Volumes of the Vemreaux Complete Collection: A Dystopian Adventure Trilogy Read online

  “Yes, Baird,” she answered soullessly.

  “Good girl. Hold it back. Hold it all back. Push it down. Way down.” His voice was hypnotic as he watched her obey. The angst slid from her, as did her fight. “There you go. Never touch that box again. If you see any sign of it, beat it back down. Push it down.”

  Blue nodded, her eyes empty as her brother released her, finally giving her the space to breathe. “Now, wash up,” she heard him order.

  Blue moved without thinking. Her mind was numb to the terror. She heard only the blood rushing in her ears as she turned on the water. Blue held the hose over her head and let the cold water hit her, though she doubted she would ever feel clean again. Life began to return to her as the chill awakened her senses one by one. When she found Elle standing at her side, Blue scolded herself for allowing someone to surprise her. Elle’s trembling hand motioned for the hose, and Blue handed it over without a word.

  “Why didn’t you run?” Elle asked, her voice barely audible above the trickle of water.

  Blue shrugged. “Would you have left me alone with those guys?”

  Elle did not respond, but hardness glinted in her emerald eyes. “Still, you stayed. For what it’s worth, you were pretty amazing.” She bunched Blue’s hair in her fist and ran the water over her friend’s neck. Elle swiped at her tears, still trying to steady herself. “You’ve got to take this suit off, sweetie. Baird’s right. It’s gotta be destroyed.”

  Blue unsnapped her jumpsuit and peeled the uniform off. After casting the last bit of evidence into the furnace, she sat on the floor under the stream of water, clad only in her underwear and bra. She shivered from a cruel combination of cold and nerves. Even though the water from the hose would have covered her indiscretion, Blue did not cry. Baird would not have tolerated such a disgusting act. Blue stared vacantly ahead and permitted Elle to weep for the both of them.

  3

  Temper

  Three Years Later

  “Hurry, George!”

  “Oh, this is not good. This is really not good,” George worried aloud to himself as he struggled with the bag of feed. The sturdy burlap sack weighed half as much as he did and did not lighten with his valiant attempts at speeding up.

  “We have to finish our chores soon,” Griffin insisted. “This is the last day I can see my sister, you know.”

  George stopped once again to give his pubescent muscles a rest. “Griff, I can’t go any faster than this. These bags are heavy!” He stretched his back up straight and groaned, already getting annoyed with the flies that grew thicker as they neared the scratch piles and cow pens. “Why did we get barn duty today of all days? Wouldn’t mind scrubbing a toilet right now.”

  Griffin smirked, despite the growing urgency that plagued him all morning. “I’ll remember you said that next time we get bathroom detail. C’mon, now. We’re almost done. Just four more bags.”

  “After these two!” George corrected him.

  Griffin could not be deterred. Heavy sack flung over his back, he walked steadily forward – George or no George.

  George pushed the bent frame of his gold-rimmed glasses up onto his nose, but the profuse perspiration made his preference for their placement irrelevant. When he hefted the too-large bag over his unsteady shoulder, his glasses slid down even further than they were before. George huffed as his leaden feet followed his best friend faithfully.

  “Hurry, George!” Griffin called out over his sturdy shoulder.

  George pursed his lips and bit back the grunts he wanted to make. After all, this might be the last day Griffin would be allowed to see his sister on the inside. If their older brother Baird was successful in purchasing her for his owner that night, it would be the end of the threesome. Griffin, Blue and George would become just Griffin and George. Griffin would be without family in The Way. While this devastated Griffin to no end, it made George equally wary. Blue had an uncanny ability to calm her younger brother’s oft-flaring temper. George did not know how well Griffin would fare without his sister’s gentle hand on his arm to quiet his sometimes violent irritability.

  With new determination, George fought against his strained muscles and the itch from the sweat that ran down his back, soaked up by his orange jumpsuit. He was glad for the calluses that already marked his fingers from the many hard years of work he’d lived through. His hands were shaking with the effort of keeping the sack in place. Griffin made it look so easy.

