What would that electric spark feel like, between their lips?
A drip of water from the fountain landed on Cora’s cheek, and she jerked out of her thoughts, shocked by where her mind had gone. “It’s personal,” she snapped, and wiped the drip off her cheek. “It’s something special between two people who care about each other. It’s very emotional. Something you’d know nothing about.”
His hand had stopped flexing, but his eyes stayed on her lips.
“You do not know what I am like in private,” he answered. “When my emotions are uncloaked.”
“No. I don’t. I don’t want to, not if you’re anything like the rest of your kind.” When he didn’t respond, her blood burned hotter. “If you’re so fascinated, why don’t you give one of those kids on exhibit a token for a kiss? I’m sure they’d be delighted to show you.” Her words were poison. She wanted him to say yes. She wanted to know he was as bad as the rest of his kind.
“I’m not interested in learning about kisses from them,” he said simply.
His black eyes didn’t move away from her lips for a second.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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35
Rolf
ROLF STOOD AT THE top of the mountain, ankle-deep in snow, gazing at the line of little red flags. At the bottom of the racecourse, Mali waited in her oversized military jacket, sled slung over her shoulder. Lucky stood behind her, looking like he hadn’t slept in days; he’d only come when Nok had dragged him along.
Rolf pitied Lucky—to a point. Earth was gone; it was a fact. Fighting the truth was like fighting gravity. The news had hit Rolf hard at first, too. He’d thought about the little curry shop two blocks from his dormitory, and about the secret patch of tulips tucked away behind the manor in T?yen gardens, and how he used to count the beautiful red bricks on the walk to school (11,321) as a boy—but there was no logic in mourning what was already gone. Besides, it meant no more bullying from his classmates. No more parents’ rigid expectations. No more being stuck with an entire race of people who were too stupid to see they were destroying their own planet.
But Rolf wasn’t stupid.
He arranged his sled to match up with the red flags. He wasn’t good at the physical puzzles, but this one wasn’t about strength or speed but reflexes. It involved throwing one’s weight at the precise angle and time to turn the sled through the flag course. He’d never sledded with the other children in T?yen gardens, afraid of being mocked. But he was good at it. Who knew?
“Just go already!” Nok jumped up and down by his side, a smile stretched between her red cheeks. Her lips were stained bright blue from candy. He still couldn’t believe how beautiful she was, and that she was his. On impulse, he pulled her close for a kiss. She laughed and kissed him back.
He’d never understood unspoken rules on Earth: social norms that flew over his head, polite conversation, a hierarchy of coolness where he’d always been on the bottom rung. But here, he understood the rules. There were only three! Clean, logical, efficient. The only thing that didn’t make sense was that the food was still missing. At first he’d thought the Kindred just favored Cora, but it made no sense, because the Kindred had sworn to keep them healthy. So it had to be Cora stealing on her own, but if she was gone, who was stealing it now? The only conclusion Rolf could reach was that Lucky had been mistaken when he said the Caretaker had taken her—she must still be here, hiding out like Leon. Maybe they were even working together.
He narrowed his eyes. From the mountain, he could see all the way to the farm. He’d spent the last two days organizing a system of rationing fruits and vegetables to keep them fed. Cora might be trying to starve them, but he would keep them alive.
Nok tugged on a red curl hanging in his face. “Go, silly. It’s my turn next.”
Her candy-blue lips pulled him from his thoughts. The same shade of blue as the cubes in the Kindred’s medical room. He’d studied them at first to distract himself from the idea of stripping nude, and then because curiosity set in. There had been one above each doorway. Several more built into the cabinets. Both the doors and cabinets had opened automatically according to the Kindred’s thoughts—and then it had hit him.
The physical equipment was different, but the theory was similar to the research his colleagues at Oxford’s robotics lab had done on brain waves controlling prosthetic limbs. The blue cubes had to be thought amplifiers. Which meant the Kindred weren’t as powerfully psychic and telekinetic as the others believed. It also meant, if the cubes could be modified, it would hamper the Kindred’s abilities.