Invaded (6 page)

Cara slipped into the hall and tiptoed to the community bathroom, pleased to find
it vacant. Privacy was a rare delicacy in the Aegis, and she needed a few moments
to herself today.

She snatched a microfiber towel from the shelf and blotted her face. Her impending
Sh’ovah
had her perspiring like a linebacker, but whether on Earth or in another galaxy,
high
school was a battlefield. Cara never let anyone see her sweat.

After wiping down the back of her neck and the crooks of her elbows, she balled up
her towel and chucked it into the waterless purifying chute, where ultrasonic waves
and infrared technology
would decontaminate it.

Cara fingered the lapel of her stiff white ceremonial robe. A quick glance over one
shoulder showed she was still alone, but she knew from experience the bathroom wouldn’t
remain vacant
once the sun rose in a few minutes. So without wasting another second of rare solitude,
she dropped her robe to the floor and regarded her naked body in the reflective wall
opposite the
showers.

Right away, she noticed a slight roundness to her lower abdomen—that troublesome spot
no amount of crunches would flatten. She sucked it in, and from there, her gaze moved
from ankles to
thighs, noting the smooth, polished effect she’d achieved last night from scrubbing
her skin with a mixture of oil and salt procured from the kitchen. Her ivory complexion
glowed, and with
any luck, it would reflect the high-noon sunlight and blind all her guests.

She loosened her ponytail and pulled her auburn strands forward to see if they’d cover
her breasts, but no dice. With a frown, she secured her hair with the jeweled clasp
Elle had given
her as a sponsor gift, then donned her robe as the first yawning clone shuffled in,
rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Cara didn’t know the girl’s name. She hated to admit it, but most of the clones still
looked the same to her. “
Mahra
,” Cara said, shrinking back at her own loud
echo. She hadn’t learned many words yet, but she could manage
hello
,
good-bye
, and
sorry, pardon my ignorance
.

The girl paused, taking in the circular bronze emblems that adorned the shoulders
of Cara’s ceremonial robe. They were symbols of the Sacred Mother, L’eihr itself,
and the stark
white of the fabric represented the purity of heart with which Cara would pledge her
fealty to the planet. Funny how white stood for virtue no matter which galaxy you
inhabited.

The girl pursed her lips in hesitation, and after scanning the room as if to ensure
they were alone, she offered a curt “Wel-come,” in broken English before striding
to a nearby
toilet enclosure. It wasn’t much, but that quiet greeting was more than Cara had received
from her schoolmates since she’d joined their ranks.

Maybe this
Sh’ovah
was a good idea after all.

Another girl strode into the washroom, and she was one of the few clones Cara recognized.
She carried herself with more arrogance than the rest, and her mouth was always pinched
in a scowl. Her
name was Dahla, and she’d been the first to give Cara “the finger.”

Cara tipped her head in a greeting and waited for the girl to do the same. But Dahla
tossed back her ponytail and strode toward the toilets, making sure to bump Cara’s
arm extra hard when
she passed.

“Open your eyes,” Dahla said in English. “Clumsy human.”

Refusing to be baited, Cara held her head high and returned to her room. She reminded
herself of what Aelyx had said. Everything would be all right. The clones simply needed
time to get used to
her.

She clung to the remnants of that confidence hours later, when Troy’s knuckles rapped
on her bedroom door. “Elle isn’t here,” she told him. Cara suspected that most of
his visits were really covert missions to cozy up to her roommate.

“Good,” Troy said. “’Cause I want to talk to you alone.” He flicked a glance at her
robe and took a step back, eyeing her warily, as if she might detonate if he got
too close. He wrinkled his nose and extended one index finger. “Are you naked under
there?”

Cara wrapped the lapels more snugly across her chest and tightened the belt at her
waist. “Don’t be such a prude. I’m more covered up now than all the times you’ve seen
me in a bathing suit.” Thank God that only L’eihr citizens could attend her
Sh’ovah
. She’d die a thousand deaths if Troy saw her naked. But to complete her ruse of
boldness, she added, “There’s nothing obscene about the human body. You’re only ashamed
because our society taught you to be.”

He folded his arms and focused over her shoulder, taking an abrupt interest in her
room. Not that there was anything remotely interesting in there. Bare gray walls and
minimalist furnishings
made up her décor, consisting of a bunk bed and a cabinet that looked like a cross
between an armoire and a refrigerator.