  “You take that back!” George heard Griffin’s voice yelling from up ahead.

  “Look, kid. I’m not saying anything against your sister. I just think it’s rough, is all.” Clarense shrugged as he leaned on the fertilizer rake in front of him. He bore a large smear of scratch across his cheek, not to mention several smelly trails down his arms. His barcode was scarcely visible under the brown stains.

  “She’ll be fine!” Clarense had voiced Griffin’s biggest concern, though the fiery teenager didn’t want to admit it. “Baird’s owner is buying her. My brother’ll look after her, no problem. You remember Baird, right? The giant Wayward that broke your arm when you couldn’t watch your mouth?”

  “Hey, no need to bring that up. I’m sure you’re right, Griff.” Clarense held up his free hand in surrender. “I just hope Baird’s owner isn’t into renting out his A-bloods for prostitution. I’ve heard they don’t screen as carefully for that anymore.”

  Griffin’s right fist began to shake, and George knew his time was just about out. He huffed and puffed closer to the two who were garnering much unwelcome attention. Just a little further and he could drop his heavy load and coax his best friend away from the older Wayward who had yet to learn tact.

  “My sister’s not a prostitute! Baird would never let her get bought by someone like that.”

  Good, George thought. Use logic instead of your fists this time.

  “C’mon, Clarense!” A second older boy by the name of Willyum chimed in as he refilled his bucket with wet scratch. “That’s crazy. You know who his sister is. She’s that scrawny one named Blue. No Vemreaux in his right mind would pay for her.”

  George closed his eyes and hissed out the air he was saving to talk Griffin into walking away. There was no hope for that now. Griffin had the same auburn hair as his siblings, the same peak in his left ear, unsettlingly blue eyes, and unfortunately, he also had his brother’s temper – but without the silent intimidation or moderate level of self-control. When Griffin exploded, there was no containing the damage.

  Griffin leapt over the puddle of muck and slammed into Willyum, knocking the older boy onto his back. Misdirected rage filled Griffin’s fist as it collided with Willyum’s jaw once, twice, and geared up for a third time.

  Blue was blessed with unnatural strength, but a varying degree of that same power was shared between the siblings. Plus, Griffin trained with Baird and Blue every chance he got when Baird lived in The Way, so his fury packed some definite pain.

  “Don’t talk about my sister like that!” Griffin stormed. Even the flies knew to leave him alone in that moment, not one daring to land on him as he gave in to the volatile anger that had been bubbling beneath the surface for days.

  “Griffin, leave it alone!” George pleaded, his breath squeezing through gritted teeth as he struggled to pry his friend off of his victim. “Do you want to get a punishment today of all days? What if you get solitary again? You won’t be able to say goodbye to her or see Baird.”

  Griffin’s fist slowed before it could deliver Willyum’s final blow. “This isn’t over,” he warned.

  “It is if I go to the infirmary and report you!” Willyum spat out a mouthful of blood as Clarense helped him up off the ground.

  George sighed. If Griffin wasn’t his best friend, he would have so many more points by now. “Will three points convince you to tell the nurse you fell onto your shovel?” He tapped his barcode reluctantly.

  Griffin snorted, unwilling to give up even one point to make things right.

  Willyum would never have admitted to being taken down by a fifteen-year-old, even if it was a relative of the ominous and infamous Baird. Though Baird had been bought by a Vemreaux years ago for indentured work in the real world, the Waywards still told stories about him in hushed, deferential tones. There were rumors that Marxus was still working on Baird’s orders, though no one knew how they communicated.

  Willyum tried to sound tough. “Make it five points. You know I could get him beaten if I told Supervisor Tum.”

  “Fine.” George shook his head as Griffin stomped off. “Lay off him. He’s losing all he’s got today.”

  4

  Violated

  Age of Peace Law 17, Subset 2b

  All emergency personnel should respond to Vemreaux distress calls first. Second, a freed Wayward, and third, an owned Wayward.

