Daughter of Nothing

by Eric Kent Edstrom

  I should have kept them separated. Should have built a whole different campus for the boys.

  And Jacey! Dr. Carlhagen had given her the gown and lavished special attention on her, and what had she done? She’d run off at the first opportunity to do who-knows-what with Vaughan.

  Who was he kidding? He knew what they had been up to. Why else had Vaughan taken her to such a private spot, one where they’d have plenty of warning if someone approached?

  Jacqueline had always been so blind to Charles’s faults.

  Dr. Carlhagen saw his error then. Jacqueline had never responded to gifts and flattery. Perhaps what Jacey needed was a bit of coercion, a taste of fear.

  During these musings, Dr. Carlhagen had hobbled to one of the wide windows to stare through the horizontal louvers at the bell tower. He turned to Sensei, who stood motionless in the center of the ward. “Assemble the Scions in the dojo. I’ll be there presently to issue Vaughan’s punishment. We’ll make an example of him.”

  “And what of Jacey?”

  “I’ll deal with her privately. I’d like to preserve her reputation if I can.”

  “Very well.” Sensei spun and departed.

  Dr. Carlhagen reached for his bottle of pills.

  8

  A Grunting and Groaning Animal

  Jacey tried to distract herself from her impending punishment by working on her Shakespeare memorization. But she couldn’t find the concentration needed.

  As she lay atop her bunk, staring at the rattan ceiling fan, all she could think about was the pit.

  A rustle in the bunk below hers reminded Jacey that Wanda was present. Jacey’s Eagle had finished her meal early and had returned to the dormitory to study. She always had interesting science lessons that Socrates wouldn’t share with Jacey.

  Jacey set her reader aside and covered her face with her hands.

  The pit.

  That had to be the punishment she and Vaughan were in for. They’d been caught talking before, but it had been incidental and never completely alone. But this time . . .

  It’s going to be the pit.

  Just the thought of that stinking hole made her shiver. She wanted to ask Socrates what was going to happen, but that would probably get her into more trouble. Asking questions like that always did.

  “It’ll be worth it,” she said, trying to remind herself that a bit of discomfort was a small price to pay for what she’d learned. “My mother . . .”

  “What did you say?” Wanda asked.

  “Nothing,” Jacey said. “I was just reciting a line from Shakespeare.”

  “Oh.” Wanda’s face popped up next to Jacey’s bunk. Red-haired and bright-eyed, she always wore a gentle half-smile. “I’m surprised you’re in here. I figured you’d want to spend time with the new Dolphin.”

  Jacey rubbed her temples. She’d forgotten all about the Dolphin. But she couldn’t leave. Sensei had been clear about that. It seemed that Wanda didn’t know what had happened, though.

  That would change soon enough, but she couldn’t bring herself to confide in Wanda. “Socrates gave me a huge workload this morning. I won’t be able to concentrate on being a leader until I get through some of it.”

  As if mentioning his name had summoned him, Socrates’s face appeared on her reader screen. “All Scions are to report to the dojo.”

  Jacey’s blood turned to ice. She had to force herself out of the bunk.

  So this is it.

  “Do you know what this is about?” Wanda asked as they left Girls’ Hall and started across the quad.

  “I have an idea, but—”

  “Can you believe that?” Wanda said, pointing. The Dolphin, Livy, was still sitting in front of the burning barrel. “She’s got gumption, I’ll give her that much.”

  Other students approached the dojo in groups of three or four.

  The sun stood high over the green hills, and the breeze had dropped off a bit, making it very hot.

  As they crossed the quad, the black grate covering the pit drew Jacey’s eye. She looked away, unable to suppress a shiver.

  Would Sensei put her into the pit directly, or would Dr. Carlhagen have him put her through some merciless workout first?

  She stepped through the doors and took her spot. Most of her Nine were already there. At first she thought the glances she got from her Nine were a sign of their disappointment. Then she realized that, as their leader, they thought she might know what was going on.

  They don’t know about me and Vaughan.

  She wished they did. Being called out in front of everyone, seeing their shock, would make it that much more humiliating.

  “You don’t look well,” Wanda said. “Maybe you should go see Nurse Smith.”

  Jacey gave a sharp shake of her head. “I’m fine.”

