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  “And so now we are found in fault before the law?”

  “Yes, My Lady.”

  Rain lowered into her chair and gripped her mug of tea. “The whole of New Eden is to be inoc ... inoc...”

  “Inoculated.”

  “Whatever does that mean, exactly?”

  “It’s an easy process,” Michael cut in, quick to reassure. “Painless.”

  “Go on.”

  Michael lowered his voice. “We swab the saliva in a person’s inner cheek to place into a machine.”

  “A machine?” Rain asked, eyes rounding.

  “A hand-held one that calibrates sublingual vaccine strips based on DNA.”

  She looked to Coal, addled by Michael’s explanation. “This is your experience, My Lord?”

  “No.” He clenched his jaw. “My process was—not so simple.”

  Michael cleared his throat and adjusted his position in his seat.

  Spooked, she drew in a shaky breath. “But what Michael suggests is safe? The machine will not harm the children?”

  “I was advised to inform you—The Elements—that the inoculation process is perfectly harmless.” Coal swallowed and blinked nervously. “I have not suffered any ill effects.”

  Rain set her earthen mug on the table as she stared at Coal. “Tell me you jest.”

  “Shoot! I need to take this call.” Michael sent Coal a peculiar look, one Coal had seemed to understand explicitly. Then the scientist scurried from the kitchen toward the Great Hall.

  Rain swiveled back in her seat to regard Coal and startled. Her hand flew to her chest. While distracted, he had moved next to her and leaned in close. “Coal Hansen! Once more, you have given me quite the fright.”

  “I need to speak quickly,” he began. “Michael has been recording our conversation for Hanley.” She did not understand what he meant by “record,” but nodded her head anyway for him to continue. “I asked Mack to run a background check on the scientist in question and it appears as though the poor man was set up.” Rain’s eyes rounded, but she remained silent. Who was Mack? “The scientist was hired three weeks prior to the Great Fire and hailed from a state without stringent vaccination laws. The state of California grants three weeks to become inoculated, otherwise they will not grant you an I.D. Without an I.D., there is not much one can do.”

  Coal was speaking gibberish as far as she was concerned. Nevertheless she followed along enough to grasp the message. “How were his medical records falsified then?”

  “They were hacked the day before the Great Fire,” Coal answered. “Though he had reported symptoms of illness that very morning, he was sent in as part of the emergency team.”

  “Hanley wished for New Eden to fall ill?” Tears filled Rain’s eyes.

  “Rain,” Coal whispered, narrowing his eyes. “Did any resident protest the use of Outsider medicine?” She thought over the past two days and shook her head. Actually, the first generation in particular were desperate for their children to have a cure. Coal continued. “Do you not think this odd? The Code prohibits use of modern medicine within the dome. We are to leave for Outsider medicine and intervention.” Tension creased his brows. “Those who moved into the dome, including the second generation already born, were permanently inoculated against influenza.”

  “Dear Lord in Heaven,” she breathed. “The children...”

  The blood rushed from her head and an errant tear slipped down her cheek. Coal pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. Her fingers grazed his just as he abruptly straightened and flashed a distracted smile down the corridor. Rain need not peer over her shoulder to know that Michael returned. She blotted her cheeks with the linen cloth then sipped her tea to appear as if all was well.

  “Is the wee Mary Norah Elizabeth faring well, My Lady?” Coal asked as he returned to his seat.

  “Yes, she is precious. I dote upon her so.” Rain lowered her eyes to still the forming tears. “Though no one dotes upon her more so than Father. I think becoming a grandfather has eased his grief a little.”

  “Mist and Matthew fare well, then?”

  “Yes, my sister is hearty and hale. Thank you.”

  “Sorry about that,” Michael said, and unceremoniously flopped back into his chair. Rain never ceased to be amazed by how Outsiders moved like wet noodles, yet remained standing and sitting. “So did you tell her the plan?”

  “No,” Coal said, moving a crumb around on the table. “I waited for you, sir. We spoke of her family in your absence.”

