The Shimmers in the Night (21 page)

She thought of the giant squid and other glowing animals in the deep abyss, fleeing in terror, swept forward by that hulking vehicle with its dim red light; she felt terrible for them, for how they'd been mowed under by that vast and dark machine.

She
did
want to keep helping her mother, she thought. No: she needed to. Despite the Pouring Man, the sleepers and the Burners, despite people like Roger, who'd looked right at her and smiled and handed her poison. She wanted to help her mother keep the world safe, not only for herself and the people she knew but for all these other mysterious beings who were sharing it with them. She didn't even
know
all of them, not by a long shot—there was a universe of creatures out there she still had to discover.

I'll go to sleep
, she thought.
I'll go to sleep and dream of everything there could be.

Lydia Millet (
lydiamillet.net
) is the author of many novels for
adult readers, including
My Happy Life
, which won the PEN-USA Award for Fiction in 2003,
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart
, about the scientists who designed the first atomic bomb, which was shortlisted for the UK's Arthur C. Clarke Prize, and
Ghost Lights.
Her story collection
Love in Infant Monkeys
was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. She has taught at Columbia University and the University of Arizona and now works as a writer and editor at an endan-gered-species protection group.
The Shimmers in the Night
is her second novel for young readers following
The Fires Beneath the Sea.

She is working on the third book in the Dissenters series.