Pet,” the girl says. “I swear you can trust me, you guys.”
“And me.” Another new voice, low and calm, making me think of that cream they manufacture in the Sprawll’s surrounding FacLab zone. “I’ve been listening to you all for a bit, wondering if I could trust you, and it’s exactly the same story. Well, not really. This CCC monitor was, you know, trying to flirt with me; he was distracted, so I happened to see. I really want to do this expedition you’re offering … But listen, I heard you mention Ricochet and Leoli? I’ve learned something. They’re still alive. They’ve been to the Wildlands. Can’t we stop and see them on our way out? I bet they’d have some great advice for us.”
She has arrived so quietly, the most amazing girl ever.
2
“They weren’t put down?”
I don’t get how Silver can give a single thought to Ricochet Thelezi and Leoli Leopara at a moment like this.
I can’t think about anything except how stunning this tall, quiet girl is. She’s a sepia, so the pure white robe suits her; it marks her as a Prayer, although she isn’t carrying the book some of them do.
“I can take you to them,” the girl says, pushing her masses of long, bright red braids back over one shoulder. “I’m Halo, by the way.”
I think it fits her. Maybe it’s the serenity in her amber eyes, or just a vibe, but she comes across as a good person, which is weird, because goodness isn’t really something I believe in.
Good, and totally sexy.
We all introduce ourselves. When it’s my turn to say my name, it comes out sounding thick and awkward.
So of course I have to try again and repair that first impression.
I say, “Ricochet and Leoli? Where are they?”
I like the way she doesn’t look at my Stain.
“They are drawers at one of the Breeding Control Centres.”
“I’ve never seen them,” I object.
“Only some of the draws are screened live,” Halo reminds me. “They just read out the results for the rest.”
“Those places.” Lizwi’s voice is flat.
She and Halo share a look, and Ril sighs, while Orpa looks extra angry.
“How do you know about them? Ricochet and Leoli?” I worry that my question makes it sound like I don’t trust Halo.
“Oh … There was this Minder, someone important, and he was trying to impress me, you know?” Halo is hesitant. “So he was telling me stuff, and that was one of the things he mentioned.”
“I suppose you get a lot of people trying to impress you?” Orpa is insolent.
“Ignore her,” I tell Halo because she looks upset, and she smiles at me.
“I suppose Ricochet and Leoli really could give us some useful tips about the Wildlands,” Silver says. “But it’s your expedition, Jabz. You’re our leader. What do you think?”
“It can’t hurt to stop and ask them.” Halo isn’t insistent, and it hits me how miraculous it is that such beauty hasn’t turned her arrogant.
“You’re right,” I agree with her, and run my eyes over everyone standing or sitting around the blue table. “Eight of us now, and most of you are kids. I wasn’t counting on this much responsibility. Wait, seven. Orpa is only with us until we reach the Margins.”
“You say, Jabz,” Orpa jeers.
“Maybe if I tell Ricochet and Leoli about Meyi believing we have to go in a certain direction, they’ll be able to tell us what’s there,” Lizwi says.
It’s starting to feel like the whole enterprise is slipping out of my control. It was my idea, they’re my clients, but that’s not how it feels. I was so impatient to get company for my search for the mountain, I didn’t really think the thing through properly before sending out my text ads.
“I’m sure they will,” Halo tells Lizwi, and I realise how gentle her voice is.
“We need to get going then, if we’re going to see them,” I say, trying to take back my role as leader. “I want to reach the Margins tonight.”
“Listen to the big man giving us orders,” Orpa taunts.
“Well, he’s the oldest, or do you just look like you are, Mr Jabz?” Ril chimes in, all pert, with her head on one side as she looks at me.
“I’m eighteen.” I sound gruff, with no idea how to talk naturally to most of these Sprawllers, the girls especially.
“Me too,” Lizwi says.
“And me,” Halo joins in.
“I don’t see that freakin’ eighteen is so much more adult than seventeen or sixteen,” Orpa snaps.
“Well, I’m seventeen, but I don’t feel very adult,” Ril says. “That’s from being a Pet.”
“What’s age got to do with anything?” Boa speaks for the first time. “Like if we’re going into the Wildlands? We’ll be needing strength out there, is my idea.”
“And speed and brains,” I suggest, because it doesn’t seem like he has either, the slow way he moves and speaks, though that thing about needing strength makes some sort of sense.
“And a thousand other things.” Ril looks at me. “Please don’t judge my brother, Jabz.”
It makes me feel bad, because that’s exactly what I was doing. There are plenty in the Margins like Boa, who’ve proved their worth in numbers of ways, so who am I to think he won’t be an asset on either a crawl through the Sprawll or a breakout into the Wildlands?
We start comparing ages. Meyi is youngest at fourteen, then Boa, then Silver.
“Shouldn’t we be going?” Silver comes out of whatever dream he disappeared into.
He and Lizwi both fish out a whole lot of tokens and have a polite little argument about who’s paying for the blue fizz. Silver wins. Lizwi pulls Meyi out of his chair and whispers into his ear when he starts rocking backwards and forwards. He lifts his left arm so he can bury his face in his fake feathers. Lizwi gets a cap out of one of their backpacks and settles it on his head, pulling the peak down so his face is mostly hidden. That seems to soothe Meyi.
I have a moment of thinking I understand him.
We go out into the Sprawll’s unchanging twilight. Halo, Lizwi and Meyi walk in front, slowly because of Meyi. Every so often he tries to go off in a different direction, but Lizwi keeps her right hand round his stick-thin arm and hauls him back.
Silver and I come next, with Orpa, Ril and Boa behind us. I can hear Ril chattering to Orpa, her voice light and fast, always with a laugh underneath it. Orpa isn’t