  “OK. Good.” Michael sighed with relief. “I’m surprised you haven’t snatched that last apple tart from Ms. Daniels.”

  Coal shook his head. “I am a gentleman and would never snatch away a woman’s dessert after I so generously offered it to her.”

  “Yes, it was quite generous of you,” Rain bantered in kind, but her heart was not it. “Your sacrifice is great, though I find I no longer have an appetite.” She gestured toward the plate. “Michael, would you care for the last apple tart?”

  “Michael?” Coal’s mouth slackened in playful offense.

  “Yes, My Lord,” Rain teased, biting back a smile. “He is not a rascally goat.”

  “She would like you,” Coal said quietly. The thoughtful look on his face gave her pause. But it quickly altered to a pointed expression as he said to Michael, slowly for emphasis, “Perhaps one day Hanley shall consent for her to visit New Eden.” Rain’s heart fell to her stomach once more. But she forced a polite smile as he continued. Then she remembered, Hanley was somehow listening. “Michael, will you explain the plan to Lady Rain?”

  “Well, we were thinking of home visits during the hour of rest. I would bring in a large team. I imagine we could inoculate every resident, even the infants, within two days.”

  “I see.” Rain wrapped her fingers around the tea mug once more. “When shall you begin?”

  “Today.” She opened her mouth to protest, but Michael cut her off. “We don’t want to disrupt Winter Feasts.”

  “Yet there is no remorse over interrupting the Ceremonies of Death? The Third Ceremony is tonight following evening meal.”

  “The Surgeon General has given the lab seven days to comply before imposing heavy fines and sending in health care representatives from the State.” Michael lifted his hands in defeat. “Any other ideas?”

  Rain’s shoulders slumped a notch. “I shall make the Service Announcement during mid-day meal.”

  “Since The Aether and all other Elements are in quarantine,” Michael continued, “we need you to go through the process publicly to demonstrate the easy, non-invasive process.”

  She looked to Coal in astonishment. “You would ask a lady to behave in such an undignified manner before all? I shall be humiliated, My Lord.”

  The Son of Fire pushed out of his chair and knelt on one knee before her and bowed his head as he took her hand in his. The tendons in his neck bulged as he clenched his jaw. The kitchen silenced, the only sounds the simmering pottage bubbling over the cook hearth. Though, she knew they could not hear her and Coal speak, not really. Their voices were barely above a hushed whisper. “I would never ask you or any other woman to accept public examination and treatment. But neither can I alter this request, though I tried.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  Coal stiffened. “Hanley granted concession for all other individuals to endure the procedure in the privacy of their homes rather than line up publicly, though it taxes the lab to provide so many hands to visit the apartments.” He met her eyes and her breath caught with the fury they contained. The consequences of her refusal were clear. “Please name your honor price for this ungentlemanly request, My Lady. I am entirely at your service.”

  She had dreamt of this moment more times than she could count. In her reverie, he would kiss her passionately or propose marriage. The gravity of reality changed everything. There was no romance in this gesture, only an echo of her own grievances and sense of helplessness. Tears pooled in her eyes and rolled dow
n her cheeks. She turned her face toward her shoulder, embarrassed.

  “I cannot fault you for the choices of others, My Lord.”

  “Rain...”

  “Your kindness shall never be forgotten.”

  He pleaded silently with his eyes. “My Lady, I shall never forget your courage and bravery.”

  “I am a head Noble. ’Tis my duty to sacrifice my needs when service to my community requires it.” She forced a smile through her tears. “I shall recover, never you worry.”

  “I shall and will continue to worry.”

  He pressed the handkerchief back into her hand. Kitchen maids whispered to one another and Rain noted their envious stares beneath lowered lashes. Cook barked at her staff to stop dallying and return to work, and the entire kitchen sprang into action. The gossips would be busy later and Rain closed her eyes in mortification.

  “Shall I escort you to your father so I may explain the situation to him?”

  “Yes, that may be wise. Thank you,” she whispered. “Does Leaf know of the lab’s plans to comply with state law?”

