The Language of Acorns

Acorn has perfected the language of invisibility, the dialect of belonging, the slang of nothing special. She comes from a home where she must stay small and quiet to survive. She doesn't trust words or voices, only body movement and expression and posture.

She finds refuge in a soup kitchen frequented by the wild pack children who roam their gravity-broken city. Here she encounters a pack led by a boy named Grammar. He notices her at once which both alarms and fascinates her, but she can't bring herself to trust him. Acorn decides to deliberately provoke his anger, to see how he reacts.

The results are not what she expects. Maybe, just maybe, she's found a new family. But first she must face her own fears…and the monster in her own home.

The Language of Acorns is a short story that takes place before Book 1 of the Gravity Shattered series.

CW: domestic violence