Xvi (31 page)

“Of course I’m worried. But it doesn’t do any good to get upset and emotional. I’ve grown up knowing that at any time my whole family could be taken from me—or me from them. That’s one reason why I took up Cliste Galad; it keeps me sane. Sparkle?”

I took the can from her. I’d have given anything to be as composed as she was. But I didn’t think it would ever be possible.

We sat at the counter. I sipped my drink through a straw.

“How’s your grandmother?” Wei asked. “She wasn’t worried about you, was she?”

“No, but she had some not-so-good news. Remember that break-in about a week ago? At first Gran didn’t think anything was missing. She thought it was someone looking to steal Pops’s pain meds. But yesterday she discovered that my FeLS contract was missing.”

“The agency—”

“Doesn’t have a record of Ginnie buying it. I’m back on the available list. It’s Ed, I’m sure. He said he’d make sure I was chosen for FeLS; he knows my contract was missing.” Then I told her about seeing Joan. “Something really bad happened to her, and I think it has to do with FeLS training.”

“We have to find your contract, or get money to buy it,” Wei said. “I know things about FeLS. I listened in on a conversation that Mom had with Rosie. From what I could hear, the government is using FeLS as a cover for sex slavery.”

“I don’t get it—any sixteen-year-old-girl is already legal to have sex. Why would they—”

“You know how FeLS recruits have to be virgins? They’re more valuable. And it gets worse.”

My stomach was already twisted into knots.

“The training is led by Governing Council members. They get the virgins. Then FeLS makes sure there’s a fresh run of girls for upper-level government officials.”

“But what happens to the girls, after the government is done?” My voice shook, but not as bad as my insides. “What happens to all the girls?”

“They consider them ‘used’ and send them to Mars, as wives for the ocribundan miners.”

“That can’t be,” I said. “It sounds just like
Mars Rising
, but that’s fiction. People make that kind of stuff up, they don’t actually make it happen.”

“
1984
was fiction,” Wei said. “And it came true decades ago.”

She was right.
Women Scorned
and several other books had been banned after society accepted their premises as a normal way of life. I only knew about them because of Ginnie. And B.O.S.S confiscated all of her books already. The GC wouldn’t ... the look on Wei’s face was more than proof that they would. “But I ran into Joan on Earth—how could she have gotten back here?”

“The Resistance has some people at the training station. They manage to sneak out some girls and get them back to Earth. The girls on Mars, though, they’re infected by the same viral disease that keeps ocribundan miners from returning. I think a lot of those girls commit suicide. That’s part of why FeLS keeps sending the used girls there. The miners demand them. The girls who sneak back, well, the homeless community is the only safe place for people like Joan.”

“What about the girls who talk up the program at school? They go through the program and end up as models or get high-tier jobs in Media.”

“Mom and Rosie didn’t get into that. They must have more than one training station, though, to keep up appearances. Then it seems legit, but most of it isn’t.”

My head was reeling. My contract was gone. FeLS was sex slavery. “Can we talk about something else? Please? I can’t think about this right now. My head will explode.”

Wei and I stared at each other for the longest time. Then she reached over and gave my hand a squeeze. “We’ll figure something out, I promise. Mom and Dad won’t let you go.”

“Wei,” I said. “Sandy ... What about her?”

“I bet you can talk her out of it.”

“I’ve been trying for the past year. She figures it’s the only way to get out of being low tier. That’s how they talk it up in school and in
XVI Ways.
You probably noticed she’s not scholarship material.” I felt guilty talking this way about Sandy, but it was true. “And there’s a ton of girls for every higher-tier guy. Not much chance of getting out that way.”

“Maybe we could hook her up with some guy?” Wei said. “She seems awfully eager to, you know ...” She gave me a sideways glance.

“Have sex? Yeah, I know. But she knows that FeLS recruits have to be virgins. And, honestly, I think she’s really into flirting, but nothing else.”

“Maybe we find her some guy that she can’t resist.” Wei twisted the soda can in her hands. “Like Derek.”

“Derek? No way. Derek isn’t anything to her. Besides, I can tell he really likes you.”

“Really?” The only emotion she showed was a brief smile that danced around the corners of her mouth. “But if she did want him to ... I wouldn’t mind if it kept her out of FeLS.”

“You wouldn’t?” If Sandy wanted to have sex with Sal, I didn’t think I would be so nonchalant about it.

“Nina, I like Derek.” She tapped the edge of her Sparkle can. “A lot, actually. I don’t think he wants Sandy in a sex-teen way. He’s not that kind of guy.”

I knew she was right about that. The word that popped into my mind about him and girls was “gallant.” The way he’d always been around to stand up for me. “Yeah? So ...”

“I don’t want to see any girl go into FeLS. Someone’s life is more important than any insecurity I might have about a boy. Although, Derek is a pretty special guy.” She took a sip of Sparkle.

We talked more about Derek and that led to his music and then to more normal things. The threat of being chosen retreated to the edge of my thoughts, hovering there, waiting to return faster than a wing beat.

Mrs. Jenkins arrived home, and after one look at my face, she took me firmly in hand. “Come with me. I have some salves for this.”

“Mom knows herbal secrets that have been around for millennia,” Wei told me. “They really do help.”

I went with Wei’s mother to her room. She brought a small chest out of the closet. It was shiny black with silver and gold designs covering it.

“This chest has been passed down through my family for centuries, since the Heian period in Japan, around the year 794.”

I did some quick math in my head. “That’s over thirteen hundred years ago! Can I touch it?”

“Of course. It’s maki-e, a technique that layers gold and silver powders in the tree sap that forms the lacquer.” Mrs. Jenkins watched as I ran my fingers over the surface.

