CHAPTER TWO
Castor
It took eighteen years, but I’d finally mastered the art of surviving pointless galas and breathing through the uncomfortable tightness of a well-tailored tuxedo.
Regardless, I always looked for an escape.
Sweat dripped down my neck, and I tugged at my collar, counting down the minutes until I could undo my bowtie and leave another stuffy awards event.
Across the table, my grandfather, Albert Fox, caught my eye with a look that screamed don’t you dare.
I dropped my hands, doing my best to hold in an eye roll. Two more minutes.
The Playa Gardens venue shimmered with heat.
There was air conditioning, sure, but the event was being held in a glass box in the middle of a koi-filled lake.
The sun beamed through the floor-to-ceiling UV-treated windows, baking the guests, though no one would admit their discomfort.
I’d seen more than one gentleman with sweat stains under his arms. Condensation dotted the glass centerpieces, blending with the bright blue bubbles floating up and down inside, like the world’s most expensive lava lamps.
My mother, Jacinta, as I started calling her after my last birthday, had already requested the event planner’s information, which tracked with her obsession over never missing a trend.
She’d remodeled the west wing of our home twice in the last three years.
I refreshed my solisWatch again. The Centaurus AI displayed the temperature inside at seventy-eight degrees Farenheit, along with today’s wind conditions and UV ratings, my elevated heart rate flagged with a warning to relax, and the time. One more minute.
My scoop of champagne vanilla-bean ice cream melted into a slice of olive oil cake.
An unfortunate dessert choice when you have badly tempered windows.
It could’ve been delicious, but it’d arrived too late.
I had one hard rule for myself: no dairy an hour before surfing.
I’d once gotten the worst cramp mid-wave after drinking a milkshake, and there was no need to tempt fate.
My solisWatch vibrated with its silent alarm. Finally.
I cleared my throat, but Grandfather didn’t budge from chatting with the President, his lifetime achievement award positioned between them.
She’d talked his ear off the entire gala, enraptured by the man responsible for the Freedom System, the process of transferring the painful helical disease from one person to another.
Apparently, running one of the most influential countries in the world didn’t compare.
Then again, were it not for Grandfather’s work, maybe she wouldn’t be President.
The speech she’d given earlier had admitted as much.
Applause had poured from the crowd as President Ruth St James approached the glass podium, the flare of her red pantsuit trailing behind her like flames. Bulbs flashed, the bright lights making my temples ache. I’d joined in, clapping, but even then, I’d checked the time. Ninety-nine minutes to go.
‘I can’t express how much it means to me to fly across the country from Washington, DC, to the humble Alta Bay and present this lifetime achievement award,’ the President had begun.
‘I almost want to rename it to something that fully captures the work Albert Fox has done, not only for our country and the world, but for me. Four years ago, I woke up in the Neo-Texas Governor’s Mansion with a pain I wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy.
’ She paused, a few light chuckles rippling through the crowd as she acknowledged the efforts toward a Freedom System expansion treaty uniting the largest world powers – the United States of the West trading helical research for the East Pacific Alliance’s ultraviolet technology.
It would take the Freedom System international, if ever signed.
‘But in all seriousness, it was a jolt of pure agony, traveling from the top of my spine, darting across my shoulders, down my arms, so sudden and sharp I could barely think.
I ran to the mirror, hoping and praying, only to see that bright blue light shooting like fireworks under my skin.
I had helical disease. For a moment, I felt an overbearing dread before I remembered one name: Dominion.
‘Because of Dominion and its patented Freedom System, I was able to give my affliction away to someone who could carry with ease what would’ve been a burden for me, allowing me to continue my path to the White House as the fifth consecutive president for the People’s Astrum Party.
All thanks to Albert Fox. Because of his work, his dedication, we discovered that not all pain is equal.
Dominion’s studies have enabled us to expertly identify members of society with higher pain thresholds, for whom helical disease is but a minor inconvenience rather than a debilitating illness.