  It was the biggest lie she’d ever told.

  Soon, the entire student body sat around the edge of the sparring mat. Dr. Carlhagen sat in a chair at one end, Dolphins and Pelicans to either side of him.

  A hush fell over the room as Sensei walked in from the back door, escorting Vaughan in front of him.

  The martial arts master guided Vaughan to the center of the mat and turned him to face Dr. Carlhagen. Vaughan bowed respectfully and waited.

  Apparently Dr. Carlhagen intended to deal with them one at a time. Jacey wanted to crawl away and hide. On her very first day as a Shark, to be publicly humiliated . . .

  Perhaps she could save face by putting a brave front on the situation. Maybe if she voluntarily stepped forward to receive her punishment, her Nine would find something redeeming in her character.

  She stood. All eyes swung toward her. Vaughan shook his head slightly.

  “What are you doing?” Wanda hissed. She pulled on Jacey’s pant leg.

  “Please sit,” Dr. Carlhagen said.

  “But—”

  “Sit!” He half-rose from his seat, eyes so wide Jacey could see their gray-blue from where she stood.

  Jacey backed up and dropped, cheeks burning from Dr. Carlhagen’s shout, which had been as much a reprimand as it was a command.

  Belle stared at her, eyes narrowed in that reptilian manner of hers. Jacey dreaded what Belle would say to her following this ordeal.

  A bout of vertigo struck her, and she placed her hands on the floor to stay upright. It was as if a veil had peeled back to reveal a new, incomprehensible reality. One in which she was no longer a model Scion, but instead a troublemaker to be made an example of.

  For Jacey, to whom reading a situation was as necessary and instinctual as breathing, the shift jarred her. It was as if the island had tilted and the whole campus was about to slide into the sea.

  ° ° °

  DR. CARLHAGEN DIDN’T KNOW WHAT JACEY thought she was doing, standing up like that. If he was going to preserve her reputation, he couldn’t have her jumping up and waving her arms. Even now she was red-faced and drawing attention to herself.

  Pull it together, girl.

  He sighed as he lowered into his seat at the edge of the sparring mat. Thankfully, Sensei had brought in a chair for him. He silently cursed the pain in his joints and did his best to keep it from registering on his face. Taking more andleprixen was out of the question. He’d already taken more than he should.

  He needed a clear mind. The anger he’d felt at Sensei’s report about Jacey and Vaughan, while unpleasant, was useful. It gave him the will to do what he’d decided to do. To steady his hands, he placed his boar’s head cane across his lap and gripped it tightly.

  A sultry breeze blew through the open sides of the dojo and ruffled his hair. The smell of the island air soothed him somewhat, rich with bougainvillea, mango bloom, and a slight salty tang of the Caribbean Sea.

  As he’d requested, all his Scions sat around the perimeter of the mat to witness the punishment. All wore their black uniforms: loose fitting pants and mandarin-collared shirts with toggle buttons down the front. The three Dolphins sat to his left. To his right were the
Pelicans. He liked to have the most impressionable minds close to him at times like this. This was, after all, partly for their benefit.

  He grunted. But mostly for mine.

  He scanned the rest of the Scions, forcing his eyes to pass over Jacey for the moment, though he longed to stare at her. He feared that if he did, he might explode with rage.

  Alone in the bell tower with Vaughan!

  If he didn’t know better, he might have thought their relationship had been encoded in their DNA. No matter, he thought. He had one more year to deal with Jacey. And if everything went as planned, her future would be much different than her Progenitor’s past.

  Sensei guided Vaughan to the center of the mat.

  Dr. Carlhagen enjoyed seeing the confusion on the boy’s face. Vaughan knew he was in trouble, but he didn’t know what was going to happen. That kind of distress created all kinds of wonderful brain chemistry, very conducive to conditioning. Dr. Carlhagen wouldn’t mind if Vaughan associated Jacey with pain.

  The martial arts master stood motionless, waiting for Dr. Carlhagen’s instructions. Vaughan took his cue from Sensei and relaxed into an at-rest posture. He looked almost exactly like his Progenitor, Charles, had at that age.

  Almost.

