Genesis Girl (5 page)

“Top pick, huh? I guess you’re here to thank me then.” Seth smiles wickedly. There’s a spark in his eye that’s incendiary, like I could be his fuse.

“It turns out that your picture was the best thing that ever happened to me,” I say.

“Yeah? Which company have you sold your soul to?”

I take a deep breath. If Seth ruffles me, then it’s all over.

“Vestals don’t sell their souls.” I try not to sound annoyed. Instead, I launch a different tactic. “Vestals don’t always get harvested by companies.”

That
catches his interest.

“You mean you went Geisha?”

I nod and look away, my cheeks burning. I know what people whisper about Geishas, but it doesn’t matter.

Now I’ve got his attention. Now the fun can really start.

“It’s better than I could ever imagine. He’s so sweet to me, and kind and thoughtful. I never thought I could be this happy.”

“Some old guy buys you and you’re happy?”

I grip the bars, and my face is as close to Seth’s as possible. He leans in too, and our noses almost touch.

“Does age matter when you feel like you’ve known someone your whole life? He makes me feel seen and heard. That’s the most important thing.”

“Only a Vestal would say shit like that.” But Seth doesn’t pull away. He puts his fingers on the bars right below mine, so that we’re closer than ever. I feel his eyes linger on me, on my eyes, and then my mouth.

“I’m here to release you, Rex. It only seems fair. You made me the happiest Vestal ever. So yes, I guess I am here to thank you. And to make things fair.” I pull away from the bars and look down at the white tips of my boots. This next part is critical. The most important part. “There’s just one thing,” I practically whisper. I shake my finger between us both. “This has to be our secret.”

“Why?”

“My purchaser does not know I’m here.”

“You didn’t tell him?”

I shake my head. “I’m not sure he would be forgiving. So do we have a deal? I have to know you’re not going to blog about this to the world.”

“But the truth never hurts anyone,” Seth protests.

“Total privacy,” I insist. “Take it or leave it.”

Seth stares at me. His face has a weird sheen to it, like he’s diseased or in pain. Tech-withdrawal is taking its toll. “I can’t sit on the truth,” he says.

That’s when I get up to go. “If you’re not interested, goodbye.”

“Wait!” Seth calls after me.

I’m already headed toward the door. The other inmates mark my departure with a fresh round of suggestions.

“I promise!” Seth yells after me.

I pretend not to hear.

“Blanca, wait!”

Finally, I pause.

The dirtbags around me are practically frothing now that they know my name. The thing is, I don’t know how Seth ever learned it. He’s been incarcerated since he was hauled away. How does he know my name is Blanca? That information wasn’t released until after my Harvest. By the time it was blaring on every newsboard in the world, Seth was already locked up.

I turn around and walk back to Seth’s cell. This time, I don’t crouch down to his level. “How do you know my name, Rex?”

Seth stands up and peers down at me. He’s a lot taller than his dad. He holds up his hands so I can see the chips. “I’m a Virus, sweetheart. Ordinary measures of protection don’t keep me out.”

“Then why have you been locked up in this jail all month?”

Now it’s Seth’s turn to flush. I must have hit him where it hurts. I’ll be sure to remember that for the future.

“I heard you and that other Vestal talking,” he says, “before I took your picture.”

“So you’re not only a thief, you’re also a sneak.”

“I’m sorry.”

I don’t say anything. I don’t need to. I let my silence weigh in on Seth for a second so he can’t be sure if I will help him or not. I want him to know that there are consequences to being a toad.

Finally, Seth wags one of his hideously maimed fingers between us. “Private,” he says. “I won’t tell anybody about this.”

“Anything about me ever,” I correct. “I’m completely off limits.”

“Okay.”

“Swear it.”

Seth holds up his mother’s pendant, the lion-faced cobra, and kisses it. “I promise,” he says.

And like a fool, I believe him.

Seth’s hands shake the whole ride back to town. There’s a sticky stench in the car, and it’s not coming from me. It emanates from Seth, the tech-addict sitting to my right, who probably hasn’t showered in days. Alan has already put up the lead-lined divider, and we’re completely cloistered.

“The batteries are dead,” Seth mumbles. “I can’t charge them in here for some reason. Couldn’t we pull over for a minute?” He’s practically incoherent. “I need to check my feed. I need to —”

“No,” I interrupt. “I’ve already been gone too long.”

“It’s been almost forever.” Seth wiggles his finger-chips. “I need to see my hits.”

“
You
need to take a deep breath.” But I can’t ignore the fact that he’s suffering.

I look down at my cuff. The blank slate of my arms is a crazy contrast to the wall of tattoos covering Seth’s biceps. Sometimes physical comfort helps, so I grab Seth’s hands in mine. The shaking goes right through me. I’m totally clueless about tech-withdrawal, but I do know about comforting someone who’s hurting.

When we turned fourteen and had our operations, Fatima was a mess for weeks. Every night in our cloister, I’d hear her crying on the bunk right above me. I’d climb up with her and lay my head on her pillow.

“It’ll be okay,” I’d say. But Fatima would sob and sob.

“I’ll never have children,” she’d weep. “I’ll never be a mother.”

“That’s not true,” I’d whisper. “When you’re harvested, your company will assign a family to you. Someday they’ll harvest a Vestal for you and then you’ll be a Vestal-mom.”

“To a teenager, not a baby!”

I never knew what to say to that.
Sterilization is for our own good,
Barbelo Nemo wrote, but Fatima didn’t care. So I would put our wrists together and say the Vestal blessing.

