Page 14 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

stopped. Instead she reached out and held his hand
tightly as the elevator rose to the ninth floor in a single
great swoop.

"Hannahleh, how much you've grown," Aunt Rose said.
"Twelve years old and already a beautiful young lady."
Hannah smiled and pulled away as soon as she could.
"Thirteen," she said. It was almost true. She didn't
ask Aunt Rose how anyone could be beautiful with
mouse-brown hair and braces on her teeth. Aunt Rose
thought everyone in the family was the most beautiful,
the smartest, the greatest, even if it wasn't true.
Escaping Aunt Rose's attentions by going into the
bathroom, Hannah looked at herself in the mirror. There
was a lipstick stain where Aunt Eva had kissed her on
the forehead. She ran some water and tried to scrub it
off, feeling guilty because Aunt Eva was her favorite
aunt, the only one who preferred her over Aaron. Han-
nah was even named after some friend of Aunt Eva's.
Some dead friend. The lipstick wouldn't come off com-
pletely. Brushing her bangs to hide the mark, Hannah
left the bathroom worried that someone else might be
lying in wait for her, and dreading it.

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