“I’ll do my best.”
The buzzer goes off. Teol and I clear the railing in one move. We sprint to the rope bridge. I get there first, lace my fingers together, and prep myself for her weight. I see my guard watching from the crowd. His eyes are on me now. They’re a gorgeous honey gold in the morning sun, a color that warms me inside.
Teol plants her foot, and I thrust her upward. She practically clears the entire railing. I hear a yelp followed by a laugh. Then I see her hand reach down. I jump, grab it, and she hauls me up. “Powerful throw, girl!”
“StarBusters are big and clunky,” I reply as we climb the bridge railing onto the roof of the hut. Below us, women climb the rope nets, ladders, and poles to get inside the structure. We run across the bouncing boards of the bridge to the second structure. Inside is a spiral net that leads to the roof.
We grab it and swing ourselves onto the top. Teol slips, but I steady her with a hand on her jacket. I run out of rope, but she gives me her hand. Together, we get upright, crawl toward the pinnacle, and slap the bell.
“I see they changed the course a bit.” Teol breathes heavily beside me on the roof. “Variety is the spice of life, right?”
“I thought it was Creol,” I tease.
She busts up laughing.
“Thanks for not leaving me behind,” I say. “I half-expected it after I helped you up. But it’s not because of you.”
“Broken faith in the goodness of others.” She grabs a rope dangling from the side of the hut. “I get it. But we have totake chances to make changes. And life can’t get better without change.”
Teol flings herself over the side and zips down the rope to the ground like she’s done it a million times.
“What the hell, Teol!” I call after her, leaning over the edge.
She looks up at me. “It’s easy. Just feed the rope between your feet. Use the palm covers built into your sleeves.”
I look down at my sleeves and pull out a set of gloves stitched to the inside of the wrist.Damn it. How did I not see these before?“Thanks for waiting to tell me until I’m already up here!”
She laughs as the other girls climb back down and disburse. Most of them run to their males of interest.
With the gloves on, I grab the rope and consider just climbing down. But I can’t let Teol seem tougher than me, especially with the Ginarigons watching from the railing.
It’s just like a ship tether plus gravity and minus the protective suit. No biggie.
I fling myself over the side of the sky hut, rope in hand, and slap my legs around the tail.
The rope heats between my hands. I manage to get the tail looped around a leg enough that it slows my descent. I let go a few feet from the ground and land, to my surprise, boots down.
I guess I need to take my own advice and let them know I’m tough enough to want them to stay away and have a chance of doing so. I’m not a pink or a blue. I’m a red. I need to act like one.
I just wasn’t prepared to confront such interest when my father’s been gone for a year, and I don’t feel like I belong here.
Teol high-fives me and returns to her newest interest Gashnaar, who draws her in with a hungry growl, grabs her ass, and nuzzles her like the scent of her sweat actually turns him on.
Why can’t I find someone like him?
13: Zariah
“Please clear the field so the males can line up,” the ABR announcer says.
I hop over the railing and reenter the crowd. A pale blue Mindor comes up to me. I only vaguely hear what he says. It’s the eyes of my guard that I’ve captured, finally.
He stares at me from among the males, seems to realize what he’s doing, blinks, and looks at another who squeezes through the crowd toward me.
My guard plants a gloved hand against the big Ginarigon’s chest.
I step back, panic fraying my nerves.
“She doesn’t want your kind.” My guard makes himself a blockade between me and the heavily breathing Ginarigon. Two more appear at his sides. I see the slashes in my guard’s neck again and can’t stand playing nice, anymore.
