Daughter of Nothing Read online

  She didn’t move.

  “Belle! Go!”

  With a groan, she darted out of the dojo, ponytail flying behind her. To Dr. Carlhagen’s right, the three new Dolphins stared in horror at the scene.

  Dr. Carlhagen got to his feet and shuffled onto the mat. “Get back,” he ordered. Neither Humphrey nor Jacey listened, so he swatted Humphrey with his cane. “Take her out of here. All of you, get out!”

  Humphrey pulled Jacey back, but she struggled free and scurried back to Vaughan.

  “I said get her out of here!”

  Humphrey picked Jacey up and muscled her away, whispering to her, trying to calm her.

  Dr. Carlhagen lowered himself to his knees and interrupted Sensei’s efforts.

  No pulse. No breath.

  “We can’t wait for Nurse Smith. Carry him to the medical ward.”

  Sensei scooped Vaughan up, and though the boy was taller and heavier, the martial arts instructor lifted him easily. He was through the door and crossing the quad in moments.

  Cries came from outside, none louder than Jacey’s.

  By the time Dr. Carlhagen had struggled to his feet and hobbled outside, Sensei and Nurse Smith were passing through the doors of the medical ward.

  “Return to your dormitories,” Dr. Carlhagen said to the Scion’s milling about. “Lockdown procedure. Go!”

  ° ° °

  Jacey struggled in Humphrey’s grip, begged him to let her go. She couldn’t understand why Dr. Carlhagen had sentenced Vaughan to such brutal punishment.

  When Sensei disappeared into the medical ward carrying Vaughan, all the strength left her, and she collapsed into Humphrey’s arms. He patted her back and whispered something so softly she couldn’t make it out.

  “Everything happened too fast,” she said. “I should have spoken up sooner.”

  “What good would it have done?”

  “I could have proved we hadn’t . . . you know.”

  “From one boy’s arms to another’s,” Belle said, voice full of acid. She stood so close that Jacey could see herself and Humphrey reflected in the girl’s cold eyes. “You are a disgrace to your Nine and every student at the Scion School.” With a parting sneer, she marched away.

  Humphrey released Jacey and straightened his uniform. “Let’s get you to Girls’ Hall.” He awkwardly put an arm around her and started to lead her across the quad.

  “Stop being nice,” she said. “You don’t get to be nice.”

  His arm fell away, but he continued with her to the front steps of Girls’ Hall. “Don’t listen to Belle. She doesn’t know what happened. When the truth comes out, she’ll forgive you.”

  No one would forgive her if Vaughan died. She wouldn’t forgive herself.

  Inside Girls’ Hall, students were gathered around Belle. They fell silent as Jacey walked in.

  Ignoring stares of disgust and hate, Jacey climbed up to her bunk and buried her head under her pillow.

  She hadn’t tried to memorize the scene in the dojo, but it played in her mind again and again.

  9

  The Fake Ignorance

  Hours passed, and a pall of worry hung over the girls in the dormitory. The youngest huddled together, sharing furtive whispers. Jacey felt their eyes on her and realized that she needed to take charge of her Nine. She sat up and looked around for Wanda, her second. She found her sitting on a lower bunk across the aisle, whispering with Belle.

  “Wanda,” Jacey said.

  The girl looked over her shoulder at Jacey, then returned to her conversation with Belle.

  “Wanda,” Jacey said, louder this time.

  The girl ignored her.

  Jacey jumped down from her bunk, and in four long strides was across the aisle. She grabbed Wanda’s shoulder and spun her.

  “You will attend to me when I call you.”

  Wanda straightened, but a strange smile played on her lips. “I had forgotten you were in charge.”

  Jacey realized she hadn’t addressed her Nine since becoming its leader.

  Wanda strode past her, crossing the aisle to Jacey’s side, a rude invitation for Jacey to join her. Clearly, Wanda didn’t want Belle or any of her Nine to hear the rest of the conversation. Jacey followed. Wanda sat down heavily on her bunk. “Belle says you were the girl Sensei found with Vaughan.”

  “It was nothing like what Dr. Carlhagen made it out to be.”

