Of the twenty girls in my Incorporation class, ten were now marked with an X… and of the seventeen boys, there were seven also branded infertile. It was unusual for there to be such a large percentage of infertile new Citizens. But then, that wasn’t the only unusual thing about my Incorporation class.
It had been determined that I was Lush.
LUSH… I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Lush with life – that statement was a lot for a young girl to process. At the most basic level, it just meant that I would have no problem bearing multiple children. But to my limited knowledge, families usually consisted of two parents and then one or two children. Was I expected to give birth to eight or nine children? Who could afford the Training Tech fees for that many offspring? Not many. So then, was I expected to have babies and then just give them away to other people, be a surrogate? The thought of that brought with it the feeling of icy fingers dragging their way down my spine. My whole body shivered.
A small crowd had gathered around me. Rosemary grabbed for my arm. “Let me see it,” she squealed. “Gracious, Blue, that’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I heard there was another one, around twenty years ago, I think.” I heard an older male voice say.
I looked up to see Holly and Ash standing near me, their parents were at their side. It must have been their father who had spoken the words.
“I think you’re right, dear,” Holly’s mother said. “I think she was from either Concord Three or Four.”
“Well she wasn’t from One, that’s for certain. I do seem to remember hearing something about her when we were at the CEC,” Holly’s father replied. “I think you’re right, dear.”
“Yes, dear,” Holly’s mother nodded her head. “I know I am.”
Clay moved to stand next to Rosemary. He stared at my arm with a quizzical expression. “I don’t know the statistics for Lush. They’ve never been published. I think the instances are too few and far between to form any reliable data patterns.”
“Well if the big brain doesn’t know much about it, it must be rare,” Rosemary gawked.
Clay tapped his temple with his index finger. “Statistically speaking this whole Incorporation has been rather unusual. Unusually high rates of infertility and a Lush specimen will make this Incorporation one to stand out,” he concluded. “Unless, of course, this is the start of a trend. In which case, it will be the marker for the change. Either way, it has significance.”
Someone’s parent bumped Clay aside and grabbed for my arm. I yanked it back and spun around. Thankfully, Aspen and my father were right there. Aspen looked down and gasped at the sight of my new Citizen Brand. My father just smiled.
“Bit of a shock?” he asked.
I weakly smiled. “Just a bit.”
My father put his coat around my shoulders. “Let’s get you home. Aspen?” He turned toward her.
Aspen looked up at his face. She looked like I felt – dazed and confused. “What, dear?”
“Are we ready?” he asked.
She blinked her eyes, registering his question. “Yes, of course.”
“Wait.” I spun around. “I want to say goodbye to Lily.” I looked around the room, trying to find her, but she was nowhere in sight.
I focused on the back doors and watched as Coral flung them open. She stomped her way out of the hall. Her parents followed, looking grim. Fisher and Stone were standing near the doors.
“Lily?” I shouted to them.
They pointed down the hall, to where Coral had just bolted. I nodded my head in understanding and waved goodbye.
My father planted his hand in the center of my back and ushered me forward.
I circled my right hand around my left wrist, covering the abnormal mark, shielding it from prying eyes, as we quickly made our way out the door and toward my new home. I wanted to get away from Training Tech as quickly as possible.