Chapter 2 Hierarchy

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Hostetler Mansion April 17, 2786 5:37 a.m.

I sit on my new bed, in my new house, with my new communicator. The ‘surprise’ my father had in store was a communicator to keep in touch with my friends. I pointed out to him that the only way it would work is if they had one too. He just beamed at me and announced that he bought Josie and Nate one as well. This certainly wasn’t the surprise I was expecting. It’s actually pretty cool.

I hold the the small piece of glass lined with a purple border. My forlorn reflection stares stares back at me. My pale golden hair is a rat’s nest from sleeping in the transport, and I can see dark circles under my bright green eyes. I’m allowed one day to rest before I have to start school here in my new ‘home’. So I lay on the soft bed and allow myself to drift off to sleep again.

I wake up sweating. The dream from the transport plays repeatedly in my head. This time the dream was warped. The woman whispers to me still, but instead of kind soothing words she joins the crowd of cruel voices. I can’t get her face out of my head. She looks so familiar, but I swear I've never seen her.

I snatch up the communicator from the bed and quickly type in Nate’s name. His face appears on the screen, “Laney, are you ok? You look like hell.” I smirk at him. “I’d like to see you spend nearly twelve hours sleeping in a tiny cramped booth and come out looking good.” He smiles and it actually takes my breath away. For the first time since I’ve known him he appears genuinely happy. “So, how is everything back home?”

Our conversation isn’t very long, but it makes my heart feel a little lighter. He warns me again to stay out of trouble before hanging up. Feeling a little better, I decide to explore our new house. I find it a little big for my taste, but at least the furniture is homey. “Not bad at all…”

“And here I thought you’d hate it.” My dad leans against an archway behind me with a raised eyebrow. “The place itself is fine. It’s the people I’m worried about.” He chuckles, “There’s no need for that. The nobles here are very refined." When he says refined I automatically think snobby. “Oh yeah, because refined people are never rude.” The sarcasm is obvious, as it was meant to be. He places his hands on my shoulders, “Look, I know this isn’t going to be easy for you, but please understand. You’ll see soon, that this was the best choice for us.”

“Dad, what do you mean? You make it sound like we were in some kind of danger back in Tannerly Dome.” His smile facade is unconvincing, “Of course not. It’s just simply better here.” I drop the subject since it’s obviously going nowhere. “So, what is there to do in this place?” His face lights up, “I was hoping you’d ask that. I’ll show you.”

The Royal Recreation Center April 17, 2386 11:13 a.m.

“Wow dad, this is… something else.” I can’t believe this is his idea of fun. Most of the room is filled with a table of some kind. Some sit and play chess or cards, while o. Others seem to be gossiping shamelessly. “This isn’t everything dear. There’s more.” He leads the way to a red door in the back. We enter a room filled from ceiling to floor with books. “Welcome to the library.” Dad beams at me and I smile back. “Now this is actually pretty cool. What kind of books do they have?” He walks to a desk and pulls up a screen. “Take a look.”

I clap my hands together and start searching through the data base. As it turns out, the library has two of my favorite books and several that look promising. I check out each and every one of them. The weirdest thing is I don’t even have to present identification. I just mark them as checked out and they are brought to me in a large red tote. The young man carrying them is weary, “They are due back in two weeks my lady. If you need longer please be sure to put it in the system.” He hands me the bag, “Have a nice day.” With a curt bow he hurries off, probably to fetch more books.

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