Clarice the Brave

Mutiny.

I d heard that word before.

Sailors whispered it on the mess deck, where my brother and I lived in the corner of a wooden crate thec olor of a November cornfield. They muttered it like an oath late at night after an extra dram of grog. They sent it, quiet, like a prayer, through the ripe silence between slaps of the whip or thuds to the ribs from a thick boot.

I d heard it, but I hadn t grasped what it meant. Or what it would mean for us.

It was just a word.

Our crate was filled with burlap sacks of coffee beans slowly going stale in the locked pantry off the galley. The padlock didn t affect us ­we could squeeze under the door easily enough. But it kept out the sailors and the cats. Only Heyu, the pasty-­skinned kitchen boy who wore the key on a chain around his neck, came and went several times a day, fetching things for the cook. Nevertheless, we two were safe most of the time, and we had food available. After watching everyone around us die, that s really all we wanted.

My brother, Charles Sebastian, and I were the only ones left of our family. Our siblings had been taken by disease or eaten by Special Lady, who was one of three horrid ship cats. She spent most of her time in the galley near the cook, awaiting a lurch that might cause a scrap of food to fall into her gaping maw. She was the captain s pet: a dreadful, thick orange thing, always trying to sneak into the pantry behind the kitchen boy. She ate our sister Olivia.

Olivia s death had come as a jolt, for she d been the strongest and fastest of the litter. Her failure to outrun Special Lady weighed heavily on me. If she couldn t survive . . . how could I? Was it only a matter of time? The thought was paralyzing. How have you made it this long, Mother? I d asked soon after, back when she was still with us.

Some of it was luck, little bean, Mother had admitted. Then she d examined me carefully, as if able to see the clouds of worry that pressed behind

Lisa McMann is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of dozens of books like The Unwanteds series and the Wake trilogy. She is married to fellow writer and musician, Matt McMann, and they have two adult children--her son is artist Kilian McMann and her daughter is actor Kennedy McMann. Lisa spends most of her time in Arizona, California, and Vancouver BC, and loves to cook, read, and watch reality TV.

Praise for Clarice the Brave:

"[A] wondrous journey of self-discovery . . . Normalizes feelings of sadness and grief for younger readers, relayed in an assured tone and elegant prose."  Publishers Weekly

"An absorbing adventure from an unexpected perspective."  Booklist

"Very well drawn . . . A fine, unusual story."  Kirkus Reviews