CHAPTER TWO
COUNTLESS PODS WHIZZED FREELY IN ALL DIRECTIONS, weaving between the towering glass structures at a dizzying pace.
I stared out the windows, breathless, my fear loosening its hold on me.
The tall buildings glinted in the last rays of the sun, revealing the secrets we couldn’t see from below.
Large metal panels were fastened along many of the buildings, pointed toward the sun.
Mesmerized, I clutched the seat as the Pod flew between glass skyscrapers, almost brushing against them, before coming to a halt against the side of a building in a gap in the clouds.
The doors opened, and a middle-aged man dressed in a dark gray suit stood stiffly just outside.
He was a Minor Defect, like me—we all wore gray.
The shade varied based on the role assigned after graduating the Academy.
Those of us waiting for Procreation Agreements wore a dingy gray that almost looked dirty.
Men were separated in the Academy after their eighth year and trained to serve the Elite in the clouds, signified by donning a darker hue.
The men who didn’t qualify for the clouds ran maintenance on the surface, their gray akin to ours.
“Good evening, ma’am,” he said with a bow. “If you would please exit the Pod, I will scan your MIND and escort you.”
I stepped forward, my eyes glued to where the Pod touched the entrance. Would my MIND alert them of my defect, making it clear there was some mistake? Would the Pod drop out from under my feet, sending me free-falling to the ground below? To my birthright?
“Promptness and obedience are celebrated in the clouds,” the man stated.
Swallowing my fear, I stepped past the glass doors, my gray shoes meeting the intricate marble tile. A delicate glass light fixture cast a warm glow around the space.
The man led me to a rivet stand decorated with an arrangement of stunning white flowers. “Your arm, please,” he prompted, holding out a small scanner. “Ms. Emeline, welcome.”
I looked up at him, shocked. My birth name had never appeared upon scanning.
MINDs always identified us by a set of numbers.
Among fellow Defects names were used. Everywhere else in the city it had always been a nameless set of numbers.
His eyes widened, and he looked pointedly over my shoulder, unable to meet my mismatched gaze.
“Is something amiss, Ms. Emeline?” he inquired, stepping around the stand.
“I was surprised you knew my birth name. Usually the scanner gives my identification number,” I told my dull shoes, unwilling to look at him again—to see the judgment.
His heavy footsteps echoed down the quiet hall, and I hurried to follow him. “The Elite believe it is barbaric and disrespectful to reduce someone of their ilk to just their identification number. This way.”
Barbaric. The word reverberated through me until it settled in my soul.
The man in front of me wore gray, making him a Defect just like me, even in the clouds.
Yet, he repeated what the Elite believed.
Did his allotted time in the clouds obscure more than his ground view?
Had he forgotten it was my people, his people, whose identities had been diminished to just numbers?
After tonight, I would either gain a name among the Elite or return to the surface as another number, depending on whether I pleased my potential Mate enough and whether he could look past my defect. I pressed forward, unsure which fate would be worse.
The man deposited me in a circular room painted a glossy black, causing the chandelier’s light to ricochet off the shiny surfaces, creating a glimmering display. It was easy to get lost in the beauty of these rooms. Maybe that was the whole point.
“The Starlings will tend to you from here,” the man said with a little bow.
“The Starlings?”
He gave a terse smile, pausing by the door. “Oh yes, it’s what they call themselves. Like the ancient birds. Fertile blessings, Ms. Emeline.” With that, he closed the door with a snap.
A chill snaked down my spine. The room instantly felt too small, oppressive, the dancing lights disorienting. Each panel looked identical as I spun around. My skin grew clammy. It suddenly felt like a cage.
I heard them before I saw them, two voices through the darkness.
“Well, well, what do we have today, Violet?” a tinkling voice rang out.
“A Defect, Rose. Hopefully better than the one from last week,” another woman answered, her voice deeper, silkier. Who had been chosen last week?
“Even we can’t fix some things,” the other chided.
Two women entered the room. One was tall with rich brown skin, long jet-black hair that fell past her waist, and heavily lined eyes.
The other was short with curly, flaming red hair, pale white skin, and an hourglass shape.