  “All save the request made of you.” Coal shuffled on his feet and darted a nervous glance Michael’s way. “The lab agrees with quarantine methods to contain the spreading illness, most especially now that the media has agitated a few human rights activist groups.” She raised her eyebrows. “Many in the world feel the community would be happiest if freed from the confines of these walls and integrated into global society.”

  “Oh Lord,” Rain whispered. “Do they not understand that we are happy?”

  Coal chuckled with ill-humor. “They care not what we think or how we feel, My Lady. They measure according to their own moral compass and definition of justice and have no qualms invalidating the true meaning of human freedom.”

  “How horrifying.” Rain dabbed her cheeks to hide her fear, then held out the linen cloth to Coal.

  “No, please. It is yours to keep.”

  “Thank you.”

  His lips thinned though he smiled, the shadowed look hardening each one of his dashing features. He lifted a hand and gestured toward the exit with a bow. Rain followed Michael out of the building, her heart in her throat. Though her feet moved beneath her, her mind remained anchored. Coal was not speaking of activists when he referred to “they.” Rain understood the hidden warning and felt a shiver, one that traveled clear to her toes.

  Saturday, December 19, 2054

  The hood of Rain’s cloak caught on the carved wooden comb in her hair. She had woven a white linen ribbon through her plaits, which she sewed into place away from her face. Lake had broken two of her bone hair pins while attempting to turn them into small sling shots for the stick knights he created. She rolled her eyes with the memory. So she resorted to sewing her hair to keep the cords and braids in place. A much easier feat when her sister visited.

  Her fingers held a slight tremor from nerves. Nevertheless, they nimbly unhooked the fabric. Canyon had carved the hair fork last year as a birthday gift, depicting cresting waves, images he had seen in a book. She patted the back of her head and confirmed the complication of knots and ribbons were still in place.

  “You look beautiful this evening,” her father said.

  She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Père.”

  “Do you join the scientists once more this eve?”

  “Yes,” Rain said, tying the strings to her cloak. “I shall visit the Watsons and Kanes this evening during our rounds.”

  “Ah,” her father knowingly replied. Could he hear how her heart practically sang at the very thought of seeing her friends? Rain remained steady, even when her father smiled conspiratorially. “Please give my regards to both families.”

  “I shall. See you at evening meal.”

  With a dip of his head, her father returned to his room to rest and refresh. Unable to hold back her excitement, she opened the entry door and then promptly froze. A figure jumped out at her and threw a flurry of brittle leaves in her face. Rain screamed and clutched at her heart. Her littlest brother laughed until she grabbed him by the tip of his ear and pulled him into their apartment.

  “Lake Daniels!”

  “Ow! Let go!” He swung an arm toward her but she maneuvered out of the way.

  Canyon waltzed into the room and laughed when she swatted Lake’s hand as he attempted to free her grip on his ear.

  “Little brother,” Canyon taunted, “you never learn, do you lad?”

  “Come here, Canyon!” Lake growled, throwing another fist at Rain, who pulled on his ear again. “Ow! ... I shall trump you!”

  Rain groaned with annoyance. “Will you stop moving about so?”

  “Lake Daniels, hold still,” their father said from the hallway. He strode over and grabbed his son by the shoulders and Rain released her hold on Lake’s ear. “Whatever have you done this time?”

  Her littlest brother shot Rain a glare and rubbed his ear. “I simply jumped out from the covering when Rain opened the door to leave.”

  “And threw leaves in my face,” she added.

  He scuffed the wooden floor. “And threw leaves in her face,” he mumbled.

  “Go ahead, daughter. I shall care for Lake, and remind him of how a gentleman treats a lady.”

  Lake deflated. “Not this speech again.” He scrunched up his face and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I am only having fun, sir.”

  Rain shut the door and heaved a sigh. “Troublesome sprite,” she muttered under her breath. After one last check that her hair remained fastened, she trod along the village path toward the Great Hall. The scientists wished to confer with both her and Coal before knocking on doors to administer vaccinations.

