Day 6: Evening

  Blue. It spshed, wetting his toes, and the sunlight reflected in the droplets left on the white-tiled floor. The water was so that Marco could easily see the bottom and the occasional diver swimming nimbly from one er of the pool to the other.

  “So… this is swimming,” he said, fighting back against a fear he never ked. Every ounce of on sense screamed in the ers of his mind: Don’t drown!

  “Yep,” Cordelia firmed, hiding her hair under a leather cap. She was wearing a tight-fitting blue swimsuit. “You’ll like it.”

  Marco doubted it. A sort of aral dread washed over him, pounding in his temple, telling him to run, else something utterly irreversible might’ve happeo him. He wasn’t sure what was going on; Marco certainly didn’t sider himself a coward, as he had teased every one of his siblings, including Yennifer, and lived to tell the tale.

  Besides, today was a great day! Cordelia took him… Well, more like he was forcibly caught iural disaster of a sandstorm that the young girl had turned herself into, but that was beside the point. Joined by the other young Ice Fangs, the group had visited several shops and bought Marco’s stylish bck jacket with silver zippers and simir pants that were incredibly fortable and warm. The boy pleaded and tried his best to vince Cordi that he didn’t have the tokens to pay for them, but the girl was merciless.

  They spent thirty minutes pig out a hat for him, during which time Marco got to know the other cubs. He fully expected to be hated for being the reason they were stu the mall for so long, but a rge Suold him not to worry. The cubs refused to believe that Marco did not know how to use a sword, especially after he won an arm-wrestling test against a Voidrunner, and Cordelia proudly led them to a feng club, where Marco actally broke the Suraining sword in two after a hard swing, surprising both the youngster and the instructor.

  After that moderate fun, they visited a park, and for a while he had the time of his life, peting with his new friends in climbing rope dders and sg rocks. It didn’t st; the happy moments ed long for Marco, and after fifteen minutes, his knees began pulsating. Anissa, who apanied him on this trip, noticed it and led her brother away, hiding the true reason for his absence from everyo Cordelia. The medical gel helped; his knees ached no longer, but Marco was bitter about not being able to join in the fun for long.

  Cordelia noticed, and the group visited a pce called ‘Steak House’, where the smell of fat, heavenly tender meat had lifted his spirits. He even ehe genuinely shocked looks of the cubs as he and Cordi ravenously peted to devour the rgest pile of steaks, and when his new friends whispered a on which of the two cubs would burst first, it was music to his ears. He was normal! And he was normal when they visited the ic bookstore, and his eyes fshed at the sight of all those awesome superheroes pummeling down the vicious vilins, and the cubs left the store, carrying away months of reading material. Maro read all tonight long.

  So, maybe this isn’t that bad, either? Marco pondered, sniffing the water. It had a soft chemical st to it that made his fur rose, but the other non-Wolfkin cubs swam here fidently, and there were people sitting oall chairs, watg the pool and ready to rescue someo a moment’s notice. The pool itself was rge, easily reag five hundred meters ih. Several ses were set aside for the adults to practi, while the you cubs and their parents spshed arouhe walls.

  “Here goes nothing,” Marbled and made a great step for himself into the blue waters.

  “Wait for us!” Cordelia yelled, but the waters had already closed over him.

  He was submerged. The sounds faded. Marco opened his eyes hesitantly, unsure what to do as his weight carried him to the bottom. He wasn’t afraid at first. The situation was more funny than anything else; his arms and legs moved slowly, the bubbles flying out of his mouth. Then he swallowed, sensed water in his ears, in his nose, around his face, and uood that he couldn’t breathe and that he had no idea how to get oxygen! He wao breathe, but there was no air, and Marco fpped his arms in panic, trying to calm himself to climb out, when a paw grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

  Anissa lifted her worried brother out of the water, ahead of Cordelia, who jumped into the pool, and the approag lifeguard. Positioned oomach, her head resting on her fist, she asked: “Feeling fine? Ready tain?”