A clash of contrasting features, but they wore uniform quicksilver long dresses that shimmered in the low light.
Was it a shade of gray, or were they Elite?
The Academy had never said Defect women could work in the clouds.
What had they done to be among the Elite without a Mate?
Hands ran along my body, pulling me from my thoughts. I stiffened against the touch. The intimacy of it.
“Oh, how scrumptious,” Rose cawed.
“Yes, it’s promising,” Violet crooned, her hands in my hair, releasing the tight bun and combing out the long strands with her fingers.
“Oh, how terribly ghastly.” Rose stood on the tips of her toes, peering into my eyes. “I can’t bear to look at it.”
You knew this would be their reaction, I told myself. I was born in the clouds. It could have been my home, if not for my heterochromia. Though I didn’t have any memories of what their world looked like, I did remember the words shot my way.
“Let me see,” Violet said, pulling my face toward her. My eyes stung as their judgment tangled with my conditioning. I tried to look down, but Violet held me firmly. Her dark eyes met mine, and she smiled as she took in my defect. “A visual defect. I haven’t seen one in some time.”
“The one with the—” Rose gestured to her arms like she couldn’t bear to speak of it. “Remember her?”
“Yes, well, she stood no chance. She should have been in blue from birth,” Violet responded, taking in my broken gaze.
“There are others like me?” I asked quietly.
I hadn’t seen another visual defect in the Academy or working in the Archives.
The Minor women all looked from the outside to be unflawed, whatever defect they had invisible.
No one ever spoke of what had landed them in gray.
I had assumed, without any confirmation from the Academy, that I had somehow been able to maintain a Minor status based on my Elite family and the impeccable genetic history my birth father had spoken of.
“Not anymore. The Illum have weeded your kind out with their Procreation Program,” Rose said.
Violet’s dark eyes met mine. “You’re a dying breed, Fledgling. The Illum must see something in you to bring you into view.”
My shoulders went rigid. What could the Illum want with a dying breed?
“Come, little Fledgling,” called Rose, revealing a hidden door in the panels. “If we do our part right and you do yours, we will have three moons together for your Courting Phase.”
Three lunar cycles, or what we called moons. Our physicals took place once a year, on the day we were born. In the monotony of my life—wake, eat, work, eat, sleep—three moons, eighty-seven days, felt endless. With my approval it became impossibly short.
“Come. We will fix you for him.” Rose beckoned me toward tendrils of lavender-scented steam that twirled into the black cage of a room.
“Or try to,” Violet added behind me.
Firm hands pressed against my back, and the Academy lessons chased me into the steam.
Throughout your Courting Phase, public appearances shall be required.
Before each outing, you shall be stripped of your gray and made palatable for Elite society.
You are to follow your Elite Mate’s guidance.
Your future depends on your ability to comply with your Mate’s desires, which we shall cover in your final year.
Until then follow the Illum’s protocol, abide by the rules of the Minor Defect population, and constantly seek self-improvement, and you will rise, fulfilling your use for the Greater Good.
Fail to do so, and your Public Courting and Cohabitation Rights shall be revoked, resulting in living quarters in the Sanctuary on the city’s outskirts until your offspring is brought here.
You will then be deposited among those in blue, far from the Illum’s light.
You will expire there as a disappointment to the Illum and humanity.
“We must move swiftly.” The Starlings tugged the gray from my body without permission, leaving me naked before them. My arms wrapped around my exposed chest.
“Don’t be shy,” Rose squawked as my pulse raced. Besides my physical, where men in white coats ran exams that determined our usefulness, I had never been naked in front of anyone. We were covered at all times.
“He won’t care about the eyes when he sees this.” Violet smiled knowingly, pulling at my arm. “Fledgling, we cannot work if you cover yourself. You don’t want to disappoint the Illum, do you?” Her dark eyes bored into mine.
I shook my head, slowly dropping my arms until I was trembling, fully exposed to them.
“The modesty,” Rose huffed, holding a jar of a black substance as Violet tied my hair in a knot above my head.
“You should be using all of this.” Rose gestured to my naked body.
“You are a vessel for humanity. You would do well to remember that. This is a blessing from the Illum, to be chosen. Arms out.”