Kingdom of Cages(9)

Chena’s mouth twisted up into a tight smile. “Yeah, but I slept through it.”

Sadia laughed. “No dim bulbs here. It’s pretty boring. I’ll give you the free preview.” Sadia held up her hand and started ticking points off on her fingers. “If you got no money, you get to live in the dorms and work the town, work the shit mostly. Money, you still got to work the town, but you get your own place and whatever else you can buy. Enough money”—Sadia held up her index finger in front of Chena’s face—“and you get to buy your kids a spot in a school, otherwise they work the town with everybody else.”

Busted, thought Chena. At least they can’t shut the air off here.

“They give you a shift yet?” Sadia asked.

Chena shook her head. “We’re just in the dorm for a couple days. Mom’s got a job coming.” Which was an exaggeration. Mom had a job, all right, but it might be a while before they had money for rent because of the bills from Athena.

Sadia’s look was skeptical, but not derisive like her brother’s had been. Chena couldn’t blame her. She’d heard enough lies from the hall kids in the station to know some kids would say anything to keep someone from knowing how bad things were with them.

“Well, keep your head down and look busy, you may stay off the duty sheets for a while. But don’t try to duck it too long. They may put you on the watch list, where they’ve got Shond.” Sadia dropped her gaze and kicked at the gravel with the scuffed toe of her shoe. “If you stay there for too long, you get declared useless, and then the hothousers can have you.”

“Useless?” Chena pushed herself away from wall. “You’re kidding.”

Again, Sadia shrugged. “So, all right, the cop doesn’t call it ‘useless,’ but that’s what it means. It means you’re no good as a person, only good for spare parts and experiments, and they can haul you off whenever and wherever they feel like.”

Chena looked at Sadia hard, trying to see if the girl was trying to pull one over on the new kid. But Sadia looked serious, and a little worried. If she was for real and her brother was on the list…

“And people just let them do this? To their kids?”

“The hothousers own the world. We just live here. Who’s gonna say anything?” Sadia folded her arms. “I hear on the station they shut your air off if you can’t pay your rent.”

Chena opened her mouth to say she’d never seen it happen, but she closed it without saying anything. It could happen, and everybody knew it. That was why Mom had taken them off the station, never mind what either of them had told Teal.

Just then, a brass banging filled the air. Chena jumped, looking automatically around for an info screen.

Sadia laughed, but not too hard. “Ease off, new girl. It’s the breakfast bell for first shift.”

“Oh, right.” Chena slumped her shoulders and swallowed against the thumping of her heart. That woman, Madra, had said something about a breakfast bell—

Chena’s thoughts stopped in their tracks. That gonging meant Mom was waking up right now, to see that Chena wasn’t in her bed.

She groaned. “I gotta get back. Mom’s going to kill me for wandering out.”

She turned to go, but Sadia grabbed her arm. “If they give you a chance to pick your shift, try the get into K37. That’s where I’m at.” She gave Chena a quick smile that faded into a pleading look as she let her go. “And if you get into it with Shond, try not to fight him. He’s walking the edge as it is.”

“Promise,” said Chena.

Sadia’s smile came back for real. They waved to each other and Chena pelted hard up the path, hoping she was heading right for the dorm.

Even as Chena concentrated on running, Sadia’s words flitted through her head. What she said couldn’t be true, at least not all of it. Because if it was true, Mom never would have brought them here.

She wouldn’t have. No. Of course not. Never.





CHAPTER TWO





Offshoot





Thud!

Chena staggered backward from the soft surface she had slammed into.

“Are you okay?” A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders. Chena looked up and saw she had plowed right into Madra.

“I’m sorry, Aunt,” Chena gasped, saluting quickly.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Madra waved her apology away. “No harm. But what are you doing out here?” She looked Chena up and down, her dark eyes taking in the details, such as Chena’s bare feet.

“I… um…” Chena stared past her at the doorway to the dorm. The double doors were shut tight. Mom was wondering where she was. Mom was going to kill her completely dead.