Revealing Eden (2 page)

Ms. Polka-Dot Bikini was Eden’s kind, right down to her long blond hair and big blue eyes. And yet, according to the antique Beauty Map, she had been prized for her beauty—which
meant, if Eden had been born in an earlier time, she too might have been beautiful.

Me? Eden Newman, beautiful?
No matter how often she studied the precious map she couldn’t imagine it. She was a lowly Pearl, worth nothing in a world ruled by dark-skinned Coals.

Once again, Eden silently quit the map. She really had to stop torturing herself like that.

That bitch Ashina was now fifteen minutes late and Eden wanted to take her break. She glanced around the lab, hoping for a sign of the haughty Coal. Large fans whirred in the vaulted ceiling, circulating cooled air, which helped preserve viral stem cell cocktails. Best of all, the light breeze eased Eden’s fiery nerves.

An operating theater rose above the far end of the room, dominating the space. The real action took place there. Eden saw her father in the middle of it, hunched over a large, empty console. A series of mathematical equations seemed to dance in the air around him. The Life-Band on his wrist flashed with wild energy, emitting a stream of white sparks. His body sagged from some Herculean mental effort.

That was Father.
A brain on a stick
.

Some brain, too. Because of his high intelligence scores,
they
had overlooked his race and given him the position of lead scientist at Resources for Environmental Adaptation, or REA. He even had secured Eden a plum researcher’s job at the lab. They were the only Pearls allowed to work there.

Tomorrow night, her father’s momentous experiment would take place. Eden might be powerless, but she smiled at the secret knowledge that she was one of only three people
who understood how he was about to change the world, and possibly, even save it.

With smug satisfaction, she considered the dozens of assistants—gorgeous dark-skinned Coals, every last one of them—who labored in a warren of workstations below the operating theater. They sat trance-like, their eyes glazed over, their bodies slack, working their Life-Bands. Large, spidery formations of DNA sequences morphed at a rapid pace in front of them. Wavering, yellowish solar lights barely illuminated their grim faces. Uniform white lab coats, layered over black clothing, presented a picture of false calm. But it couldn’t hide the thick tension in the room. Even the Mood Scents of fresh grass and wet wood that floated in the air didn’t help.

Eden couldn’t imagine the immense pressure her father was under. Possibly, that explained why he worked round the clock. Or maybe he’d simply been avoiding her since her mother’s death, seven years ago. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen him at the unit they shared in the workers’ quarters. Not that they ever said much to each other anymore.

As he turned his head, Eden winced at the sight of pale skin peeking through his worn, dark coating. For Earth’s sake, how was she supposed to pass when her father didn’t maintain standards?

She smoothed a hand over her long black hair to reassure herself. Like her skin, the layers of dark coating—Midnight Luster—she’d worn since birth had turned it dry and crackly. A small price to pay for beauty and for protection. She had to cover her white skin or risk antagonizing the Coals.

At last, Eden heard Ashina’s brisk footsteps on the concrete
floor and stole a glance at her nemesis, envious of the beauty’s easy confidence. Voluptuous, with raisin-colored skin, everything about Ashina screamed ruling class.

Of course, the dark races got The Heat, too, but not nearly as often. The higher amounts of melanin in their skin protected them from the sun’s radiation. Since their numbers hadn’t been decimated in The Great Meltdown, as the other races’ had, they now ruled the planet.

Eden bet Ashina had dozens of suitors offering to pick up her mate option. She could afford to choose someone she liked instead of angling to improve her offspring’s genetics, while Eden was assigned to the bottom of the reproductive heap like all Pearls. Good Earth, her mate-rate was an embarrassing fifteen percent. Only Cottons, the derogatory word for albinos, were lower, and they were extinct.

Time was running out. If Eden wasn't mated in six months when she turned eighteen—the deadline for girls—she'd be cut off from Basic Resources, and left outside to die. But who would want a lowly Pearl like her?

Ashina took her seat, a nasty gleam in her eyes. Cold, slick fear slid down Eden’s throat. She slowly rose to her feet with her head lowered.

“I’ll take my break now, if it’s okay with you?” she said.

“Just a minute,” Ashina said, sharply. “You failed to send me your report on the test subjects.”

Eden froze. “But I did, I’m sure I did. I even checked my work several times.”
While I was waiting for you
.

The bitch pointed to the blank space in front of her. “There’s nothing here. Sit down. I’m not going to be responsible for your screw-ups.”

How many times had Eden heard it? White people were lazy good-for-nothings with weak genetics.

“Maybe a solar flare caused a technical glitch?” Eden tried to control the hysteria rising in her. “I swear my report is there.”

Ashina jumped up and grabbed Eden’s lab coat. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Eden flinched. One of
them
was touching her. White-hot light exploded in her head. Before she knew it, she blurted out an incendiary racial slur.

“Get your hands off of me, you damn Coal!”

Holy Earth
.

An alarming hush fell over the lab. Then Ashina slapped her cheek, the sound explosive in the deadly quiet. Eden sucked in her breath with a loud gasp. The girl lunged for her, but Eden jumped out of reach.

“She pushed me!” Ashina cried, falling to the floor.

The workers jerked to their feet, the screech of chairs against the floor raking across Eden’s heart. She looked around the room in a panic. Even those whom she thought tolerated her presence hurled racial epithets.

“Earth-damned Pearl!”

“White Death!”

The angry mob lurched towards Eden, just like in her nightmares. The Coals were going to kill her. They would drag her outside and leave her to cook in the sun.

