The Birds In Blue Skye

By Margaret Koerber

Fifteen-year-old Skye has a blue mouth, blue like the color of blood without oxygen. She has a blue mouth, blue gums, blue tongue. Strange things happen to Skye. Arrogant boys that force themselves on her, touch her, or kiss her, fall retching on the floor, nearly unconscious. Skye’s mother had the same blue mouth, and she went to jail when her father raped her, and he ended up dead. Police ruled his death a poisoning, even though no poison was ever found. Skye was born in jail nine months later. A researcher studying Skye tells her that her blue mouth is a warning to others, and that every fluid in Skye’s body can turn into a deadly toxin if she’s threatened. The same bodily fluids that signal love, sadness, desire, or hunger react to protect a ‘Blue’ from harm. Skye grows up with this secret about herself, and these words rattle around inside her like nervous birds in her ribcage. Each bird has a name: incest, rape, murder, poison; they stretch and flap their wings and shift nervously on their perches. What will the world do when they discover people who say no with more than just their words?

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