  The changes Dr. Carlhagen had made during Vaughan’s early gestation period had been subtle, just the slightest edit here and there. The result was that Vaughan bore a more symmetrical and pleasingly proportioned face than his Progenitor. It was the prominent vein on Vaughan’s left temple that made the resemblance to Charles so strong. Vaughan certainly had a fitter body. Even from across the mat, Dr. Carlhagen saw how supple and strong the boy was. Like a lion.

  Dr. Carlhagen knew he’d met every one of Charles’s requests. That fact irked him, partly because he knew Charles wouldn’t have acknowledged it, and partly because Dr. Carlhagen had always hated the man.

  He turned his gaze to Humphrey, who sat with his Nine at the edge of the mat. He too looked like his Progenitor, though certainly more muscular. Unfortunately, the genetic edits Dr. Carlhagen had made hadn’t improved the boy’s surly tendencies.

  His eyes involuntarily scanned back to Jacey, but he forced himself to look away. He couldn’t allow himself to become distracted. He had work to do.

  “I’ve assembled you all here today to witness a punishment.”

  That got their attention. The younger Scions murmured to each other, and the older ones betrayed their surprise with widened eyes and parted lips.

  Not Jacey. Nor Belle either. Both sat still as statues.

  “Earlier today, Vaughan was caught exiting the bell tower with a girl. They had been there, alone, for at least a quarter of an hour. Probably more.”

  Faces turned this way and that as the Scions tried to deduce which girl Vaughan had been with. Belle looked only at Jacey, who didn’t notice. She was staring back at Dr. Carlhagen, eyes narrow.

  She senses something is up.

  Jacqueline had always been so ready to read people, always thought she knew what everyone was thinking. Apparently that tendency had bred true in Jacey.

  “This is a clear violation of our rules,” Dr. Carlhagen said. “You all know that unsupervised fraternization between girls and boys is forbidden. And you all know why?”

  Dr. Carlhagen turned his gaze on Vaughan, who wisely kept his eyes forward, looking at nothing. “Vaughan! Why is such fraternization forbidden?”

  “To prevent sexual intercourse, sir.”

  “And why is that important?”

  “Because we have not been given the advantages we have in order to breed, but to prepare ourselves to be leaders of men and fulfill our great destinies.”

  “That is correct. You’ve demonstrated that you know the reason for the rule. So tell me, why did you disregard it and lure a girl into the bell tower? Is it because you have no control over your biological urges? Are you no better than a grunting and groaning animal?”

  That’s what Charles had been. He’d never appreciated any of the women he’d used and tossed aside.

  Vaughan’s face paled. He licked his lips and dropped his eyes. “We did not engage in . . . intercourse, sir.”

  “Sadly, we have no proof of that . . . unless we subject the girl to a demeaning physical examination.”

  Dr. Carlhagen forced himself to continue looking at the boy. Otherwise he certainly would have focused on Jacey. “You should have known better than to lure a girl into the bell tower. As a Shark and a leader of Nine, you must hold yourself to a higher standard. Sensei, bind his hands behind him.”

  The martial arts master snapped his fingers and pointed to a Scion boy from Humphrey’s Nine. “Get a band from the weight room.”

  The boy sprinted out of the dojo.

  The Scions sat in stunned silence, exchanging worried glances but knowing to keep quiet. Sensei wore a scowl. Dr. Carlhagen knew that the martial arts master disapproved of corporal punishment, but the man had sense enough to keep his eyes down.

  The boy returned and handed a green band to Sensei, who then wrapped it around Vaughan’s wrists. The process had the desired effect. The Scions tensed, gripped by a growing terror. No one knew what the punishment for fornication was, but it had to be bad if it required Vaughan’s hands to be bound.

  Dr. Carlhagen had devised the punishment on the way to the dojo. It would serve several ends, not the least of which was to satisfy his urge to hurt Vaughan.

  If only Charles could feel this. Oh, how delicious that would be.

  “Humphrey!” Dr. Carlhagen called.

  The boy looked up in surprise. He stood and straightened his tunic. “Sir?”

  “Go onto the mat.”

  Humphrey strode forward, casting uncertain looks at Sensei and Vaughan. He turned back to face Dr. Carlhagen, who stood and tapped his cane on the floor.