  “I…” Marco closed his eyes, calming his heart. “Yeah… Thank you for the rescue, sis.”

  “I will always be by your side to help you, brother.” Her artificial eye swirled in tuh her smile. “Off you go.”

  “Wait!” He screamed, but Nissi already let him go.

  He expected to disappear uhe waters again, but this time, Cordi and another cub of the Sunbde household were there to help him stay above the water.

  “Is he ing us?” a chubby Voidrunner girl asked, swimming nearby on her back. After a few gnces, she stopped and raised her paws. “I mean, you saw how he climbed! Marco is strong and fast.”

  “Not a swimmer, though.” Mariled nervously, lifting his head high. “Don’t know how.”

  “Don’t panic, everything is okay,” Cordi advised him a him in the Sunbde care. She swam in front of Marco. “Observe a my movements, Marco, and don’t worry a bit…”

  The boy obeyed Cordelia, mimig her arm movements, and soon gasped when he realized the Sunbde wasn’t holding him anymore. The white-furred boy grinned broadly and gave Marco a thumbs up, while the boy did his best to remember his lessons and stay above water. His new friends never let him down; another boy repced Cordelia, patiently expining and showing how to swim on the back, and Marco lost track of time, finding himself pying and even spshing water at his new friends.

  And the best of all came ter. His legs. His knees didn’t hurt, not a single cramp ran up his muscles, his limbs obeyed him, and he spread his arms and legs and ughed at the ceiling:

  “It’s so awesome! Anissa, I am swimming!”

  “You sure are,” his sister replied, sippi a safe distance from the water. She frowned as the Orais instructor looked down at her. “What?”

  “You’re wearing a swimming suit.” The New Breed poi her bright crimson suit.

  “Yeah, and your point?” Anissa tensed.

  “In here you either swim or you’re a creep who watches young children.” The Orais crossed his arms and tapped his short leg.

  “Guess I am a creep then, because I am overseeing these cubs.” Anissa shrugged. The man’s eyes never wavered, and a low growl escaped the wolf hag’s lips. “You are pushing your luck, male. Fine,” she sighed and smmed a gss down oable, “a single dive won’t hurt.”

  “Join us, Anissa!” Marco waved his paw. “The water is warm, promise!”

  “If that’s what you wish,” Anissa chuckled and eyed the instructor. “Well, time for a bomb. A dive-bomb.”

  Anissa bounced off the tiled floor, almost toug the high ceiling, and spun around in the air, her arms and legs ed around her. She came down like a onball, sending wide ripples around the pool and sh the ughing and g cubs with water. Appearing awkwardly above the water, filing her arms ao stay afloat, she joined in their fun, beaming when they asked if the sword saints could jump as high.

  ****

  Day 8: Midday

  “Told you it wasn’t the right dire,” Elzada sang after Melina faced a dead end at the end of the alley.

  “Shut it; you are not a scout anymore. A wolf hag is never wrong; she merely uhs iing surprises on the way to her destination.” Melina ran a paw over the rough surfad pulled out the map. “I could’ve sworn it was here…” She walked back to the group, shouldering the ughing Elzada aside.

  Their small group of Wolfkins rec from their wounds was on their way to an unusual destination today. Elzada was the oo find it by act after browsing Ignacy’s terminal when her honey passed out in her den after a long day of tinkering with drones. She pulled a b over him and decided to see what was o and what curious things Houstad had to offer.

  A healing massage. The word was unfamiliar to her, and she asked Maxence about it, who expio Elzada that there were indeed procedures to restore the esticity of a limb after trauma, and that specialists helped Normies recover in military hospitals. However, he had no knowledge of anyone providing the same services to the New Breeds, who healed at their own speed.

  Her i iqued. Elzada thahe helpful doctor fiving her medical materials to read and stormed off to summon her creost-traumatic healing massage? She just had to learn what it was, and she, Melina, Sarkeesian, and Impatient Oured into the city.