And using Dominion’s groundbreaking solradiance technology, helical disease and its pain can be transferred seamlessly from one individual to another.
‘The Freedom System enables the affliction suffered by the more sensitive members of our society, our Pain Givers – the thinkers, the legislators, the innovators, the strategists – to be passed on to those better equipped to bear it, our strong Pain Carriers, who are compensated generously for their contribution through federal insurance programs and private grants. Because of Albert Fox, we’ve built a new United States of the West where we all flourish and thrive.
Because of Albert Fox, we are unstoppable. ’
Now across from me, the President laughed at something Grandfather said. Before I could decide whether to interrupt, he broke away from the conversation and winked at me – his signature gesture of approval.
Permission to leave granted.
Jacinta was a different story. She’d been stuck in a one-sided conversation with the First Spouse, struggling to keep the boredom off her face but smiling with perfect teeth through every word.
As I stood, she wrapped her slender brown fingers around my wrist. The thick bangles she wore to hide her one tattoo from her rebellious teen years – years she never acknowledged – clanged together.
Her vanilla-and-apricot perfume drifted through the air.
‘Stay a little longer, won’t you, dear?’
‘A deal is a deal,’ I reminded her in a sing-song voice.
When I turned eighteen, she’d promised these outings would become optional.
Tonight, she’d bartered for two hours, but I got to drive myself in my car of choice.
I wasn’t giving her anything more. It’d now been two hours and one minute. I’d done my part and seconds more.
I leaned in and kissed the air by her cheek, years of her telling me not to smudge her make-up with my affection ingrained in me. ‘I’ll see you at home. And don’t forget to make time for Mercy Coast’s Chief of Surgery. She’s been circling all afternoon,’ I said loudly, setting up her escape.
The First Spouse caught the cue and found another guest to discuss their love of aerophysics with.
Jacinta made her way to the next table to schmooze.
She really didn’t need to – most people were in awe of her (as they should be), my mom at the forefront of solradiance research.
I’d never tell her to her face, but I was in awe of her too.
‘Next time, you ride with the family, Castor Jace,’ she called over her shoulder.
‘You’re welcome,’ I muttered. I hated when she addressed me formally, something she’d picked up from the other powerful and affluent families in our Crestview neighborhood on the north side of Alta Bay.
She’d always pressed me to act more like the other rich kids growing up, so it felt only fair to call her by her first name once I hit eighteen, like they did with their parents.
I shook ten more hands on my way out of the glass box, stopped for no fewer than two more air kisses from supporters of our family, and dodged an ex who’d been more interested in becoming a Fox than getting to know me.
My older sister, Gemma, sat with her girlfriend and restaurateur, Bri Michaels, the two of them huddled close and sipping rosé.
I flicked Gemma’s ear and was rewarded with her fiercest glare before we both remembered where we were.
I sighed as I exited through the back, the cool breeze whipping through my carefully gelled hair.
I ruffled my waves just enough to break the cast keeping them tamed.
They wisped over my forehead with a slight curl, and I felt like a superhero emerging from their hidden identity.
From tuxedo to wetsuit, that was the plan.
If I cut up Red Resin Highway, I’d have enough daylight to catch a few decent waves.
The wind had made them choppy this morning, and I hated going more than a day or two without getting in the water.
I needed to practice for the Surf Cup at the end of September, but more than that, I needed to breathe.
Two hours at another gala was more than enough to fulfill my family obligations for a while. I was ready to get my feet wet.
Unbuttoning my collar, I made my way across the manicured footpaths and under the fancy trees I could never name.
A patch of sky flickered, one of the seemingly clear UV panels revealing the actual clouds above for a split second before righting itself.
UV ceilings didn’t cover all of Alta Bay, but with the endowment funding the Gardens, they had just enough to erect the protective sky over it.
When UV ceilings first came into use, they appeared as clear tempered glass, but when birds began leaving behind white-splotched parting gifts, it called for a technology upgrade.
Half a century later, the panels formed an almost seamless hologram of the sky.