  Very few residents protested this medical invasion. Those who lifted their voices in outrage soon cooled their opposition to compliance. The choice given was to receive vaccinations and remain in New Eden or be forced to leave the dome and be inoculated in the lab. Re-entry would require approval from both Hanley and Leaf. Any assembled demonstrations would place project continuation at risk. The message was clear.

  They had no choice.

  Yesterday, during mid-day meal, was beyond humiliating. Rain believed her face would remain permanently stained red with shame. Thankfully, upon hearing the lab’s request, her brother Canyon and Father insisted upon standing beside her on the stage. Canyon even went so far as to demand that he receive the inoculations first. Lake, not wishing to be out done by Canyon, announced he would be second. Never had she seen her brothers so protective of her, and she thought she might swoon with gratitude.

  Following Canyon’s procedure, Lake had stepped forward to receive his inoculations next, chest out, shoulders back, all the while glowering at the small scientist. Rain had trembled when it was her turn. Any and all courage had fled and she stifled the urge to whimper. Michael stuck a small stick with tufted cotton on the end into her mouth and swabbed around. She had stared at the ceiling as he invaded her sense of modesty before all. Crying would give the impression that she was in physical pain, which she was not. Only mortified. She had never been touched so intimately, let alone publicly. Let alone by a man.

  Michael had sent her an apologetic frown as he inserted the strange stick into the machine and pushed a button. Words flashed across a screen of sorts as it calibrated to her DNA. How this happened was unclear to Rain.

  A small measure of time passed, each heartbeat rushing water in her ears, before the machine spit out a piece of paper with a purple strip adhered to the top. The purple strip, she was told, were the vaccinations. Michael peeled the strip and asked her to open her mouth and lift her tongue.

  Once more, she felt violated. To administer the vaccinations, he had held her face with one hand to steady the other hand, which deposited the strip underneath her tongue. As he pulled away, his finger brushed across her bottom lip. She wished to cry from this degradation, but held it in to demonstrate bravery and compliance for the community. The medicine had dissolved with an ove
rly sweet flavor hinting at grapes. Not terribly unpleasant. The younger children especially appreciated this fact.

  She clung to these memories with each family she visited yesterday eve. Several young women had cried, same as she. A few of the Outsiders snickered and made jokes about New Eden women being melodramatic, prudish, and ungrateful, as if she were not present to hear their insults. As if she were beneath them.

  The disconcerting levels of unkindness and insensitivity tore at her heart. It was her body, not theirs. They did not have permission to decide how she should feel about anything, let alone a medical procedure forced upon her. It had nothing to do with a lack of gratitude—for she was most grateful for the protection—but, rather, a lack of human decency. The world beyond her walled garden may know how to defy mortality, but it was increasingly clear that they possessed little to no respect for life.

  “Lady Rain,” a voice called from behind.

  She froze. Slowly, warily, she spun on her heel to face Jeff Abrams. Everything within her wanted to run while simultaneously remaining stock still. He smiled at nothing in particular, his gaze flitting from one object to another. Perhaps he was just as nervous to be in her presence as she was to be in his. Since her mother died, she had avoided the barrister completely, even at the head table. Her father, however, engaged Jeff in conversation as if nothing were amiss. Her father was ever a kind and forgiving man, though.

  “May I walk with you to the Great Hall?”

  She dipped her head. “If it pleases you, My Lord.”

  Dark hair sprinkled with silver fell over his eyes as he ambled toward her on unsteady feet. The walking stick struck the ground and the sound pounded in her head.

  “Lovely evening, isn’t it?” His head tilted up at the dome sky.

  “Yes, quite.”

  When he reached where she stood, they turned in stride and moved through the village square toward the large, stone building. The breeze was light and stirred her cloak. She fidgeted with the laces and pulled the wool tighter around her person. Faint scents of tallow candles and evergreens spiced the afternoon air and she breathed deeply once more. They remained silent, and Rain focused on the thump of Jeff’s walking stick and their padded footfalls shuffling across the dirt path.