  “How could you do that? You’re supposed to be the exemplar of everything it means to be a Scion.” The disappointment in Wanda’s voice was nearly more than Jacey could take.

  But she couldn’t offer an explanation, not unless she was going to tell Wanda about what she’d learned from Dante’s transmission. But if she did, and the word got out, Dr. Carlhagen would track that information back to her and Vaughan. And that would get him into even more trouble for having the walkie-talkie.

  Assuming he was even still alive.

  He had to be. Scions got injured all the time in the dojo. Broken arms, fractured jaws, concussions, abrasions. But the Scions healed quickly, something Nurse Smith commented upon almost every time a Scion got hurt. In Jacey’s experience, there was nothing unusual about it. If you took a spill during one of Sensei’s classes and got a deep bruise on your thigh, what was so strange about it disappearing after a few hours? Or if you cut yourself working in the kitchens, why was it so odd that the wound scabbed over and disappeared in three or four days? She just hoped the Scions’ resilience extended to Vaughan’s injuries.

  The door swung open and Sensei stalked in. He performed his customary gaze around the room, but he said nothing before turning, closing, and latching the door behind him as he left. The lockdown was official.

  Had that look on his face been anger? Had it been fear? Had it been sorrow? Jacey didn’t know. Sensei was almost as hard to read as Belle.

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  “It’s nearly 6:30,” Wanda said, glancing at a reader.

  Jacey stood and clapped her hands three times. The eyes of her Nine lifted. “I expect the lockdown to last through the night. Prepare for bed and attend to your studies.”

  The girls of her Nine looked at each other for a few moments before getting up from their bunks and starting their evening preparations. They moved much too slowly, but Jacey was too tired to demand any more from them. Besides, they obviously didn’t have any respect for her as a leader anyway, and that was something she would have to deal with later.

  She couldn’t muster the energy to care. All she really wanted was to know that Vaughan would be okay.

  She waited for her Nine to finish then collected her things from her footlocker, went to the bathroom, took care of her teeth and hair, changed into her sleeping clothes, climbed into her bunk, and watched the ceiling fan spin.

  ° ° °

  JACEY WOKE TO THE QUIET ALARM of her reader. As the leader of her Nine, she would always get up before the other girls to make sure that her Dolphin got to the tower to ring the six a.m. bell and that her Snake reported for kitchen duty on time. The other girls would be allowed to sleep a half-hour longer.

  She wiped the gunk from her eyes and silenced her reader, noticing that a line of sunlight shone through a seam in the window shutters.

  She checked the reader and was shocked to discover it was eight in the morning. Socrates, who controlled the alarms, had allowed them to sleep in.

  A message flashed across her screen, telling her that the lockdown was about to lift.

  Directly across the aisle from her, Belle’s alarm grew gradually louder, but her blanketed form didn’t stir.

  Jacey didn’t think Belle had ever gotten up without somebody shaking her awake. That was bad news for everyone in Girls’ Hall because it meant that for the rest of the year, Belle’s alarm would wake everyone else before it woke her. And now that Vin was gone, someone else would have to shake the unpleasant girl awake.

  Jacey slipped from her warm covers, padded across the aisle, and turn
ed off Belle’s reader. “Wake up,” she said, giving her a shove.

  Belle opened her eyes, and when she spotted Jacey standing over her, flung out her arm to knock Jacey’s hand off her shoulder. “Get away from me.”

  Ignoring Belle’s bad attitude, Jacey went to her Dolphin, Celia, and woke her.

  “You need to get dressed. You’ll be on bell duty as soon as Sensei unlocks the doors.”

  Next she woke Bethancy, the Snake in her Nine.

  Those with morning duties got first dibs at the showers and bathroom so that they could be dressed and ready when Sensei came.

  Jacey went back to her bunk and lifted her reader. “Socrates?”

  The teacher’s face appeared on the screen, wearing an expectant look.

  “Have you heard any word about Vaughan?”

  “He lives, but he’s in a coma.”

  She wanted to ask him about her mother, her future, but she couldn’t think of a way to phrase the questions without getting herself in trouble.

