Page 22 of Calico Descending

“What was he protecting him against?”

“Cadmus. So, naturally, it seemed to me that he would want to protect you. Which means, your scent is strong. Strong enough that I’m certain Valdys is just being stubborn.”

“How do you know it’s stubbornness? Maybe he genuinely doesn’t like me.”

“Well, that’s what we intend to test next, my dear.”

“How?”

His smile widens even more, and I can almost see the slime of venom dripping from his too-white teeth. “By seeing how he behaves while knowing you’ll be punished for his actions.”

Chapter 11

Four years ago

From a distance, I watch Bryani jerk forward in laughter, as she sits beneath a tree with her new friends. I wear the bruises of a fight, whereas she acts as if she’s never been around girls her age before, basking in the frivolity of small talk, while Ragers pace nearby. There were a couple of girls about her age back in our hive that she shied away from, yet here, she seems to accumulate more every day. We’ve been assigned the same barrack, so I hear her at night, giggling and whispering with them. I’ve chided her a few times, and awakened the next morning to dirty looks and more of the cold shoulder.

I don’t want to be jealous, but I miss the nights when she giggled and whispered with me. I envy her sense of belonging in this place that seems to reject everything about me. I need my sister.

My number is called in the monotone voice of a woman over the speaker. Bryani’s number follows mine, and she lifts her chin. I’m surprised she actually heard it over the girl chatter. Pushing up from her circle, she crosses the yard toward me, and for the first time in about a week, my sister and I walk unattended by a crowd.

“What is it, do you think?” she asks, glancing back, as if checking to make sure no one’s forgotten her in the last minute.

Shrugging, I try not to let my irritation get the best of me. This is the most I’ve gotten from Bryani in the last week. “Our assignments, maybe.”

“I hope I get scavenger duty. Eight-ninety-six says it’s fun and easy. All you do is pick through the clothes and look for anything valuable.”

I love my sister, but her youth makes her naive. “Have you seen the bodies wheeled on beds, Bree? You’re picking through dead people’s things.”

“They’re sick people. Ones who were infected with Dredge.”

“Were we sick when we arrived?” I grab her arm, forcing her to stop. “Don’t be stupid. Don’t you know what this place is? Why we’re here?”

“You don’t be stupid!” Wrenching her arm loose, she scowls back at me. “We don’t have a choice, so why not make the best of it? That’s what Momma always said. Make the best of every situation.”

I hate when she throws our mother in my face, and I know she blames me for her death. “Not here, Bryani. You have to be careful here. Keep your eyes open.”

“I do!” She presses her fingers and thumb at her eyes, widening them in mocking. “See?”

I feel sorry for Bryani, in some ways. At least when I was a child, our hive was strong. I could play for hours without the worry of raids and marauders, because their numbers were still fairly thin in the desert. I was watched by not only my mother, but my father, as well. He died when Bryani was an infant, in an attack from outsiders, which left my mother needing to be twice as vigilant. Bryani never really had much of a childhood. Her play was under the watchful and strict eye of my mother, burdened not only by the monsters who sought to ravage us, but the older men who coveted us for breeding.

Shaking my head, I walk away from her, toward our Barrack Leader’s office. Her name is Mistress Elspeth, a tall and stocky woman with stern eyes, whom I’ve come to refer to as Medusa. Another detail Bryani seems to be oblivious to, is the fact that this place is run like a prison. The kind of places Momma would show us in books, where bad people were locked away from the good.

Only thing is, we didn’t do anything wrong.

Once in Medusa’s office, we take a seat on the chair in front of her small, but tidy, desk.

She crosses her chubby fingers, and I have to wonder how this woman has so much meat on her in this place. The guards may certainly receive more food than we get, but the desert, as a whole, is always in a state of famine. “You’ve been assigned to your jobs. You’re to report directly there when you leave my office. In two days, you’ll have permanent barrack assignments.”

“Permanent barracks?” I swing my attention to Bryani, noticing how intently she seems to be listening, gaze on Medusa and hands fidgeting in her lap, as though she’s suddenly nervous.

Medusa’s eyes fall on my sister. “You’ve been assigned obstetrics. Different wing. Different barracks.” Like a machine, her gaze shifts to mine, lacking every ounce of compassion, or understanding, that my sister and I need to stay together in here. “You will work in the kitchen and remain in research. This wing.”

Shaking my head, I do my best to choke back the panic in my throat that’s begun to work its way into my eyes. “We … my sister and I … need to stay together. We’d like to stay in the same barracks.”

The woman’s eyes narrow, her expression unyielding. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“I have to look out for her. I have to keep her safe. From the others.”

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