“So you haven’t met the right one. Mum always said that when you meet them, you know. It is like exhaling, and they become part of you. She says when you meet someone you can connect with on an intellectual, emotional, and physical level, then they are the one. It no longer becomes about the journey, or the adventure, but the company.”

  “Maybe. Well, speaking of journeys, I hope Illy is off on one of her visits when we get home. She will go ballistic at me when she learns what I did.”

  “What we did,” Sera corrected, making me smile wanly. “She is certainly traveling more often these days now that we have all left home. There is a good chance she is away, and we can slip in unseen.”

  “Bloody hell, I hope so. Your Mum on the warpath is something no one needs. Goodness, she needs a boyfriend to take her focus off us.”

  “You know that will never happen. She is married to her job.”

  Sighing, I agreed. We were in for a world of pain. I could feel it in my bones.

  Chapter 2

  “You know it is forbidden to travel between communities without advance approval!” Illy thundered at us. She had us in her office, backs to the wall, standing side by side, and was bellowing so loudly I thought the pictures would fall off the wall behind us. As I pressed farther into the plaster, I could feel them vibrating above my head.

  “Did you think you would get special treatment, as you are my daughters? If that was your rationale, you are sorely mistaken.”

  Hurriedly, I tried to rearrange my face to look remorseful. We knew better than that. If anything, Illy would make an example of us. The punishment would likely be ten times worse than what she would dole out to anyone else. Illy could never be accused of favoritism.

  “It is my fault,” I said as calmly as possible, my ears ringing from her wrath. “I needed to leave.”

  “You both broke the rules.” For a woman the size of a fairy, Illy had a booming voice and used it to significant effect. “You didn’t see fit to seek permission either, Seraphine!”

  “But we left because of me,” I insisted, not wanting Sera to be punished. Despite my protestations, I knew it was futile. Illy strongly believed in collective punishment.

  “About that,” she snapped her attention to me. “Did you know they injured each other fighting over you? Both of them have bruises and contusions requiring stitches. One of them nearly lost an eye. Nadia worked hard to save it. You are lucky it was stopped before one of them was seriously injured. What on earth made you think telling them to duel was a good idea?”

  “I didn’t think they would actually do it!” I retaliated. “They had a choice.”

  Illy pursed her lips, flicking back the long silver streak that ran around her face in otherwise glossy dark hair. “Be that what it may, you encouraged them, and then you broke the law. You left your posts, without informing anyone, and traveled between communities without consent. That was stupid and dangerous.”

  “I’m sorry, Mum,” Sera said quietly. Illy’s military training came to the fore when she was cranky. Commanding, forceful, and taking no shit. From anyone.

  “You know there must be consequences. I cannot allow you to flaunt Collective protocols and get away with it.”

  Sera glanced at me, and I saw the resignation in her face. We did. Illy let no one get away with anything without consequences.

  “From tomorrow, you will be set to plant trees outside the dome. One thousand trees each, in staggered rows, around the perimeter to help protect us from the sandstorms. This is an important project, and I will personally inspect it at regular intervals. If it is not done to my satisfaction, it will be done again. Planting stock, tools, and fresh water will need to be carried across from the greenzone to water them initially. We will provide all tools. As it is only February, and the daylight hours are not long, it may take a few weeks. You will also need to return inside the dome at least every half hour for a few minutes to ensure you remain adequately oxygenated.”

  My knees crumpled, and I slumped down the wall. My father loved gardening. I detested it. Getting dirt in my fingers, under my nails. I would rather clean the communal toilets for a year.

  “Oh, Mum,” Sera pleaded. “Not that.”

  “One thousand trees each,” she repeated firmly, making it crystal clear that no negotiations would be entered into. “Cam and Di have been working on rehabilitating that earth with the Mousa moss for the past few years. They assure me that after the initial watering, the trees survive with the infected water thanks to the neutralizing effects of the protozoa. They have bred enough seedlings to circumnavigate the dome, and the stocks are now ready for planting. This is critically important and will help protect us for the long term. It is the least you can do considering the problems you two caused. Perhaps you could use this time productively to consider your future.”