“I can’t have a conversation with you while you’re naked,” Troy complained. “It skeeves
me out.”

“Then come back later.”

“I can’t. It’ll be too late then.”

“Too late for what?”

Puffing in exasperation, he turned to face her. “Too late to talk you out of this
citizenship stuff. You don’t belong here, Pepper. This place is…uh…” He deliberated
over
his next choice of words, then leaned in and confided, “Intense.” While she shook
her head, Troy hitched a thumb toward Aelyx’s vacant room a few doors down. “Listen,
I know
you like this guy—”

“Love,” she corrected. “I love this guy.”

“Right.” He flashed his most condescending
whatever
face. “But you’ve got nothing in common. It won’t last.”

Cara gripped her waist. “Just because you change girlfriends before your gum loses
flavor doesn’t mean my relationship is doomed to fail.”

“It’s basic statistics.” His blue eyes flashed to hers. “You know what the divorce
rate is for teens?” Without giving her a chance to guess, he announced,
“Three times the national average.”

“The national average is fifty percent, Einstein.”

“Then you have a one hundred and fifty percent chance of breaking up. Even higher
if you take into account that you’re from different worlds. That brings it to”—he
counted silently on his fingers—“like, four thousand percent.”

Poor Troy. What he lacked in brains he made up for in…well, something other than brains.
“I found my match,” Cara said. “Why should I be penalized because I’m young?
Besides, it doesn’t matter, because I’m not getting married.” Matrimony didn’t even
exist here. L’eihrs declared a
l’ihan
and that was that. Zero
drama.

“You promised to stay here and be with him for life. It’s the same thing, minus a
piece of paper.”

She couldn’t dispute that, so she adopted a new tactic. “It’s none of your business.”

“Wha—” He blinked at her in silence for a few beats. “You’re my sister!”

She couldn’t dispute that, either—she didn’t want to. She’d always wished Troy would
take an interest in her life. It was a shame he’d waited until now to play the
role of protective big brother. In less than a week, he’d be gone again.

They’d never been touchy-feely types, but Cara rested her fingertips on his forearm.
“I don’t expect you to understand, but I expect you to support me.”

That seemed to get through to him. “Fine. When things don’t work out, I guess you
can catch the next transport to Earth.”

Cara sighed. If he didn’t believe her, nothing she said would change his mind. She
told him good-bye and slid the door shut.

Elle returned from the medical lab right before lunchtime, greeting Cara with a smile
and a
l’ina
sandwich. Vero, who rode atop Elle’s shoulder, greeted her with a
beady-eyed glare and a growl, flicking his long tail like a cat to show his displeasure.

“Ve-
ro
!” Elle warned the creature.

With his racoonish gray paws, Vero covered his eyes, reminiscent of a toddler who
knew he’d done wrong. He peeked out from between his tiny digits and howled
aaaeee-oooo
at Cara.
It sounded like
haaaate yooou
, which was probably what the little pillow-pisser meant.

Cara shot daggers at her deceptively cute, fuzzy nemesis, using her eyes to warn him
away from her bed. She took the sandwich from Elle, but when she brought the flatbread
to her lips, the
meat’s smoky aroma made her stomach lurch, so she set it on her desk and pushed it
aside. “Thanks, but I’d better save it for later.”

Elle whispered a L’eihr command to Vero, and the animal leaped onto Cara’s desk and
began nibbling on her discarded sandwich. While brushing a few bits of fur from her
shoulder, Elle
said, “You’re nervous.”

Cara didn’t deny it.

“L’eihrs aren’t conditioned to feel scandalized by nudity,” she said in that no-nonsense
way of hers. “Most of us were raised in this Aegis since birth. Imagine all
the times we’ve seen one another’s bodies. Yours is no different.”

An arch of Cara’s brow told her otherwise.

“All right,” she conceded. “You have a navel and we don’t.”

“Plus pale skin, orange hair, and freckles.” Cara patted her thighs. “And flab,” which
the clones didn’t possess, thanks to their freakish obsession with
exercise.

“I give you my word that—”

Before Elle could continue, Vero screeched a litany of complaints from the bottom
cot, where he’d just crouched over Cara’s brand-new pillow.

“No!” she and Elle cried, each thrusting out one palm in mirrored desperation.

