Page 17 of The Build Up

The entire shop falls silent except for Ami, who’s clinging to her dad’s leg.

“Ice cream,” she reminds us insistently.

The old woman suddenly looks aghast, as if she’s just seen a ghost.

Or perhaps she just forgot.

Whoexactly she was speaking shit to.

She disappears through the automated door, drops of melted lemon gelato falling onto the gleaming tiles.

I look up at Tarak, confused. “Wouldn’t you normally…?”

I honestly don’t know what theoldTarak would have done.

He chuckles softly and kisses me again with great affection and tenderness. “Such an insignificant bit of ignorance, but I appreciate you defending me with such fervor. You can’t change people’s minds when they don’t want to change,amina.But thank you.”

Heat rises into my cheeks. I swear I’m blushing.

The baby’s kicking again.

“Ice cream!” Ami insists. When she wants something, she’s the most persistent thing.

“All right,” I sigh as we reach the counter. The server, a teenage girl, is hovering around anxiously, waiting to take our order.

I look up at Tarak. “You don’t want anything, do you?”

He hates sweets. All Kordolians do.

He shakes his head, half-smiling. “What more could I possibly want?”

FIVE

ABBEY

As the sundips toward the horizon, it sets the sky ablaze, painting it in vivid hues of orange and red.

The sun itself is a white-hot sphere, slowly sinking toward the perfectly horizontal line of the inky-blue ocean, casting a powerful, shimmering reflection across the gentle ripples of the surface.

The ocean is deceptively beautiful.

Dangerous things lurk beneath that glittering facade. Crocodiles. Sharks. Deadly stinging box jellyfish.

Sometimes, a beautiful facade hides danger.

I glance at Tarak. He’s staring out across the horizon, his expression unreadable.

The fiery light burnishes his silver skin, making him seem like an otherworldly metal sculpture.

Ordinarily, the sunlight would cause him great pain and discomfort, but Kordolians have figured out a way around these things. They use a special nano-sunscreen that allows them to walk in daylight with no adverse effects. The sunglasses are almost an afterthought, an easy fix for light-sensitive eyes. They’re old-school and back in fashion now.

I think one of us might have accidentally lent a pair to a Kordolian once. Suddenly, they’re everywhere—the Kordolians use them when they’re ‘off duty’ and wearing casual attire.

Having finished her gelato, Ami is happily playing on the playground, climbing up a weblike frame of synthetic cables, her movements swift and confident.

Our childlovesto climb.

She’s getting good at it, too. It seems she’s inherited her father’s natural agility and strength.

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