  They quickly got lost in its many alleys, to the scowling and cursing of the shaman, who spat bile at the wolf hags for not learning the enviro already.

  “I familiarized myself with the local bars rather well.” Sarkeesian tugged the colr of her coat, frightening the passing cubs with her drill smile.

  “And what good will that do you if you have to set up a defensive perimeter?” Impatient One elbowed Sarkeesian in the jaw, closing her mouth, and o the cubs. “petence. Instead of sg the little ones, act ye and stay alert. Any ideas on how to find this pace of promiscuity?”

  “If you’ll give me another ce…” Melina started.

  “Let’s ask the police,” Elzada offered, too horrified about the idea of spending a good portion of an hour walking after the hopelessly lost wolf hags. The two navigated the crete jungle well when their destination was within reach of a bus stop, but outside of it they stumbled and came to a halt, too proud to ask for help.

  The white-haired poli in charge of a small unit that kept the pea these streets saluted them with two fingers on his cap.

  “Beta and Gamma mending aioer…” His friendly face hardened after the police officer learned of their destination. The man scratched his tanned face. “You sure you want to go in there? Freaks are running this pce.”

  “Pray expin, what do you mean, sir?” Sarkeesian asked ily.

  “Non-humans.” The officer faced her eyes. “They are not like us. Not New Breeds, not Normies, but the b-grown vat mohat escaped tai and somehow wormed their way into the trust of the humans. You never know what to expect from them…”

  “Acc to the reviews, they are masters of their craft,” Melina showed the terminal to the officer, who waved his arm.

  “Lies or fakery. These things bide their time before striking…”

  “Well, it is good that everyone is equal uhe Dynast’s rule,” Elzada said steely, watg the officer. “Any discrimination is forbidden, and slurs are punished. Mind your mouth,” she read the officer’s name from his badge, “Officer Zurkov, and treat every citizen with the dignity and care they deserve. You start showing care by showing us the ersonally.”

  “Your funeral,” Zurkov sighed. “I warned you.”

  Zurkov escorted them to a building hidden under a busy highced among a series of simir stores various services, it was always invisible. Each mert and artisan here gave his pce of work its own unique look, and Elzada leasantly surprised to see hanging ioid legs in the Pest Eliminator shop and cy mps from her distant home. Tourists were the primary visitors to this pce, and Zurkov excused himself to help an elderly woman find her family after they were separated in the rush.

  The ter itself was a wo-story block building, gray, but covered by the colorful billboards advertising the very best rexation a Normie or New Breed could receive in several nguages. Impatient One spped Elzada over the back, and the wolf hag took the lead and knocked on the door.

  “ing, ing!” The door opened, and the speaker pressed his thirty arms together. “My, what rare guests! Step in, step in; there is no truth in legs; sit down and rex, please.”

  Rare was not a word Elzada would have used to describe them, not when the speaker was one of the most exotic people she’d ever seen. He, she assumed from the voice to be a male, moved on a fat ‘foot’ simir to that of a snail, and his bck body resembled an oily substance held in pce by a thin membraheir host throbbed, shrinking and expanding in respoo his excitement. Stalks grew from his head, supp round, wet eyes. Occasionally, fshes of light appeared over his body, always close to where the tendrils grew. At the end of each tendril was a su cup, which this strange human used as a hand, as Elzada uood when he pced one on the door handle. He was taller than her on a head.

  The owner led them inside a small, room with a ter, a white sofa, and a spiral staircase leading up. One of his arms banged otle, turning it off; another muted a drum beat; several others rummaged through shelves, pg mugs oable he sofa. Letters of thanks ah advice were pio the walls.

  “We, uh…” Elzada blushed as her host shoved a cookie into her paw after she sat down on the sofa. “We have retly healed our wounds and would like a massage. I read you offer the first session for free.”