It was too late. Vero finished his business and chirped something that sounded exactly
like
owned! owned!
Then he ran to the door, high-fived the keypad, and scurried out into the hall
before they could catch him.

“Happy
Sh’ovah
Day to me.” Cara held her pillow at arm’s length and carried it to the sanitation
bin in the hallway. Farewell, pillow number seven.

After washing her hands in the restroom, she returned to Elle, whose shrugging shoulders
said,
I’m sorry
, while her twitching lips said,
This is funny as hell
.
Cara’s mouth curved against her will. It was the first time she’d seen her roommate
laugh, and the snickering was infectious.

“It really
is
a simple ceremony,” Elle assured her with a comforting pat on the hand. “I’ll lead
the way, and you’ll follow right behind me. Once the head
Elder delivers her speech, The Way will begin your Covering.”

“Smearing mud on me, you mean?”

Elle clucked her tongue. “You make it sound so base. It’s not muck from the ground,
Cah
-ra. The
valeem
is like your holy water. It’s imported from the third
precinct, where the ground is rich and fertile. They use only the purest soil, and
it’s blessed before the ceremony.”

Pure soil? Cara was pretty sure that was an oxymoron, like
sanitary landfill
or
jumbo shrimp
. “And everyone’s been through this, right?”

“Every single one of us,” Elle promised. A wistful smile enlivened her face, and she
fell silent for a few moments, as if reliving a cherished memory. “I was
fifteen—older than most of my friends when they crossed over, but the Elders wouldn’t
recommend me until I’d demonstrated patience. It was the happiest day of my life.”

Despite her fear, Cara couldn’t deny feeling a tingle of anticipation. It made her
think of her many-greats grandmother O’Shea, who’d left Ireland for America. Just
like
Grandma O’Shea, Cara would rebuild her life on a new world, and this was the first
step in bringing that future to fruition. She could do this—become a L’eihr—and help
cement the alliance between two planets.

“Are you ready?” Elle asked.

With a firm nod, Cara answered, “Born ready.”

When they reached the open doors leading to the courtyard, Elle walked in slow, measured
strides into the brightness of day. To Cara’s surprise, she didn’t hesitate to fall
into
place, her bare feet moving across the spongy sidewalk. She trained her eyes on the
back of Elle’s head instead of the continuous rows of uniformed teens in her periphery.
Soon, the soft
tickle of grass replaced pavement, and Elle stopped, reaching out for Cara’s hand.

To their left, the clones stood at attention like a battalion receiving orders, backbones
stiff, arms held rigidly by their sides as they stared through her. The Way had positioned
themselves on
Cara’s right, all ten leaders standing erect, clad in cloaks of deepest brown, their
expressions more lively than she’d ever seen. Clearly, this was a happy occasion for
them, if not
for the clones. They formed a semicircle around a waist-high brass trough that seemed
to absorb the sunlight instead of reflecting it the way other metals did.

When she peered inside, she didn’t find the black, gritty sludge she’d expected. The
valeem
appeared claylike—a smooth burnt-orange porridge that bore a slight
resemblance to half-baked pumpkin pie filling. Occasionally, a lazy bubble would disrupt
the soup and burp to the surface, filling the air with the seasoned sweetness of cloves.

The ancient Alona drew a breath and asked in English, “Who guarantees this girl’s
integrity?”

“I guarantee it,” Elle replied. She extended their linked hands toward Alona, and
with flawless timing, released her as the old woman claimed Cara’s fingers.

Alona’s grasp was cool, but stronger than Cara had anticipated, and she remembered
that while the Elders seemed as frail as baby’s breath, they were only in their fifties.

Alona delivered a message to the assembly in L’eihr while Elle quietly translated.
She told the story of the Sacred Mother, who’d loved this majestic planet so fiercely,
she’d
sacrificed her immortal body by splitting herself into half a dozen equal pieces,
each one forming the six gods and goddesses of L’eihr. Her “children” went on to create
the
topography, oceans, animals, and intelligent beings that populated the world. And
just as the Sacred Mother had surrendered her body and spirit to give life to the
planet, in turn, each citizen was
expected to devote his or her existence to the betterment of L’eihr. It was a beautiful
story with parallels to many of Earth’s religions, and the similarities made Cara
feel closer to
home.