Who Would Have Thought
Noah found out by accident, when he threw a stone at a bird. It fell to the ground, and when he found where it had fallen, the Bad Color was coming out of it in a viscous trickle. He pulled off all the feathers, then the skin, and there was more and more Bad Color. Everywhere.
It was the same with all the animals. He threw more rocks at the small ones, and then he took his knife from dinner to make the cuts for the Bad Color to come out of the bigger ones. He studied them all very carefully, and they all were the same, under skin.
People were the same.
(Danny screaming Ma screaming ohmygodwhodidthisDanny! things everywhere redbloodbadcolor on the sheets and walls and all over--)
Everyone was the Bad Color inside. Did that mean everyone was bad?
Not Ivy. Ivy was good, was always good; she could see him. Past the Bad Color inside. She didnıt see his color, but she still saw him.
Her hair was the Bad Color (Abel Prather said that once, and Noah hit him and had to spend an hour in the Quiet Room for it, but Abel never said it again, so), but hair didnıt count. Because.
(Dannyıs hair had been, too. But then Dannyıs hair had been slick and sticky and even more the Bad Color. So had his skin. All of him.)
Ivy wasnıt bad. But Lucius Hunt was, for trying to take Ivy away, to come live in his house so she couldnıt run like a boy anymore. If Ivy was in Lucius ı house, she couldnıt be with him, and heıd be shut in the Quiet Room for always, and no more promises sealed with a kiss. Ivy.
When girls got married and had babies, the Bad Color came. Sometimes there was so much of it, it took the girl and her new baby with it. It left a smell. Lucius would bring the Bad Color on Ivy, somehow. It was what happened, and Noah had never understood why anyone would want to pair up with that threat hanging. Until he knew Ivy. Heıd risk the Bad Color for her. But she laughed when he kissed her. She didnıt laugh when Lucius Hunt took her hand.
The Elders hid the Bad Color under the floorboards so Those We Donıt Speak Of could come in. To think of Them under all the houses, watching the families, the children, the young couples (Ivy) all eating and talking and laughing while They waited with the Bad Color to take good folk away. The Elders did it. The Bad Color had them; they were bad too.
(We live here now, Noah. Youıre safe here.
(Danny?--
(No, Dannyıs not here. We couldnıtbring him.)
He knew the secrets now, though. Since he knew all the secrets, the Bad Color wouldnıt hurt him. He could be like one of Those We Donıt Speak Of, and prowl through the town and show everyone what he knew. He knew if he left enough animals with their Bad Color drained out, someone would understand. If he painted the doors with warning signs (Those We Donıt Speak Of might come and see them, and know that he knew and be proud), then the Elders would be afraid because he knew their secrets.
And thenhe had his knife. Heıd draw all the Bad Color out of Lucius Hunt so Ivy wouldnıt have to live in his house. So she could race with him into the forest, and heıd spread a place for her on his cloak. She didnıt know it was the Bad Color, and he wouldnıt tell her. And he could kiss her, and any color would fade into the cloak.
But there was so much in Lucius. So much. It kept coming out, and coming out, and it looked--
(--like Dannyıs--)
--and if it was like Dannyıs, then Lucius was like Danny, and maybe he shouldnıt have let it out. Ivy would cry (like Ma cried for Danny), and not kiss him.
Covering his hands, sticky and thick-smelling. The Bad Color had made him do it.