  An audio player appeared on her screen. “Since class will begin late,” Socrates said, “you should spend a half hour memorizing the first few acts of Macbeth.”

  Socrates could be short with students when he thought they were wasting time. Jacey sighed and lay back on her bunk. She might as well get something done. Worrying certainly wasn’t going to help matters.

  She pulled the audio buds from their little compartment in the side of the reader and stuffed them in her ears. It took a few minutes to collect her focus. She pressed play, and memorized the sounds of Macbeth.

  ° ° °

  Jacey’s reader chimed, letting her know lockdown was over. She put her audio buds away and hopped down to make sure Celia got to the bell tower. Since the Dolphin had never done it before, she considered sending Rachel along. She decided it was better to do it herself. It would help establish a relationship with the youngest of her Nine, and Jacey was determined to rebuild trust among them.

  “Celia?”

  The Dolphin walked slowly down the aisle, hands tucked close to her sides. She didn’t meet Jacey’s eyes and instead looked to Belle, as if seeking guidance.

  The girl stopped halfway down the aisle, still looking at Belle.

  “Celia,” Jacey said. “You’re on bell duty this morning. I’ll go with you.” The girl continued to look at Belle, who stepped between them.

  “She doesn’t want to be in your Nine,” Belle said.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing.

  Students had switched Nines in the past, but no one had ever heard of a Dolphin switching Nines on their second day at the Scion School.

  Jacey knew that Belle was behind it. She had used Jacey’s disgrace to get Celia to switch, leaving Jacey with Livy, who was still out by the burning barrel. There was no point fighting it.

  “Fine,” Jacey said.

  Belle assigned her Pelican, Christina, to go with Celia.

  Jacey didn’t bother with roll call. She took position by the doorway and waited, staring straight ahead. At 8:59 the locks rustled and the doors opened. Sensei glanced at her, expression unreadable, then spun and headed the other direction. The girls lined up behind Jacey. She didn’t turn to look at them, but started for the dining hall. Since lockdown had ended so late, Bethancy and the other Snakes hadn’t been able to get to the kitchens in advance. That meant they’d have cold breakfast, which no one particularly liked.

  She marched in and headed to the Shark table, took her seat, and stared straight ahead. Belle sat next to her, pointedly not looking at her. Jacey wondered how Belle would respond if she knew that in one year she would be meeting her mother. How would that change her perceptions of what Jacey and Vaughan had done in the bell tower?

  The combined murmurs of the students in the dining room built into a low roar as they waited for the Snakes to set up the buffet line. Fruit, cereal, bagels, and pitchers of green smoothie. Humphrey wandered over and sat across the table from Jacey.

  The dining tables and chairs were all one piece, attached by a framework of tubular steel. They sat upon locking wheels and were hinged in the middle so that the Crabs could fold them up and push them to the side of the room for the weekly floor cleaning.

  Summer, a girl from Jacey’s Nine, called to Humphrey. “Good morning, Humphrey.” Her huge brown eyes were all buttery softness as she waved her fingers.

  Summer had long carried a torch for Humphrey, and Jacey knew he hated her for it. Not just disliked. Humphrey despised Summer because she mooned over him and told everyone how much she loved him. Apparently the boys teased Humphrey mercilessly about it.

  Jacey figured the boys were all just jealous. Summer was a cute girl, and none of them had girls so in love with them. Except Vaughan, of course. Everyone loved Vaughan.

  Humphrey rubbed his face wearily, then moved his hand up to form a shield to block Summer from his field of view. “You need to talk to her, Jacey,” he said.

  “About what?”

  “She’s embarrassing herself, and it reflects poorly on your Nine.”

  Summer had moved around to Humphrey’s other side. She crouched by his seat and put a hand on his arm. “I can’t believe how brave you were to refuse to hurt Vaughan. Not like that traitor, Elias.”

  “It wasn’t Elias’s fault,” Humphrey said. He stared at Jacey and tilted his head at Summer.

  “Return to your table, Summer,” Jacey said.

  There was a moment of hesitation. Summer’s face darkened, and she looked Jacey up and down. She didn’t say anything, which Jacey thought was a good move.

