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⊹ Book 1 of the Aldergrove Duology ⊹
After being told he has only six months left to live, Clementine decides to track down his sister's murderers, leading him to Aldergrove Academy, a place...
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Sunlight was as rare as fresh air in Itamore. The crumbling village in which Clementine and Anette lived lay shrouded beneath thick, murky green fog. The sludgy water was rancid, the air was plagued by hundreds of different insects, and the closest thing anyone here had to a home were the makeshift huts crafted from driftwood and sewn-together clothes.
"Let me go," Clementine pleaded, snatching Anette's hand before she could dart out the door of their shack.
His sister looked back at him and sighed. Her long, frilly locks of blonde hair were dirtied with the grime that floated around their village, and scattered across that of her skin visible through her shirts tears were patches of crumbling, grey rot.
"You're sicker than me," he added, staring into her tired eyes.
"I'm older," she said with a shake of her head. "And I've done this enough times, Clem. Go back to bed. I'll be home in the morning."
"Anette," he insisted, trying to pull her back inside.
She pulled free from him and growled in frustration. "We need these meds, Clem!" she exclaimed. "Without them, we'll end up just like Charles and Lisa and everyone else that's disappeared here!"
The thought of those the colligo-interitus disease had claimed long before him and his sister sent a cold shiver down his spine. He didn't want to end up like them...he didn't want to turn into a stone-skinned monster. But it was going to happen eventually. The meds just slowed it down.
"Don't worry, little bro," she said, patting his head. "I'll be careful."
As she stepped outside, Clementine frowned in worry. "Don't do anything stupid," he grumbled.
She laughed, heading towards a cart sitting by the swampy river. "Oh, Clem. You know me. Be a good little brother—maybe I'll bring you back something special this time. Love you!"
"Love you, too."
Watching her leave, the dread in Clementine's heart grew thicker than the fog—this happened every time. He just had to let her go—he trusted her and she knew what she was doing. But ever since the people in their village had started dropping like flies, he couldn't help but panic at the slightest thing.
Anette was right, though. They needed their meds, and the only way to get them was to head up to Ulrora Slope and help Marco with his shady deliveries. Soon, though, he'd be sixteen, and that was when his sister had said she'd let him tag along. Then, he'd get to help her. For now, though, he just had to sit around at home and wait.