  Recognizing that this was our cue, I nodded, tried to look contrite, and left, with Sera close behind me.

  “Don’t you love how your Mum doles out a punishment and then implies that she could always make it worse?” I hissed as we walked down the path. As I glanced back, Illy’s silhouette was watching us from the window, arms folded across her chest.

  “Fuck, I hate planting shit,” Sera seethed beside me. It was bitterly cold outside the domes, and we were battered by the dirt blowing into us. Rainstorms hit frequently, and while we were immune from the effects of the protozoa, we were not immune to being cold and wet, whipped by icy blasts. It felt like needles impaling us at random intervals, not to mention needing to stop when it got hard to breathe the thin air and return to a hatch. If her goal was stretching our punishment out for as long as possible and making us miserable for weeks, Illy had achieved it.

  “Truly, I am sorry,” I muttered as I dropped the plant into the hole. “This is all my fault.”

  “Yes, it is,” she snapped, then relented, her face softening despite the icy blasts. “Honestly, it was time to move on. We were both bored shitless on Newgrange and had nothing else to learn. Let’s face it. We were just waiting for Callie and Tadhg to catch on to the fact that we know more than them and send us home. Besides, we both know Mum. She would have found a way to make us do this shitty job, anyway.”

  “But what do we do here?” I grumbled as I backfilled the dirt around the sapling, as my father had shown us. He had done the first few, chattering away kindly before Illy had demanded he leave the rest for us, realizing he would do all of them if she permitted it. He had shot me a look of apology as he ducked back into the greenzone. No one challenged Illy. Except for Mum. They had been best friends for decades, and I had no doubt Mum played a role in choosing our punishment. The only people here as tough as Illy were my iron-willed mother Freyja and my aunt Sorcha, Dad’s sister. On more than one occasion, I had seen Sorcha take on Illy over something. Sorcha was a fiery redhead, and Illy was annoyingly calm, antagonizing Sorcha when she was on the warpath. But the three of them, Freyja, Sorcha, and Illyria, were the fiercest, most intelligent women here, and despite their differences at times, they stuck together, the closest of friends. To take one on was to take them all.

  “Well, I’m not milking a fucking cow for the rest of my life,” Sera moaned. “I need to do something exciting before Mum gets more ideas about what jobs we can do, using our immunity as an excuse to torture us.”

  “I know.” A thought popped into my head, making me gasp.

  “What?” Sera asked, glancing up at me excitedly, leaning on her shovel.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” I sniffed and returned to my digging.

  Sera didn’t move, instead arched her back, enjoying the stretch. “You are so full of shit. You have that wicked look on your face, like you have an idea, but you know it will get us into trouble. So you will stew on it, then finally tell me in a few hours when it is a fully fledged plan. So just let me in on it now so we can plan together. I need something to take my mind off my throbbing back and aching hands.”

  Realizing I wasn’t getting out of this, I rested on my shovel and assumed a nonchalant expression. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  Sera dropped her shovel into the half-dug hole. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Caitlin, come on. Since we were kids, all the ideas that have got us into trouble have been yours. Every creative punishment our mothers have derived has resulted from one of your hare-brained ideas.”

  “And you just come along for the ride, I suppose?”

  “Not exactly.” Sera grinned. “You know I love it. Come on—out with it.”

  Chapter 3

  “Happy Birthday, darling!” Dad sang across the room as I staggered bleary-eyed into the kitchen. My hands and back were killing me from days of planting trees. Who knew it would take so freaking long to plant two thousand shitty trees? He jumped up to hug me and pulled out a chair, removing the jacket drying across the back.

  I grimaced as I dropped onto the wooden seat. “Dad, I am quite capable of pulling out my own chair.”