  “Is there a problem? You look weird.” Baird spoke with his signature note of annoyance that had not lessened over the years. He shifted the 4x4 to third gear as they exited the main street and traveled down a series of dark and winding side roads.

  “No problem,” Blue answered. “Just nervous. Excited.”

  “Don’t be nervous,” he commanded. “Your job isn’t to feel; it’s to listen. How do you think you’re doing at your job so far?”

  “Go ahead. I’ll do better.”

  Baird grumbled under his breath before continuing with his debriefing, checking off the key points one at a time. “One thing to remember when you’re waiting tables at your owner’s diner is that there’re two sides to the menu. There’s one set of meals for changed Vems and one for unchanged. You’ve never spent time around unchanged Vemreaux before. Tell me how to spot an unchanged.”

  Blue fought with her sass at being asked such a rudimentary question. “Unchan
ged Vemreaux haven’t bathed in the Fountain of Youth yet, so they age like us. Once they dip, they go through the change.” Obviously. I’m not an idiot. “Their eyes turn black, their bones are harder to break, they stop aging and they have heightened senses, except for their sense of taste, which dulls.”

  “The unchanged can’t smell us,” Baird added. “Only the changed ones with their heightened sense of smell can tell we’re A-blood.”

  Blue rattled off the facts every Wayward knew. “Changed ones have an iron deficiency, so most of them drink filtered O-type blood to keep from being anemic.”

  “I didn’t ask you to tell me everything a five-year-old knows. I asked you how to spot an unchanged.” He tapped his ear. “Listening, remember?”

  “I already answered how to spot an unchanged Vem!”

  “Then what’s with all the extra chatter?”

  Blue crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “You’re meaner than I remembered.”

  “Then you’ll have to work on your listening and your memory.”

  Blue groaned. “So the moral of your boring story is?”

  “When Elle and –” Baird began.

  Blue interrupted by snoring loudly.

  “You wanna survive out here, or not?”

  “I don’t know. How much more of this story’s left?”

  Baird scowled at his sister. “Shut up, Blue.” He could not remember when he’d permitted her to mock him, but somewhere in her teens, she’d come into her moxie. It was annoying, but at times, he secretly found it amusing. Baird palmed the crown of his sister’s head and shoved her to the side, earning a punch to his arm. “When Elle and Grettel lived in The Way, you would wear their dirty jumpsuit from the day before. That way you’d have the sulfuric A-blood scent on you so the Vemreaux monitoring us wouldn’t catch on you were weird and didn’t smell like a normal Wayward. You’ll have to do the same thing in the real world.”

  “I figured.”

  “You wanna run this conversation?”

  “No, Baird. Go ahead.” Tell me more things I already know, Blue thought bitterly.

  “Be yourself at home, but out of the hut, you have to stay under people’s radar until you find your calling. Let Elle be the thing that draws their eyes, just like in The Way. She looks more like a Femreaux anyway, carries herself prouder than a Wayward. Fem is slang for a female Vemreaux, by the way.”

  “Then why’d you have Master Joe buy me as a waitress instead of a cook or something? Won’t that make me more visible?”

  Baird’s teeth ground together. “The correct answer is: thank you, Baird. Thank you for getting me out of The Way before I turned sixty and got terminated at life expectancy.”

  “Thank you, Baird. Blah, blah, blah, life expectancy.”

  Baird’s knuckles tightened on the steering wheel, but he did not address her back-talk. He’d been looking forward to having her out in the real world with him for a long time, and didn’t want to ruin it with a fight right away. “Joe needed a waitress, and I have no idea how long it’ll be before he asks me to find him another slave. I saw the opportunity and took it. I’m warning you that even though you’ll be taking their orders, you’ll have to do your best to stay out of their way. Hide your eyes, walk around like Grettel, and you know, be forgettable.”

  No trouble with that one, Blue sighed inwardly. “Okay.”

