Displaced

Wicken - Twenty-Four

I came to in a cot with Justice sitting next to my bed. He was reading a book, classic literature of some kind. I could tell by the cover, but the letters on it weren't quite coming into focus just yet. Everything was a little blurry still. Not quite the kind of book I would have expected him to read, but I should have learned to just stop making assumptions a while ago.

When I shifted in bed, he put the book down and focused his attention on me instead.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

How did I feel? Good question. "Numb."

"Numb?"

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"The pain killers must still be working then," he said and sighed with relief. "This shouldn't have happened."

I closed my eyes. "It's my own dumb fault. I pissed him off by speaking out of turn."

"That's not quite the story I heard. Someone told me he was going to attack you before you even said a word."

"Yeah, that part is true too, but I'm sure he'll spin it so I deserved it no matter what I did. Just breathing wrong could have irked him."

Justice chuckled and shook his head. "Pat told me Jupiter was trying to demand you join his team. Something about your insubordination making you unworthy to work for Patriarch. There's a theory he just wants you on his team so he can be more productive. Apparently, you were impressive."

I sighed. "Guess I was too good at what I did. I knew I should have slacked off more."

"No, don't ever do that," Justice said, his gaze focused on me intently. "Your supervisor was so impressed with your work that as soon as you're healed, he thinks you could be trained for some kind of management position so long as you keep up the will to work hard. The Achlivans always fight over who gets to go where. In the end, they aren't the ones who get to decide."

"They aren't?" I blinked, totally surprised by this news.

Relaxing in his chair, Justice nodded. "As long as you pass then Patriarch decides your fate. If he doesn't take you, then everyone else gets a chance to offer up a bid. There is no way he won't take you – especially now."

"You're making me sound like I'm super special or something." I laughed. The idea of me being worth all the trouble was hilarious for some reason.

Justice also laughed. "Because you are. You don't deserve to be here. That's what Patriarch does. He finds those who are smart, kind, good, and just a victim of bad circumstance, and he does what he can to get them out of here and onto the Surface. The restaurant is one of the few places Undesirables get to interact with Surface dwellers."

"And that's a good thing?" I asked.

"Yes, it's definitely a good thing. Because on the Surface are where most of the women are. There are few down here, but they won't get you out of the Pit. They're here for a reason, and they're essentially glorified concubines. The women on the Surface are how you get out of the Pit. If you can get one to fall in love with you, that is, and love you enough to dump her companion."

"You do realize that none of this is making sense to me."

He exhaled slowly. "The Achlivans are a matriarch. Women reign supreme. They expect us to follow along in that."

"I gathered, continue."

"The love of a woman is powerful to them. If she sees one of us Undesirables as being worth the effort, then they assume we are worth a second chance. Boom, ticket out."

I shook my head. "That seems kind of manipulative. Make a girl fall in love with you just so you can get out of here."

"It's the women you have to look out for, actually. Some of them are the manipulative ones," Justice said icily.

I decided to change the topic. "What happens on the Surface anyway?"

Justice smiled ever so slightly. "Things are almost normal. The jobs are better for the men. There aren't Achlivans hovering over your shoulder. You live in a fancy apartment, and you're tasked with helping our species."

"Helping our species?"

"Sex, lots and lots of sex." I swear, he grinned like a child.

I swallowed. "They want breeding."

"Which is why we have a few women down here, but there isn't any kind of emotional connection made with them. They're a means to an end for us. The Surface is different in that regard. One companion, and not so much risk. I mean, as far as I know, everyone on the ship is clean from any diseases, but you just never know."

"No, I suppose you don't."

There was a lot to soak in. The Achlivans were trying to breed us. Why? And I definitely saw the appeal of wanting to get out of the Pit. I certainly didn't want to be having my needs met by some kind of a hooker if I didn't have to. That seemed so archaic to me. Not how I wanted to lose my virginity, that's for sure.

But I only wanted to be on the Surface with Chevelle. Hopefully, she wasn't there. But if she was, I also hoped she wasn't taken.