  “I know. But can’t I spoil my little girl on her big day?” Dad placed the jacket on another chair and returned to kiss my forehead. “Twenty-one! Goodness, how many times your mothers and I thought you would never make it. All the antics you and Seraphine got up to. You made Ally and Summer look like angels!”

  “What?” Sera popped her head into the room, and Dad pulled out another chair, kissing the top of her head.

  “I was just saying that the two of you were such little terrors that we all feared you would never make twenty-one. Now here you are, beautiful, intelligent young women. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you both home where I can take care of you.”

  His enthusiasm made me smile, not having the heart to tell him we desperately wanted to move into our own place. Today was not the day.

  “Coffee and pancakes?” he asked hopefully, his eyes opening with anticipation.

  Nodding, I smiled as brightly as I could for this time of the morning. I wasn’t an enormous fan of pancakes, finding them stodgy. However, Dad’s maple trees that he had planted upon his arrival here, forever ago, could finally be tapped and produce maple syrup. He was so proud of this achievement and loved serving it for special occasions. Pancakes were also one of Dad’s favorite foods, and he took every opportunity to make them for us. Sharing them was an example of his love language Mum had said many times throughout my childhood, though I had no idea what that meant.

  “What are you ladies up to today before the big party?” Dad beamed at us as he buzzed around, making us coffee.

  I glanced at Sera. “Well, your Mum said we could finally have a day off from planting trees for our birthday.” Dad didn’t seem to notice the dripping sarcasm.

  “Di and I checked on those yesterday. You are doing a wonderful job. Three rows of established trees will offer much more protection from the winds. We chose those varieties especially, as they are fast-growing, and all the trials we did proved they survive with the moss we pre-planted to neutralize the protozoa.”

  Sera rolled her eyes at me as Dad kept raving about plants, his passion. Fortunately, he didn’t see, focused on making pancake batter with the perfect consistency. Neither of us cared about plants in any incarnation. We were rushing now. Completely fed up, with calloused hands and tired arms, we just wanted this punishment over. When we started, we had no idea how long it would take to dig two thousand holes big enough to take a small tree. Planting was the simple part. On the other hand, digging was bloody hard work, often requiring a mattock to break the rocky ground. We fell into bed every night, covered in bruises, minor cuts and grazes, our muscles aching.

  Dad placed a plate of pancakes drenched in syrup in front of each of us. “The party isn’t for a few hours yet. Got something special planned?”

  My plan was to return to bed, sleep in, brush my hair, check my jeans were clean, and turn up, but our cousin Kendra had already insisted that she help us do our hair and get dressed up. For many years, she lived with our aunts Di and Sorcha, with a community of people they had rescued from Borneo. The Punan women took great pride in preparing for ceremonies, especially dress and hair. They grew flowers for the occasion and wove them through their hair. Kendra had promised to come over after breakfast and get us ready, or I would still be in bed. Sera and I dreaded being fussed over but had relented, realizing how much it meant to her. I just hoped I could stop it before it got out of control. Kendra was so sweet. While she was a few years older than me, I thought of her as younger. I was very fond of her and didn’t want to upset her by telling her no.

  “Where’s Mum?” I asked as I attacked breakfast in my usual fashion, often standing as I raced around late for work. Dad raised his eyebrows at me, knowing Mum would disapprove of my lack of table manners. “Shoveling it in,” as she called it.

  Living with Sera had been a breeze. We had been inseparable since we were children. We anticipated each other’s needs and adapted to each other’s desire for company or space. When not eating at Callie and Tadhg’s place, we usually ate on the couch in front of her laptop, reading top-secret files. We always ate one-handed, a bowl balanced on our knees with no one to criticize. In the first year, we studied hard, reading all the learning materials available to us. But after that, we had slacked off, studying only when completely necessary.

  “Asleep,” Dad replied, pulling me from my memories. “She had a late job up at the clinic. Sally fell and broke a hip. She came in near dawn, so keep the noise down, will you? She needs a few hours’ sleep and desperately wants to be there for your party.”

