Your One & Only(41)

“No, not lying,” Althea said. “But I don’t think you know what happened, not really.”

“He did lock me in the lab that night,” Nyla said.

“I know. He shouldn’t have done that.”

They both fell silent for a moment, sitting in the remorseless sun. Then Nyla grinned and dug into the bag on her shoulder. “I have something for you.” She pulled out a pear, and when she turned it to Althea, Althea saw her own face looking back, molded into the round base of the fruit.

Althea laughed, as much at the pear as the pleased look on Nyla’s face.

“The Kates are hosting the next Pairing, and they’re making these for each model. What do you think?”

The pear cupped in her palm felt cool, the skin coarse and freckled. The Kates had captured the Altheas’ features. The wide eyes, straight mouth, and arched brows. It looks just like us, Althea thought, her smile fading.

Still studying the pear, Althea said, “Nyla?”

“Hmm?”

Althea considered what she wanted to ask about the night of the fire, the same night she had been with Jack in the cottage while he slept. Images had nagged her, muddling her thoughts. She kept thinking about how the air between them that night had seemed alive, like it had weight and shape. It had compelled her to want to touch him. Nyla already had touched him, and if Althea knew more, perhaps the images of him, and of him and Nyla together, would stop keeping her up at night.

“What was it like?” she finally said.

Nyla laughed. “Being stuck in the lab while it burned to the ground? Not great.”

“No, not that. What was it like Pairing with him?”

Nyla bit her lip. Part of Althea didn’t want to hear what she would say, but another part of her needed to know.

“You know what it’s like with the others,” Nyla said. “It’s fun, and nice. They know what they’re doing, right? They follow the rituals, and you can predict how they’ll touch you, where and when, all that. But sometimes, well . . . you know how sometimes it feels like the Hassans are distracted during the Pairing, like by their new red bean hybrid or something?”

Althea smiled. “Maybe we should let the boys choose us sometimes.”

“Right.” Nyla laughed. “Why do we have to choose a boy at all?”

It had always been the girls choosing the boys, and the Pairings were always one female and one male. The traditions never changed. Just like the rituals of the actual Pairing itself, it was always the same. The customs went all the way back to the Original Nine, or at least that’s what they learned in their history lessons. The first Gens had designed all the males to be sterile, so Pairing was more civilized than what had come before, but it still connected them all to their human ancestry, and reminded them where they’d come from. Also, as Nyla said, it was fun.

“So it was different with Jack?” Althea said, trying to steer the conversation back.

Nyla considered. “It was different. Samuel-299 gave us a pill, like a little candy, beforehand. Isn’t that strange?” Watching Althea’s reaction, Nyla’s eyes widened as if something had just occurred to her. “Do you suppose, because he’s human, he can . . .” She shook her head. “Ugh, never mind.”

“He can what?”

Nyla leaned close and whispered, “Reproduce.”

“Oh,” Althea said. “You mean like the humans did?”

“I can’t think about that.” Nyla shuddered dramatically. “Anyway, he really had no idea what he was doing. Nyla-314 was the first one with him, and she said it was like he didn’t even think about the protocols of the Ceremonies. She said he just kind of . . . took over. By the time I was with him, he knew the routines, but . . .” Nyla made a frustrated noise in her throat.

“But what?” Althea asked, wondering if she thought it had been horrible.

“I don’t know. It was . . . surprising, I guess.” Nyla giggled, covering her mouth.

“Was it nice?” Althea asked.

“Yes,” Nyla said. “And now, ever since, being with the others . . . it’s not the same. I don’t know. I keep thinking about Jack and how . . . unexpected it was.”

Althea propped her chin in her hands and stared into the yellow grass.

“I’m sorry, is that what you wanted to hear?” Nyla asked.

“It’s okay,” Althea said. “I just need to talk to Samuel-299.”

Nyla stood, taking Althea’s hand again and squeezing it. She grinned. “Only six of us Paired with him, you know. The others are pretty mad about it.”

“Really?” Althea said.

“Really. You should Pair with him, if you want to. You and your sisters. It’s just too bad there’s only one of him.”

Althea nodded without looking up. Was that what she wanted? The idea of him with one of her sisters made her stomach twist in knots, though it shouldn’t. She was her sisters, and they were her. She felt more confused than ever.

“By the way,” Nyla said, “Samuel-299 isn’t in the clinic. He’s sick.”

“What do you mean?” He’d been fine the other day at the Council Meeting. And anyway, no one ever got sick.

“I heard he was sent to work in the nursery.”