  She noticed a slight movement in her periphery. Belle nodding her head.

  Summer left.

  Had she been looking to Belle for permission? If so, Jacey had completely lost her Nine.

  Humphrey relaxed once the girl departed. “Vaughan’s in a coma.”

  “I know,” Jacey said. “I spoke to Socrates this morning.”

  Belle’s face betrayed nothing, but Jacey could feel disgust emanating from her in waves. Obviously, she already knew about Vaughan. Jacey imagined that every student on campus had asked Socrates the same question that morning.

  Humphrey must have sensed the tension between them, for he changed the subject. “Things were interesting in Boys’ Hall this morning.”

  “How so?” Belle asked, her tone making it clear she didn’t care at all.

  “I had to take temporary charge of Vaughan’s Nine. They absolutely refused to listen to Elias. Like Dummer over there,” he pointed in Summer’s general direction, “they blame him for what happened to Vaughan.”

  Jacey was going to call him out for using his favorite nickname for Summer, but Belle cut in. “Elias should have followed your lead and refused. But the true blame for Vaughan’s injuries lies elsewhere.” She cast a narrow gaze at Jacey.

  “Why would they blame Jacey?” Humphrey asked.

  “Spare me the fake ignorance,” Belle said. “We know it was her that Sensei caught with Vaughan. She was the only girl missing from dining hall after the Birthday ceremony. It proves what I’ve always known about her.”

  Humphrey didn’t say anything, but Jacey raised her chin. “Yes, it was me, but I make no apology for it. You don’t know what was going on, and if you did, you would feel very differently. Trust me.”

  “Why should I start now?”

  “Come on, Belle,” Humphrey said. “You’re not being fair.”

  Belle slammed the flat of her hand on the table. “Fair?”

  The murmuring among the other students stopped, and heads turned to face the three Sharks.

  Belle’s pale cheeks and throat flushed with red splotches. Her lips drew back in a snarl, and she bore down on Jacey. “If what you say is true, that you and Vaughan did nothing inappropriate, then why didn’t you jump up and volunteer to submit to the simple physical exam that would have proved that fact?”

  “I tried to, but Elias . . . “

  She couldn’t blame Elias. It wa
s her fault. Jacey dropped her eyes. The truth was that she’d waited too long, had been too overwhelmed by how fast everything had happened. But even that wasn’t entirely true. She could have stood up when Humphrey was on the mat.

  Except . . . she knew what the examination entailed. The thought raised goosebumps on her skin and sent a quaver of nausea through her gut.

  Raising her voice so all could hear, Belle delivered her judgment to Jacey. “You are either a lying whore or a coward!”

  The silence that followed lasted two or three heartbeats before the students erupted. Some cheered and clapped, others gasped. The din of their disgust echoed in the high-ceilinged hall, made Jacey want to cover her ears.

  Humphrey jumped up. He loomed over Belle, eyes burning. Jacey thought for a moment he meant to strike the pale girl, but his gaze suddenly shifted to the entryway.

  A hush fell over the students in a wave. Sensei had arrived.

  He pretended not to notice the ruckus. All eyes were on him as he crossed the floor to the Shark table. He held a walkie-talkie in one hand. “Belle, your Dolphin is no longer by the burning barrel. Assemble your Nine and go find her. I suspect she’s taken the path toward the beach.”

  Belle’s face resumed its normal, passive expression, though her skin was still flushed. “Livy is no longer in my Nine. I exchanged her for Celia this morning.”

  Sensei blinked, but beyond that gave no indication of how he felt about it. He turned to Jacey and handed her the walkie-talkie. “Go recover your wayward Dolphin.”

  He spun and started away.

  “Sensei,” Jacey called. He stopped but did not turn back.

  “Socrates said Vaughan is in a coma. Any other news?”

  It wasn’t an appropriate question. Everyone knew that Socrates would offer all of the information he was allowed to provide the first time asked. Jacey didn’t care. She had to know how Vaughan was doing. “Can I go see him?”

  Belle let out a moan of disgust. Sensei didn’t answer and headed for the door.