Imagine Me. Tahereh Mafi
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First published in USA in 2020 by HarperCollins Children’s Books
First published in Great Britain in 2020
by Electric Monkey, an imprint of Egmont UK Limited
2 Minster Court, 10th floor, London EC3R 7BB
Published by arrangement with HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division
of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York, USA
Text copyright © 2020 Tahereh Mafi
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First e-book edition 2020
ISBN 978 1 4052 9704 2
Ebook ISBN 978 1 4052 9711 0
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
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Contents
ELLA JULIETTE
KENJI
ELLA JULIETTE
KENJI
ELLA JULIETTE
KENJI
ELLA JULIETTE
KENJI
ELLA JULIETTE
KENJI
ELLA JULIETTE
KENJI
ELLA JULIETTE
KENJI
ELLA JULIETTE
one.
two.
In the dead of night, I hear birds.
I hear them, I see them, I close my eyes and feel them, feathers shuddering in the air, bending the wind, wings grazing my shoulders when they ascend, when they alight. Discordant shrieks ring and echo, ring and echo—
How many?
Hundreds.
White birds, white with streaks of gold, like crowns atop their heads. They fly. They soar through the sky with strong, steady wings, masters of their destinies. They used to make me hope.
Never again.
I turn my face into the pillow, digging fingers into cotton flesh as the memories crash into me.
“Do you like them?ˮ she says.
We’re in a big, wide room that smells like dirt. There are trees everywhere, so tall they nearly touch the pipes and beams of the open ceiling. Birds, dozens of them, screech as they stretch their wings. Their calls are loud. A little scary. I try not to flinch as one of the large white birds swoops past me. It wears a bright, neon-green bracelet around one leg. They all do.
This doesn’t make sense.
I remind myself that we’re indoors—the white walls, the concrete floor under my feet—and I look up at my mother, confused.
I’ve never seen Mum smile so much. Mostly she smiles when Dad is around, or when she and Dad are off in the corner, whispering together, but right now it’s just me and Mum and a bunch of birds and she’s so happy I decide to ignore the funny feeling in my stomach.