  “Sensei, what is Humphrey’s strongest fighting skill?”

  “Kicking, sir. Muay thai style.”

  Dr. Carlhagen pursed his lips and nodded, as if considering it. All an act for the benefit of the young ones. “Humphrey, deliver five blows to Vaughan’s body, one to his head. Full strength, mind you, or I’ll have you do it again.”

  Sensei’s scowl deepened, but he kept his opinions to himself. Dr. Carlhagen had powerful leverage over the man. He’d do what he was told.

  Humphrey’s jaw fell, and he looked to Jacey, as if wanting to know what to do.

  Dr. Carlhagen deepened his voice. “Do you refuse to do your duty?”

  “No. I . . .” Humphrey took hesitant steps toward Vaughan. He said something to Vaughan that Dr. Carlhagen didn’t make out.

  “Do it!” Dr. Carlhagen shouted. “On behalf of the Scions Vaughan betrayed with his irresponsible actions, strike him down!”

  Humphrey tensed, a frustrated groan escaping his throat.

  Oh, the irony that those two had become friends. Dr. Carlhagen could scarcely credit it. He wondered what Charles would have said about the friendship. Something hateful, no doubt.

  Vaughan kept his eyes focused on the mat. He kept still, though his nostrils flared as he braced himself for the blows to come.

  Humphrey dropped into his fighting stance, knees bent, one leg slightly back, hands raised. Dr. Carlhagen tensed in expectation.

  Humphrey didn’t attack.

  “Get it over with,” Vaughan said, voice strong and clear.

  At Vaughan’s words, Humphrey straightened, letting his hands fall back to his sides. “I won’t do it. I was with Vaughan and the girl for most of the time they were in the bell tower. I’m certain that they did nothing inappropriate.”

  Dr. Carlhagen nodded thoughtfully. He hadn’t expected this ridiculous, and untimely, display of loyalty to Vaughan. “Do you have any proof that nothing happened after you left?”

  Humphrey stammered for a moment before shaking his head.

  “You are dismissed. Elias!”

  The Eagle from Vaughan’s Nine jumped up. Wiry, strong, and nearly as tall as Va
ughan, he had dark hair and an intense look. His jaw muscles bulged and twitched, but he bowed respectfully.

  “Deliver the punishment.”

  Face grim and stony, Elias approached Vaughan, workmanlike, clearly intent on ending the proceedings as quickly as possible.

  Vaughan stood still, hands bound behind him. Elias took his stance.

  “Wait!” Jacey cried, leaping to her feet. “Stop!”

  Elias was already in motion. His five body kicks landed fast and hard, thudding into Vaughan’s torso, the last one sending him to the floor.

  “Sensei, help Vaughan up so he can receive the remainder of his punishment” Dr. Carlhagen said.

  “Stop!” Jacey’s eyes glistened with anger and horror. “It’s not fair.”

  Belle was also on her feet, face white as death.

  “Silence, girl!” Dr. Carlhagen shouted. “If you speak again, his punishment will double.”

  Couldn’t she see he was trying to protect her? Charles didn’t care for her at all. He deserved this.

  Jacey clamped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide and glistening.

  Belle’s eyes took on a hint of suspicion as she looked from Jacey to Vaughan and back. A hot flush of red marred her neck and cheeks, and her hands curled into fists.

  Sensei got Vaughan upright. Somehow the boy managed to mask his pain.

  “Continue,” Dr. Carlhagen said to Elias.

  The Eagle spun, swinging his right foot in a round kick to Vaughan’s temple. The crack resounded in the dojo, producing gasps from the Scions. Vaughan crumpled.

  Jacey cried out and ran toward Vaughan. Humphrey jumped up and joined her. They squatted next to the fallen boy as Sensei checked him.

  Belle stood a few paces back, body trembling.

  “He’s not breathing,” Sensei said. “Call for Nurse Smith.” He started a resuscitation procedure.

  No one moved. And for a long moment, Dr. Carlhagen sat paralyzed by the same spell of disbelief as the Scions. The reality of what he’d done slowly sank in, sick fear replacing his rage. He absolutely could not have Vaughan die, no matter how much he hated Charles. He pointed at Belle. “Fetch Nurse Smith!”