Firm hands pressed against my back, and the Academy lessons chased me into the steam.
Throughout your Courting Phase, public appearances shall be required. Before each outing, you shall be stripped of your gray and made palatable for Elite society. You are to follow your Elite Mate’s guidance. Your future depends on your ability to comply with your Mate’s desires, which we shall cover in your final year. Until then follow the Illum’s protocol, abide by the rules of the Minor Defect population, and constantly seek self-improvement, and you will rise, fulfilling your use for the Greater Good.
Fail to do so, and your Public Courting and Cohabitation Rights shall be revoked, resulting in living quarters in the Sanctuary on the city’s outskirts until your offspring is brought here. You will then be deposited among those in blue, far from the Illum’s light. You will expire there as a disappointment to the Illum and humanity.
“We must move swiftly.” The Starlings tugged the gray from my body without permission, leaving me naked before them. My arms wrapped around my exposed chest.
“Don’t be shy,” Rose squawked as my pulse raced. Besides my physical, where men in white coats ran exams that determined our usefulness, I had never been naked in front of anyone. We were covered at all times.
“He won’t care about the eyes when he sees this.” Violet smiled knowingly, pulling at my arm. “Fledgling, we cannot work if you cover yourself. You don’t want to disappoint the Illum, do you?” Her dark eyes bored into mine.
I shook my head, slowly dropping my arms until I was trembling, fully exposed to them.
“The modesty,” Rose huffed, holding a jar of a black substance as Violet tied my hair in a knot above my head. “You should be using all of this.” Rose gestured to my naked body. “You are a vessel for humanity. You would do well to remember that. This is a blessing from the Illum, to be chosen. Arms out.”
I obeyed, shivering despite the heat from the room. Rose took a large scoop of the substance in the jar, passed it to Violet, and dropped to her knees before me. I gasped loudly as the two began coating my body with the gritty substance, rubbing hard enough to remove a layer of skin. They worked methodically in tandem, leaving nothing untouched.
Rose stood and made her way to the wall, pushing a button. Behind her, a shower with countless heads came to life.
“Wash off the grime of the life below.”
The shower felt like an assault as my raw skin was pelted with varying pressure of scalding water, spraying my face, shooting up my nose, bombarding me from above. Sputtering, I stumbled out of the shower.
“This way, little Fledgling,” Violet said. “In the tub now.”
A towel was pressed into my hands. I wiped wildly at my face before giving it back to them. The Starlings perched on the edge of a small pool, and once I eased in, their hands dived into my curls. A floral scent drifted toward me only for them to shove my head underwater. They repeated the process, washing and drowning me until they were satisfied.
“Now out,” Rose commanded as they pulled me out of the tub. Violet shoved a towel into my hands, and I wrapped it tightly around my raw skin, following them into a paneled room, bare except for a silver rolling tray and a black table. The resemblance to the medical rooms I had visited for my physical caused my spine to go rigid.
For the space of several terrified heartbeats I was in the examination room, standing in a flimsy gray gauzy gown that opened in the front before three men in white coats.
Lie down and be quiet.
I had—again and again, the men never saying another word as they scanned my chip, then poked and prodded me until content.
“Towel off, little Fledgling,” Violet called, wheeling the metal tray to the table. “Lie down.”
Rose tugged my towel, and I clutched it against my body in a vise grip. “Not until you tell me what you’re about to do,” I demanded, mouth dry.
“As if you have a say,” Rose told me. I gripped the towel tighter.
“You’re livelier than your file made you out to be, Defect.” Violet’s eyes danced as she looked at me. “We are going to remove the hair from your body,” she explained. My hand flew to my long, dark strands.
“Not the hair on your head, daft one.” Rose chuckled. “Just everywhere else.” Her smile became feline as she tugged hard on the towel again. Reluctantly, I released it, naked before them once more, and climbed onto the table.
The cold metal bit into me. Within seconds, they slathered my shin with hot paste that didn’t burn. I relaxed slightly as Rose rubbed paper against the cooled substance.
“Don’t scream,” Rose warned before mercilessly ripping it off. I suppressed a cry at the flash of pain. They continued slowly, working up my legs, contorting my body to reach everything. I sucked in deep breaths as they reached the most sensitive parts. It felt endless as I closed my eyes and held my breath, only releasing it when they tore the hair from my body. Again and again and again.
I opened my eyes hesitantly when the torture stopped. “I’m impressed,” Violet said, carrying another mystery jar. “Most from below yell and cry the first time. You barely flinched.”
I scowled at her. It had not felt like I barely flinched. A woodsy, floral scent hit me, and I eyed the jar suspiciously. “It’s a balm to soothe the skin and decrease redness,” Violet clarified, applying some to my legs. The relief was instant.
I began to rise without prompting, assuming more was to be done. “She’s learning,” Rose said, tossing me a thin robe and taking me to another room, sitting me in front of a large vanity littered with different jars, vials, and cases. “Be still while we fix you,” Rose told me as they bustled into action. I closed my eyes and sat silently as they touched and pulled, thankful no one asked for my robe. Violet brushed my hair before drying it with a small handheld device. Rose crouched before me, attacking my feet, clipping and painting.
A freckled face with flaming red hair rose to my memory. Alice.
“When we get out of here we can find a way to run away,” she had told me. We had been fifteen, at the Academy. “The world was big before the Last War. We can go somewhere else where they don’t treat us like this, or if we can’t find anyone it can just be us, alone, forever. We can change our fate. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, Em?”