E
DEN BACKED towards the laboratory exit, her heart pounding. From the operating theater she heard her Father call out in a shaky voice. “Daught!”

Daught for daughter
. To him, she was simply one of life’s sub-classifications—genus daughter. At least, he’d noticed her. But what could he do?

Eden lowered her gaze in a submissive gesture all Pearls used.
Never engage a Coal. Don’t look a Coal in the eye unless requested
. Then she turned and ran.

She heard the workers running after her. Angry voices hit her like laser blasts. Terrified, she glanced over her shoulder at them. To her surprise she saw them come to an abrupt halt, their furious expressions melting to fear.

Eden slammed into a wall. At least, that’s what it felt like. She turned to find herself in the clutches of the imperious Ronson Bramford, owner of REA.

Speechless, she stared up into his dark, gleaming eyes. A glint of light shone down on his black, shaved head, adding to his magnetic effect. Then he jerked away, as if Eden really were poison, and turned his steely gaze on the crowd.

“Back to work,” Bramford said in a calm but commanding
voice. Relieved, she began to leave when he added, “Not you, Eden.”

She wasn’t sure which was worse: being murdered by a mob or dealing with the arrogant bastard. As usual, Bramford stared at a point just over her shoulder as he addressed her, which made her feel small and dirty. It had been like that ever since they’d met when REA was founded three years ago.

But why should he bother to look at her? With a stellar mate-rate of ninety-eight and skin the color of storm clouds, Bramford was at the top of the heap. Men had until the age of twenty-four to mate, though Eden often wondered why Bramford waited. She assumed that most women found the twenty-two-year-old Coal attractive even without his riches. In a heartless-monster sort of way.

“What’s the problem?” he asked her.

Eden stared, perplexed. Did he really want to know what she thought?

“Well?”

She searched for the right words when Ashina strode up beside her.

“She attacked me, sir,” the bitch said, acting the injured party.

To Eden’s surprise, Bramford questioned the little actress. “Is that so, Ashina?”

A Coal’s word outweighed a Pearl’s. Always. And yet Bramford hesitated. He wasn’t a man who hesitated, and Eden wondered why.

Ashina’s pretty mouth gaped. Then she shook off her confusion. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Bramford’s magnificent brow furrowed, his chiseled
features hardened. “Why would Eden attack you when her father’s work is at stake?”

“Because she can’t control herself.” Ashina paused with a weary sigh. “You know how they are.”

“Do I?”

Puzzled, Ashina shifted her hips. “Excuse me, sir?”

Deep inside, Eden smiled. Whatever Bramford was up to—and she knew it couldn’t be good—at least her supervisor was in the hot spot, too.

“Just state the facts, Ashina,” he said.

“Well,” the girl began, icily. “I caught Eden in a lie. She didn’t complete protocol on the test subjects. Look, Eden knows how much trouble she’s cost me in the past. And I’ve let things go. But tomorrow is the Big Night. There’s no room for mistakes. You said so just the other night, didn’t you, sir?”

Bramford glanced at the metal staircase that led to the operating theater. Eden’s father stumbled down it, blinking rapidly—a sure sign of stress.

“What, what? Bramford?” he said.

Eden suspected that he wore his antiquated glasses just to irritate her, despite her repeated insistence that he get the simple fix. It was just another way of standing out, another way of reminding
them
that he and his ugly daughter existed.

Thank Earth, Bramford held up a hand to stop him. “No need to concern yourself, Dr. Newman.”

“What? But…” He glanced back towards his work with obvious longing. “If you’re sure you don’t need me.”

Eden swallowed her disappointment, as he hurried back up the stairs. He didn’t even look at her.

“Shen,” Bramford called his bodyguard, a mixed Asian, or Amber, as the racist term went.

Somehow Eden trusted the big man. Maybe it was the quiet look he sometimes gave her, without pity or arrogance, unlike his employer. Only true Coals were allowed to hold security positions. Of course, Bramford could use his clout to bypass such rules. Still, why not pick a Tiger’s Eye, or Latino? They ranked higher in the race wars than Ambers, who stood above Pearls. Was it the touch of Coal in Shen that gave him an edge?

The slithering dragon tattoos that curved down his thick arms seemed to breathe fire as he stepped forward. “Yes, sir.”

“Get Jamal,” Bramford said.

Shen’s Life-Band flashed, and the white dot at his third eye crinkled as he frowned in concentration. What Eden wouldn’t give to wear a white dot on her forehead. It would mean she was mated, safe.

Soon, the entry door slid open and Jamal, the head of security, strode through. Giddy pleasure welled up in Eden at the sight of him.
My Dark Prince
.

Bramford’s eyes cut towards her, clouded with suspicion. Mother Earth, did he know about her secret visits with Jamal?

Jamal gave nothing away. His grin was all for Bramford. He wasn’t as tall and didn’t have a shred of Bramford’s power or riches, but Eden thought Jamal was special. Unlike most of his kind, he was color-blind. In fact, except for the lack of a white dot and his ebony-colored skin, her prince had nothing in common with Bramford.

Jamal stood before them with his legs braced apart, his
broad shoulders square. The warrior tattoo that swirled on one side of his face added to the look of strength.

“I’ve got it under control, sir,” he said.

At once, Holo-Images of Eden and Ashina appeared before the group, replaying the girls’ argument. Eden held her breath, hoping against odds that she would be proven innocent despite her race. But her heart sank as Bramford’s Life-Band ring flashed and the scene disappeared.