The Chemical Garden Series Books 1-3: Wither, Fever & Sever
Lauren DeStefano
HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
Wither
First Published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2011.
Copyright © Lauren DeStefano 2011.
Cover Layout Design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2011
Cover photographs © Ali Smith
Fever
First Published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2012.
Copyright © Lauren DeStefano 2012.
Cover Layout Design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2012
Cover photographs © Ali Smith
Sever
First Published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2013.
Copyright © Lauren DeStefano 2013
Cover Layout Design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2013
Cover photographs © Ali Smith
Lauren DeStefano asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBNs:
Wither: 9780007425471
Fever: 9780007457793
Sever: 9780007483518
Bundle Edition (Containing Wither, Sever and Fever) © November 2014 ISBN: 9780008113711
Version: 2014-09-19
Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
1. I WAIT. They keep us in the dark for so…
2. FOR MALES twenty-five is the fatal age. For women it’s…
3. IT’S NOT GABRIEL who wakes me in the morning, but…
4. IT’S MY TURN to keep watch. We’ve locked the doors…
5. WHEN THE EVENING is at last through, I languish on…
6. “I WANT TO PLAY a game,” Cecily says.
7. I HOLD MY BREATH as they pass. Eternity is the…
8. THE ATTENDANTS arrive in abundance. All of them rushing into…
9. LINDEN is so delighted about the pregnancy, and the mood…
10. IT SEEMS THAT leaves are always bursting with new colors.
11. THE HOUSE doesn’t blow away. Aside from a few broken…
12. THE AIR IS STILL. It’s quiet. I can breathe without…
13. LINDEN SEEMS to have no idea that I sustained these…
14. ALL NIGHT I dream of rivers, and beneath the water,…
15. WHEN CECILY finishes playing her song, and the illusion shrinks…
16. I DON’T SEE GABRIEL the next day. My breakfast is…
17. I’M SICK for the rest of the afternoon. Jenna holds…
18. LINDEN SAYS, “You and Jenna get along well, don’t you?”
19. I WORRY for the rest of the evening. Deirdre tries…
20. WE WAIT, and we wait. I want to look away,…
21. ON THE MORNING of the winter solstice, Jenna manages to…
22. THE BABY will not stop crying. His face is bright…
23. JENNA WAS RIGHT. She leaves before I do. We lose…
24. WE RETURN from the New Year’s party in the early…
25. IN THE MONTH before my escape, I spend all of…
26. I TAKE the elevator to the ground floor and cross…
27. WE RUN for what feels like all night. It feels…
Fever
The First Bride
Acknowledgments
About the Author