“Fatima, you have a hard road. In so many ways it’s difficult being you. But I know that you can do it
.
You have everything you need to achieve happiness.”

I wonder if the blessing would help Seth too.

“Can’t you drop me off on some corner?” he begs.

“So you can go online? You’re so desperate to get your finger-chips charged that you can’t spend five more minutes in the car with me?”

Seth laces his fingers around my hand. I feel his sweaty arm press into mine. He stares at me with glazed eyes. “Please, Blanca. I need to see what’s happening with my site. I need to see my hits.”

I try to let go of his grasp, but I can’t. “Fine. I’m due at McNeal Manor anyway. Cal will miss me.”

I rap on the divider with my free hand, but Seth stops me. Muscles rope through his neck, and he takes deep breaths through his nose.

“Who’s Cal?” he asks, his voice rising.

“My purchaser, Calum McNeal. What’s the matter, Rex?” I’ve been very careful to call him “Rex” and not “Seth.”

He doesn’t say anything for a minute. Seth stares at me, examining my every inch, right down to the yellow specs in my green eyes. I fight the urge to grab my scarf, to wrap myself up in fabric so I can’t be seen anymore.

“You were bought by Calum McNeal?”

“Harvested,” I correct. We’re still holding hands. I wish I could let go, but Seth’s grip is strong.

“And you’re happy?”

“Happier than I ever thought possible.” I smile knowingly.

Seth slumps back in his seat. His shaking has stopped, but I can feel his pulse pound through his fingertips.

Now’s the perfect time to turn the screw.

“Cal is wonderful,” I say. “He’s so kind and generous and attentive. He makes me feel like a princess.” I lean in close to Seth and whisper in his ear. “Thanks to you, I’m a happy woman.”

When the car stops at a random corner downtown, Seth is still. He turns and looks at me with eyes filled with so much kindness that I can almost overlook the ugly snake inked across his face. “Be careful,” Seth says. “The world isn’t made for Vestals.”

“I don’t want to be part of the world. Cal provides everything I need.”

Seth swallows hard. “Like I said, be careful.” He holds my hand for several moments too long before finally letting it go.

“Thank you,” Cal says to me when I tell him the whole story. “I know that must have been difficult.” We’re in the dining room, eating a cozy dinner for two.

“I’ve never been so close to tech-addicts before,” I say. “Seth and that precinct officer could barely function without their finger-chips.”

Cal laughs. “It’s how the world works. Everyone’s a tech-addict.”

“You’re not!”

“Of course I am. I’m just not as bad off as a Virus.”

“That’s not true. You don’t have finger-chips anymore.”

“But I’m totally reliant on my chip-watch. Without the Internet, my entire company would go under.”

I take a knife to my lamb. The mint sauce is disgusting.

“You’re nothing like Seth at all,” I say, “despite your chip-watch. He destroys people’s lives for a living. He digs up dirt. He publishes secrets.
Veritas Rex
is the dirtiest virtual tabloid I’ve ever seen.”

“And how many online tabloids have you seen?”

I stab more veggies. “Only this one. But I’ve read all about them in my textbooks.”

Cal smiles, and the corner of his mouth twitches. “Textbooks? Printed pages are yesterday’s news. That’s why Viruses like Seth are so successful. They’re on the front lines of stories. Yes, sometimes they go too far and sometimes they break the law, but they share information that people care about.”

“More like steal information that’s none of their business.”

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Viruses hurt people,” I say. “Some of them are violent!”

“Seth’s not. He’d never assault anyone to get a story.”

“Physical violence isn’t the only way to cause harm.” I think about the Tabula Rasa parking garage and the instant when Seth ripped all my future plans away. “Viruses hurt people. I can’t believe you’re defending them.”

“I’m not defending them, I’m illustrating a point. What Viruses do isn’t black and white. In many cases, they’re public workers. They bring knowledge out into the open. And even if they were entirely in the wrong, Seth is still my son. Virus or no, he’ll always be my flesh and blood.”

I take a deep breath. I hope I haven’t offended Cal. I know better than to have argued with my purchaser. Thankfully Headmaster Russell isn’t here to witness my infraction. I shiver, remembering my training.

I have to be sure. Can I trust Cal? Can I trust him to know what he wants?

“You want to be a father again,” I say. “But just to Seth, right? You’re not looking to start over?”
It never hurts to clarify.

Cal’s eyebrows shoot up and then furrow. “No,” he says quickly. “I want a second chance with Seth, that’s it. One kid who hates me is enough.”

Okay then.
Now’s the time to make Cal feel important.
That’s what Barbelo Nemo would say.
If you want to control somebody instead of be controlled, tell that person what they want to hear.

“Then you need to stop thinking of yourself as a bad father,” I say, “and start thinking of yourself as a good person who’s on the road to getting his son back into his life.”

Cal doesn’t say anything. He stares down at his asparagus.

“A grand gesture,” I continue. “You’re showing Seth that you’re the type of father who will do whatever it takes to win back his son. How can Seth say no to that?”

“Do you think it will work?”

“Of course it will. If you want to be a good father, then I want that too. I’m going to make it happen.”

I say that because I have to, never mind that I still don’t know where I fit into all this. Cal wants to be a father to Seth. Not to me. What will happen when this is all over? Does Cal want me to
lure
Seth or
be
with Seth? Is there still a chance Cal wants me for himself afterward?

“Do you think tomorrow night will work?” Cal asks. “I know that if I invite the McNeal Solar Enterprises board of directors to a party in your honor, they’ll come. But what about Seth? He’s never bothered to show up before.”