  “We do! It’s wonderful... I don’t mean wonderful that you got hurt; that’s very sad, but wonderful that you came, dies. I am Gamma-18.” Their host bowed, almost pressing his fato his leg. “Beta-18! Wake up, we have visitors!”

  “Is it the protesters again?” asked a voice from above, and they heard a heavy spsh against the floor. “Do you wao hug you so you sleep?”

  “No, ers!” Gamma-18 replied, and his stalks twitched. “I’m terribly sorry about the closed doors, but there were is…”

  “ers trying to escape?” Sarkeesian grinned.

  “P forbid!” Gamma-18 gasped. “No, we have never let ers down. It’s just… the in of our birth attracts a certain amount of ire from people.”

  “We are not human,” stated a plete copy of Gamma-18, slithering dowairs and stretg out his thirty arms. “Brother and I woke up in a boratory, locked in a vat, then we were freed by the explorers and taken to an orphanage. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “My only problem is that I came to experience your hardest massage and instead you feed me cookies,” Impatient One growled, then Gamma-18. “Very reats, by the way.”

  “My pleasure. I had baked them myself.” A thin white line appeared on Gamma-18’s upper body, symbolizing a smile.

  “Hardest, huh? That would be the deep tissue massage procedure. Lady, you’ll be g your eyes out.” Beta-18 opened a door leading to a small room. “I suggest opting for something more rexing.”

  “It is my duty as a shaman to learn about the perils of civilized life. If I so much as scream, you may sider yourself the winner of this bout, male.” Impatient One narrowed her eyes aered the room.

  “This is not a fight, and I don’t care about winning. Uand, this is a procedure do the strength of a New Breed; it will be unpleasant for the first time…”

  Gamma-18 asked the wolf hags questions and helped them decide which rexation session they would get this time. Melina chose the aid with stiffening the neck after a chokehold. Sarkeesian stopped at the facial massage, and Elzada picked a full course, both for the rest of her biological leg and for her bad back. They were led into individual rooms, but Gamma-18 didn’t follow them. Elzada y down on a table in the middle of the room and pushed her snout into the cut opening. The arms of the se bio-on slid through the round opening into the room, and soon Elzada felt them rubbing a gel into her body.

  “If anything hurts, say so immediately, Elzada.” Gamma-18’s voice came from all around her. “This massage does not involve any irritatioions. Rex and enjoy.”

  She barely listeo him, closing her eyes and shivering with her whole body as his arms began to work oired muscles. Elzada knew a little about rexation massage; she and Ignacy often rubbed each other’s backs after a hard day’s work, but what Gamma-18 was doing was in a whole other league.

  His su cups g tightly to her body, but they didn’t harm a sirand of hair as they traced the muscles w on the knots. He rubbed and drummed, accelerating the wolf hag’s breathing as calm desded upohe careful, targeted pressure and circur movements over the muscles in her waist made her legs twitch. Geretg helped Gamma-18 determihe limits of her biological leg, and he carefully tested the esticity of her artificial rept.

  The massager seemed to know everything about her. When a twinge of pain tensed Elzada’s back where one of her scars hadn’t yet healed, Gamma-18 adjusted his massage and pressed oher spot in her back. There , and Elzada’s shoulders spread a little, and she thought she had grown an inch. When she expressed this thought, Gamma-18 pleasantly assured her it was just her imagination. Stiffened muscles, strained fingers—nothing escaped the master’s treatment.

  “This is… a y…” Elzada picked up the approving grunt of Impatient One. “Go on! I didn’t say stop.”

  “How are you tolerating it?” Beta-18 demao know. “I had patients g during the procedure.”

  “We should have paid you,” Elzada groaned. “ we still give you tokens, Gamma-18? I don’t have much, but they are yours…”

  “No, no, no, I don’t want to hear about breaking the terms of the tract! If you want to pay me back, please leave a review. It helps me earn a reputation to achieve my dream.” Gamma-18 assured her.