It almost seemed as if the surface was responding to my touch, in the same way there’d be a slight quiver when I’d run my hand along Pepper’s flank. I looked at Mrs. Jenkins. “It feels like it’s alive.”

“You feel that?” Her eyes widened. “It is rare that anyone notices. The lacquer continually interacts with its environment. The greatest maki-e artisans knew their work would live forever. You are very sensitive to life.” She blinked and then turned away. “I am the last healer in my family. Wei has no desire to learn—she is more interested in getting bumps and bruises than fixing them.”

“Are there other healers?”

“A few, but they must practice in secret. The Governing Council insists that people rely on conventional forms of medicine. Disease and pain are big business. Media makes a fortune advertising cures, all the while filling people’s minds with fear of the very diseases the doctors claim to heal, which causes the very illnesses people are afraid of getting. It’s a vicious cycle that lines the pockets of health care providers and drug companies.”

While we were talking she’d taken three squat stone jars out of the cabinet, uncovering each and smelling the contents.

“This will do.” She took a small amount of greenish cream from one of the jars and mixed it in the palm of her hand with a dab of yellow from another. Even with her butterfly touch, I winced as she applied it to my cheek.

“Have you heard from Mr. Jenkins?” I asked. “Is he okay?”

“Yes, he is fine. He will be home tonight.”

I could see where Wei had gotten her self-control. I would have been at the door, waiting, pacing. But Mrs. Jenkins continued to tend to me in the same slow and gentle manner as she had done before I’d mentioned her husband.

She took a small amount of cream from the third jar and put it on the fingertips of my right hand. “Massage this on your lips. I’ll send some home with you. Mix everything as I did and apply before bedtime and when you get up in the morning.”

“What are these creams?”

“Arnica and goldenseal; the lip balm is my own special recipe.” She cupped my good cheek in her palm. “Maybe you should become my apprentice.” Wiping her hands, she closed the chest. “Let’s go tell Wei about her father.”

At the same time as we entered the living room, Mr. Jenkins walked in the front door.

“Dad!” Wei ran into his arms and held him tight.

When she finally let him go, he turned around in a circle. “See, no bullet holes, no neutralizing ray singes, no bruises ...” It was then he caught sight of me. “Good Lord! What happened to you? Jade, have you ...?”

“Yes, dear. The full treatment; she will be fine in a few days.”

“What happened?”

“Ed kidnapped her. She managed to get away.” Wei dropped her voice. “I’m afraid I let this happen. I was there, but I—”

“It was my fault,” I protested. “I thought—”

“There’s no blame, girls.” Mrs. Jenkins interjected. “We have lessons; we learn. Let me get you the salve to take with you.”

“Dad, Ed stole Nina’s FeLS contract,” Wei said.

Mr. Jenkins glanced at me, then back at Wei. “Don’t worry. I’ll look into it. But now is not the time. I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic,” he said to me, “but there are several things that need my immediate attention. You still have a while before you turn sixteen, right?”

I nodded. “December tenth.”

“Still a couple of weeks away. Good. And your school is not set to have the Choosing until after Holiday Day, which gives us even more time. Wei will see that you get home safely, and I’ll be sure you have protection.” He disappeared behind a set of ornate pocket doors.

“Don’t worry, Nina,” Wei said. “Dad always keeps his word.”

Mrs. Jenkins returned with three smaller versions of the stone jars that held her medicines. Kissing my good cheek, she whispered, “You will be fine.”

At that moment, I wasn’t so sure.

Early Thursday morning, I was in the kitchen with Gran.

“Your face looks so much better,” she said. “Mrs. Jenkins’s salves must be the reason it’s healing so quickly.”

It felt better, too. The swelling had gone down considerably and my left cheek had changed from the initial dark purple to that horrible greenish yellow that bruises turn when they are healing. My fear was subsiding a little, too. There had been no sign of Ed since the day he kidnapped me; no PAV calls either. Although I kept a constant lookout for him just in case

“Your sixteenth is less than two weeks away,” Gran said. “I’ve made the appointment. Shots first, then the tattoo.”

“I don’t think I’m ready.”

“You know the law, hon. There’s nothing I can do.” She put her arm around me.

I sighed, letting my head sink onto her shoulder.

Dee appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on? Are you okay, Nina?”

I straightened up quickly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about turning sixteen.”

“That’s so cool.” She took a rapido off the counter and started drawing an XVI on her wrist.

“Stop it!” I grabbed the pen and she stuck her tongue out at me.

“You’d better get going,” Gran said. “You don’t want to be late.”

Dee scooted out the door in front of me. Her reaction was still on my mind as we exited the elport. I’d never looked forward to turning sixteen, not even when I was Dee’s age. Mostly because of the way sixteens act when they can finally have sex without concern about what anyone will say. Then, after seeing that sex vid Ed had left at our house, I was positive I didn’t ever want to do that. Now, with all the things I’d been finding out lately, I dreaded it even more. Not just for myself, but for girls like Joan and for Sandy and, eventually, for Dee.

And then there was Sal. I loved being close to him, kissing him. I got a warm feeling just thinking of his lips on mine.

“How come you don’t want to turn sixteen, Nina?” Dee suddenly asked. “All my friends’ older sisters have sex, some even did it before they turned sixteen.” She jutted her chin in an I-told-you-so manner.

“Is that so, Miss Encyclopedia? You know if you get pregnant before you’re sixteen, you can’t keep the baby.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I wouldn’t have an abortion.”

“Not your choice. If you were paying attention in class, you’d know that before they’re sixteen, girls don’t have choices. Even after you turn, guys get to make the decision about babies, if they want to.”

At Dee’s age I hadn’t had a clue what sex was really about. Not like I was an expert now, but back then it seemed gross and funny. Mostly Sandy and I had snickered and told jokes about it. Now there was Sal, and I wasn’t quite as sure about my feelings on the subject.