"Only students, staff and those who live on the island as support are allowed to come, unless they are on a special guest list. Everyone who wants to ride this particular train has to be cleared first."
My first thought upon stepping out of the subway was holy crap, New York had changed since I was a kid. My second thought was mostly wasted on gawking at the fashions I saw on everyone. "Is she wearing a tree?" I asked, my eyes glued to a beautiful woman covered in leaves of reds and greens, the branches contouring to her body in such an organic way she looked part tree herself. She touched something behind her ear and suddenly her hair went from brown to green!
"It's the latest in fashion," Jax said. "Eden Wearables. Once scientists figured out how to grow living plants into predetermined arrangements, architects, fashion designers and artists of all kinds jumped on it. It's pricey, but it's out there."
"And that hair color, I've heard of it. Instant hair dye, what's the brand? Easy-Dye." In a weird way, I kind of loved it. A lot. New York had changed. With Eden Wearables and Eden Architecture, the city now had a very “return to nature” vibe. Mixed with that were Zeniths walking around, tagged with their color coded ear pieces. Not something we saw often in Montana, though of course I'd seen more on the news. What shook me the most were all the Inquisition Officers policing the streets in full armor, their faces covered, looking part future, part medieval, and kind of scary. I knew their Order attracted the bad seeds. The sociopaths who wanted to exert control over others. Their history wasn't stellar and only after the Nephilim War were they allowed into the Orders of Knights at all. My parents spoke often of their abuse of power.
Every Zenith who didn't work for U.F.I. in some capacity had to register with the Zenith Registration Directive (Z.R.D.). I'd never had to because I never had powers. But I did now. Would I still be tested? I thought I was done with testing when I turned 18, but I had no idea what they'd want to do to me at Castle V. Would they be able to tell something had happened to me? I considered letting them figure it out. Maybe then I would know why I was changing. Why I was becoming something different.
I could feel it, this shift inside me. I couldn't eat breakfast. Just like last night, the food tasted like ash in my mouth, but the Life Force was like Blue Ice to an addict. The best drug. My senses were sharper, my healing faster, my body growing stronger. I tried to hide it—to keep the truth from Jax, especially. Something had changed me last night. Something to do with the weapon, but I didn't know what, and I didn't know if I could trust the Orders yet.
As we walked down the street, I noticed the man in front of us had an earpiece marking him as a Zenith. An Inquisition Officer and his partner noticed too and stopped the man. "Random inspection," the first Officer said through his helmet.
The guy didn't argue, but didn't look happy either as they patted him down. No one around us even paused, which told me plenty about how common this was.
The second Officer checked out his ID while the first one inspected his possessions and checked his pockets.
Helmet 1 showed his partner. "Elemental. Fire."
Helmet 2 pulled something out of the poor guy's pocket. "And lookie what I found. A lighter. That's an Unauthorized Item for a Fire Elemental."
"I'm on my way to register it," the guy said. "Please…"
I expected him to get ticketed, maybe even taken in and booked on some charge or other.
I didn't expect Helmet 1 to shove his baton into the guy's gut and activate the Taser.
The brutality of it froze me in place, staring wide-eyed as the guy fell to his knees, shaking and vomiting.
"Attempting to manipulate an officer," Helmet 2 said.
The guy held up one hand as he clutched his stomach with the other. "No. No, I wasn't…"
Helmet 2 hit him over the shoulders, crushing him to the ground. His chin hit the asphalt and cracked into splashes of red.
No one stopped.
No one came to his aid.
People just walked on by, talking on their e-Glass, checking email, ignoring the human rights violations taking place in front of them. No one cared about this Zenith, this man, being beaten in public for a minor infraction.
Memories of my last trip to this city surfaced in my mind, after the Attack on Diamond Head, after our country became militarized to 'protect' us from Zeniths. A man on the street beaten by soldiers. They wore different uniforms, you could still see their faces back then, but the scene was the same.
"Why doesn't anyone stop them, dad?" I'd asked him, as I gripped his hand.
"Because they're afraid to."
"Then I'll stop them." I dropped his hand, ready to rush forward, but he put his arm around my shoulder.
"No, Scarlett."
"I can fight," I told him.
"But you can't win."
"Then you stop them, dad." I knew he could do anything.
"I can't," he said, his voice sad. "I'm afraid, too."
I balled my fists. "I'm not. And one day, when I'm big, I'll come back here, and I'll stop them. I'll win."
My dad chuckled and squeezed my shoulder with affection. "Remember, little Star, it's easy to fight, but much harder to know when. When to fight. When to win." His voice lowered. "When to lose."
"Why would I ever want to lose?"
He just smiled and ruffled my hair. "One day, I'll tell you."