  I nodded knowingly. Never a morning person, a tired and cranky Mum was something no one needed to deal with.

  “And the others?”

  “Katrin stayed up at the clinic. She was assisting your mother. Xanthe had something to do at the school, and Thorsten is over at Lilian’s place. But they all know how important today is, and all promised to be there.”

  I grinned and asked cheekily, “Even Thorsten?” Thorsten had been spending a lot of time at his girlfriend’s house since we had been home. With our long days of planting, I had barely seen him.

  “And mine?” Sera asked, mid-mouthful of pancake.

  “No idea,” Dad said, smiling at her and ignoring my cheekiness. “But likely, your sisters are up to no good. Alasdair is still in bed.” Sera’s twin sisters were born troublemakers. Ally had initially started medical training with Sorcha and Katrin, and Summer with Hamish at the distillery, but both had withdrawn from their training several years ago. Sera and I were the only ones who knew what they really did. Smuggle contraband goods between communities, right under their mother’s nose. Ally and Summer told everyone they were still exploring before settling down. Their legitimate job was carrying parcels and messages between communities now that the Nexus was deactivated and the oxygen outside the domes was thinning. But Sera and I knew the truth. We often assisted them in avoiding detection by manipulating satellite passes and hacking security camera footage on several sites. Illy was sharp. She could sense someone trying to pull the wool over her eyes but seemed to have a blind spot when it came to those girls. I wished we had thought to hide our tracks when returning home, but I knew our parents would have learned the truth from Callie before we even made it home. Besides, we didn’t exactly plan our departure.

  Dad’s brow furrowed as he watched me rub my sore hands. “I’ll get you some lanolin for that. I don’t want you ruining your hands.”

  “Nor do I,” I mumbled grumpily. The callouses made fine technical work difficult. Not that there was a great deal of that on Lewis.

  Aunt Di was still the official party planner of Lewis. Due to space constraints, she had arranged for the entire community to attend our party in the new, much larger community hall in Garynahine, the original and still largest settlement on Lewis. All of our sisters who could travel from other communities were also attending. We had seen them every year since we were born. As our birthdays were spread over a few weeks, a single date was selected for the celebration. It was slightly early this year to accommodate Illy’s meetings. For the first time, a few of our immune sisters were heavily pregnant or had new babies and couldn’t travel, but most were attending. I loved seeing them all but dreaded the inevitable questions. Are you seeing anyone? Why haven’t you married, had children? We knew our births were planned to ensure the survival of the human race. Our children would also be immune to the protozoa and establish future generations of children who could live outside the domes when the time came. Most had accepted this role without question. Sera and I were the only two who seemed to rebel, and this just caused more people to needle us every time they saw us. Fortunately, Fairlie, our sister on Newgrange, had just had twins, born prematurely, so her parents, Callie and Tadhg, weren’t coming. Perhaps cowardly, but I was not ready to face their disappointment about our midnight departure only a few weeks ago.

  “Iona, how many is this now?” I teased as she waddled into the room and leaned past her belly to hug me.

  “Happy Birthday!” she said before replying, “Four.” She moaned, pulling back. “You’d think I would learn.”

  “Better you than me.” I smiled. “I don’t think I want children.”

  Iona clutched at my arm, horror crossing her lovely face. “You? You have to. You are a chosen one! Everyone is relying on you!”

  “No one asked my consent for that,” I retorted. “My body, my choice.”

  “I used to feel that way,” she said, absentmindedly rubbing her swollen belly. “But they are so wonderful that you think, maybe just one more. But after this one, I am done. If your sister doesn’t do something about it, then I will.”

  I grinned, wondering if Louis knew this yet. Iona was gorgeous, sweet, and the gentlest human here, only equal to my sister Xanthe. There was not a confrontational bone in her body. Fortunately, Louis was the same. Together, they lived in bliss, and occasionally, I was envious of the aura of peace and tranquility that surrounded them. My life was always so chaotic. Perhaps there was something about some people that attracted turmoil?

 

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