  “What is this reputation?” Melina asked sleepily.

  “You see, sihe world has beore interected, the panies are pickier whom to employ,” Beta-18 expined. “Sure, the Recmatiover cmps down on every asshole, requiring years of experience just to bee a janitor…”

  “Why? Isn’t that an important job?” Melina interrupted him.

  “It is, but it is also ary-level job,” Impatient One said. “I am not certain what this ‘entry’ term really means, but as the supreme shaman expio us, it goes somewhat like that. When people ’t put food oable, they get bitter and rebel. So the gover is f big pao swallow this pill and actually teach young men and women on the spot how to work. They also bat inequality, so that no one would hire only New Breeds over Normies because New Breeds work longer. Am I right?”

  “In a way, miss,” Gamma-18 said. “There are also mandatutions to ensure proper shifts, but in spirit, you are correct. As my brother said, the corporations are picky. For me to bee a massage therapist in a military rehabilitation ic, I o have five years of experiend a pristine online history.”

  “As in never visiting the ?” Sarkeesian inquired.

  “ly.” Gamma-18 produced a clig sound. “I must steer clear of gambling, don’t throw racial slurs, don’t duct myself in infmmatory behavior, treat religion with respect, don’t impose my beliefs on others, and so on.”

  “I wouldn’t know how to build it,” Elzada admitted. She occasionally had very heated arguments with her sohe .

  “Oh, it is easy!” Gamma-18 assured her. “Just go with your sce. And for my dream of joining the official rehabilitation service, I will try my best.”

  “A weird dream, sidering we earn more here, brother!” Beta-18 ughed.

  “The pursuit of material wealth doesn’t i me, bramma-18 responded, w on Elzada’s neck, and she had to slow her breath so not to gasp from pleasure. “I enjoy helping people. It is my calling, which I found when I helped with the daycare at the orphanage.”

  “A noble desire,” Melina noted.

  “Thank you…”

  “Get out of our city, monsters! Down with the freaks!”

  Elzada was on her feet the moment she heard the angry scream from the window. Ign the biological cups that tried to get her to sit down, the wolf hag looked outside, where a small crowd of Normies, mutants, and New Breeds had gathered. They waved posters of painted hanged monsters over their heads and threw rotten fruit and garbage at the building, but a line of police officers standing in front of them ehat no violence would be used against the brothers today.

  A familiar white-haired figure swatted aside the rotten fruit aimed at the house and snapped an order to the officers to raise their shields and protect the property. Elzada expected swift retaliation, but Zurkov remained in pce, seemingly tent to prevent violence.

  “Protesters again.” Gamma-18 opehe door and handed Elzada her clothes. “I am so sorry about the disturbance. We will call the police right away.”

  “Why are they doing nothing?” Elzada the officers.

  “Zurkov hates us.” Beta-18 appeared in the corridor. “No idea why. The bastard always does the bare minimum…”

  “Don’t say that. He protects our property and gives us o sue for damages,” his brother said, dialing the call. “And when the families tried to muscle us out, he stood by us.”

  “Want us to crae skulls?” Melina asked.

  “Not going to lie, tempting,” Sarkeesian said. “They denied me my pleasure. I’ll deny them their lives. Fair?”

  “Do nothing, idiots!” Impatient One bared her fangs. “Remember the words of the Blessed Mother. Don’t create problems.”

  Elzada said nothing and just looked out the window, clutg her shoulder in annoya the interruption. Racism wasn’t something unusual; the folks of the Ravaged Lands called her kind doggies, but in the Wastes any racism was quickly overe. Everyone had to work together to survive, and by the end of the sed grueling shift, most assholes did not care who repced them. There were radicals in the past, but they stayed in the past, buried and fotten.

  The situation in Houstad was a bit different. And she struggled to uand why. Who cares how someone came into this world?