  The amazing assortment of cars, buildings, people and nature that blurred by them was so incredible, Blue scarcely had room in her brain to process it all. It was two in the morning as they drove to her new home, but her keen eyes picked out details in the black that no one else could. Each new object she saw was catalogued in her brain, with a name and purpose to be assigned later. The grin on her face would not move, no matter that it announced a blatant emotion to the world…the real world. The free world.

  I’m never going back to The Way. I’m in the real world now! I’m not gonna die in The Way! Blue tried her best to keep the excited smile hidden, lest her brother find fault with it. No more cleaning up the cows’ scratch. No more beatings. The real world! I made it!

  As she took in the stark difference from the sameness of The Way, her grin settled into a contemplative expression. “Baird? Do you sometimes wish that A-bloods reacted to the Fountain of Youth, too? Kinda sucks that the real world is only for the B-blood Vems to enjoy. Everything’s so pretty out here. These buildings? Amazing! Like, how’d they build them so high? Could you take me to see some of them up close once I get settled?”

  Baird’s response was quick and harsh. “You know I don’t waste my time on wishes. You shouldn’t, either.” He looked out the window before making a turn. The 4x4 vehicle Master Joe provided for them had no side mirrors, or even a rearview mirror, for that matter. “You’d be surprised what a curse that Fountain is. After you meet a few of the changed Vems that aren’t worth the scratch their world’s built on, you’ll understand what I mean.” He glanced over at his sister. “Unclench your fists. You’ll get used to riding in a car eventually.”

  “Eventually,” Blue repeated, trying to stifle her happiness so as not to annoy Baird. The car ride was a brand new experience, and she didn’t care that it nearly made her sick. She had been fighting down the bile since the first turn. Her brother’s silent scrutiny for over an hour had not helped matters much.

  Baird cleared his throat as the car turned left around the corner leading to their home. “I’m surprised they finally got all the paperwork together to sell you. I’ve been back to The Way three times this week, and each time, your Vemreaux Studies professor had another excuse why my master couldn’t buy you.”

  “Jack’s thorough.”

  “Jack’s an idiot.”

  “He’s nice to me and Griff. He was nice to you, too, if you recall.”

  “Not right for a professor to care that much about us. Unnaturally friendly only to the three of us? Something’s wrong with him.”

  “Curse Jack for being friendly!” Blue shouted with her fist in the air, unable to contain her bliss any longer. She directed her grin at her brother, and for a moment, she forgot that she was trying not to anger him. “Welp, nothing you can do about it now. We’re on the outside. No way you can make him ‘disappear’ from out here.”

  “Don’t be so sure,” Baird mumbled. “Don’t be so cocky, either. I’m allowed to have suspicions.”

  “And I’m allowed to have friends,” she challenged him, fighting the urge to stick her tongue out at her brother.

  “You know, a smart mouth like that makes me wonder why I was so anxious to get you outta there.” Elle had warned him about being too harsh with Blue on her first day out in the real world. It was the fifteenth item on her verbal list of things he needed to be sensitive to on Blue’s inaugural day of indentured freedom.

  “Were you anxious because you worry about my safety among all those mean ole’ Waywards?” Blue feigned fear for his entertainment.

  “Maybe about their safety, sure.” Baird gave her a shove when she kept up the theatrics, resting the back of her dainty hand on her forehead.

  “Aw! Someone pickin’ on you, Baird? You need me to beat up a bully for you?” She reached over to place her hand on his arm, laughing when he batted it away.

  “Shut up.”

  “Is it because you missed me something terrible?” she joked. When Baird swallowed instead of fighting with her, Blue took that as confirmation. Her delight beamed, and she did not care anymore if he saw it.

  “I just feel better when I can keep my eye on you. Know you’re staying out of trouble.”

  Blue met her brother’s eye, and they shared a smile that communicated the things they were unwilling to say. “I missed you, too, Baird.”

  “The girls’ve been really…” He squinted, focusing on a point at the end of the road with sudden fury. A swelling of rage, anger and violence all fought for first place on his face as he roared a filthy curse.