don't think you share my wish. Do you love me at all? And does my father? Galya doesn't say anything about him, and I'd like to know where he is and how he's doing. Honestly, I don't even know your names.

Tell me, why am I living with Galya in the Forests and Steppes? I'm a child, and a child needs a mother and a father. Sometimes I even feel like an orphan. What made you give up your own daughter? Don't you need me at all?

There's a town near us, but I've never been there. Galya says I don't belong there. I know that ordinary children live there, who will not become Butterflies and will not eat flakes of flower pollen every day. Surely there are schools in the City where all the teenagers go and have fun with each other. Why can't I do the same? I'm a teenager too and I want to make friends and I end up living like a caged animal.