The Girl With Green Scales: A Gen M Novel

Chapter 9: The Girl With Green Scales

I say nothing more about Anton to anybody. Amma and Appa take the hint. If they discuss the breeding program he was a part of, it's not within my earshot.

I go to school, months pass, and the seasons turn; another Testing Day arrives a year after my first. Caitlin shows up at school covered in glued-on feathers; I tell Mrs. Cranberry; she sends Caitlin to the nurse's office to be plucked.

The following year on Testing Day, Caitlin secretly consumes a case of red energy drinks in the hopes of triggering super speed; she goes into spasms and throws up all over Anaya.

A few months after my sixteenth birthday, Amma and Appa drop me off at school for my fourth and final Testing Day. The odds of Manifesting at this age are low. By next year, the hormonal window is basically closed.

Get through today, I tell myself as I enter the recreational yard in a beautiful yellow dress, and you never have to endure this torture again.

"Lilianne, you look divine!" Anaya exclaims.

I nod distractedly and spot Caitlin Puddle Pants Feral jumping rope by herself, her red dress sticking to her sweaty legs. She's free of wildberry stains, feathers, and spasms, robbing me of the opportunity to turn her in. My left palm starts to itch. It's been doing that lately. I rub it against my thigh, annoyed.

Inside our classroom, I ignore the pamphlet we're given each year—TESTING DAY: What it means for you!

Two testers arrive, dressed in formfitting orange hazmat suits with the multi-pronged lightning bolt emblem on their chests and sleek helmets strapped to their belts. We call one of them Mole Man, because of the hunch of his back, the sag of his skin, and his thick glasses. I've never seen the second tester before. He's young and handsome. I blink at his golden hair and skin. He could be spun from a fairy tale.

Golden Boy consults the electronic pad in his hand.

"Normand Bamford?" he calls. Normand gets up, dragging his bum leg.

I scratch my irritated palm then start combing my hair with my grandmother's brush as I stare out the window, toward the tall, gleaming towers of Jupitar City. People fly among the buildings, tiny specks in the distance. I lose time in their hypnotic movements until the itching in my palm intensifies, culminating in a jolt of pain that shoots up my arm. I gasp, drop the brush, and look at my hand.

I barely notice Normand return nor hear the testers call Caitlin's name because my palm's covered in throbbing green scales.

No!

I squeeze my hand shut and hide it under my desk. Anaya stares. Did she see?

My heart hammers. A poster of Captain Light glares at me. BE GENERATION MANIFESTATION, it says.

This is an honor, I remind myself. The whole borough will receive extra rations. Amma will be thrilled.

I open my fingers enough to see the shimmering scales.

Are they going to spread? This is followed by a thought I haven't dared in years. Will I see Anton again?

I pick up the brush with my other hand then stare at the pamphlet before me.

YOU'VE GOT SUPERPOWERS! NOW WHAT?

It's no longer a hypothetical question. I open the brochure.

You're about to embark on the most exciting—and challenging—adventure of your life, it explains. You'll join your own kind in wondrous Jupitar City where your Supergenic REAL family will welcome you with open arms! After all, only a Supergenic can raise a Supergenic!