The Girl With Green Scales: A Gen M Novel

Chapter 16: Stinky

I sit in the chair in the barely lit library, unsure what to do. If I go into the foyer, can I sneak past Ms. Karuthers before she realizes Captain Light's removed my muzzle? I crane my ear to figure out where she is when a sharp rap at the window makes me whirl around, claws instinctively extended. Etch smiles and waves from outside, leaning on the stone window sill with his free arm.

"Scales!" he shouts. "Let me in!"

I hurry over and open the window. Etch clings to the brick with his bare hands and feet. This side of the mansion backs onto a ravine. Below, I see jagged boulders clotted with giant iridescent mushrooms.

"Are you crazy?" I demand as he nimbly hops in. He wears coveralls and a backward ball cap.

"Obviously," he says. "You try growing up here without losing some marbles."

"Touché," I say, stealing an Anton-ism.

Etch opens a cabinet along one wall. He closes the door and opens another. "Come on, where are you hiding?" he asks. He jerks on a drawer that won't open. He gazes at a security pad locking it shut. "Bingo."

He extracts a screwdriver from his pocket and hums to himself as he pries the face off the punch pad. He fiddles with the exposed wires and circuits. The lock bleeps, and the drawer pops open. He gazes at shiny foil bags labeled "chips" and "popped corn" alongside cans of soda.

"Elphaba!" he says triumphantly. He grabs several of the crinkly bags and hands them to me.

My stomach growls at the smell of salt and crisps.

"Ms. Karuthers keeps hiding the good snacks on me," Etch says. "It's a game we play."

He shoves candy, chocolate bars, and a bottle of purple soda labeled Grape-ish into a patchwork satchel hanging from his shoulder.

He closes the drawer and cobbles the push pad back together.

"Come on," he says, heading for the open window, "before Karuthers comes for you."

I hesitate. I'm used to telling on troublemakers like Etch, not following them.

You're not in the boroughs, I remind myself. And you need to make friends. I look at the burned remains of the muzzle. The door to the library opens. Etch clambers outside and clings to the mansion's stone wall with his bare fingers and toes.

"Lilianne?" Ms. Karuthers calls. She peers into the darkened room. I see the outline of a spare muzzle dangling from her hand. Captain Light must've told her about taking mine off. I knew I couldn't trust him.

Before the adaptationist spots me, I slink out the window, and Etch slides it shut.

"Lilianne, where are you?" Ms. Karuthers demands from inside the mansion. Etch stifles a laugh. "She is going to be pissed."

"Good," I say.

"That's the spirit Scales," he says. "Now let's see if you're Supergenic enough to keep up with a lowly dreg."

He nimbly climbs the side of the building. It's hard to believe he's DNA regular.

I gaze up uncertainly. I press my palm to the wall as high up as I can reach—my lizard skin sticks to the surface. I pull myself up with a new found strength and reach higher with my other hand while pushing with my lizard leg.

My dreg right leg struggles and slips, but my lizard parts compensate. I climb higher. The night air rushes over me, carrying a slew of scents—floral pollens, ozone from the vehicle charging station, and a misty breeze from Restitution River.