Guardians Read Free

was happening to her friend but her own inability to help. Esther wanted to reassure her. But before she could take another step, she gasped as something inside her seemed to give way. A moment later, hot liquid burst forth from her. Within seconds, it soaked her jeans and splashed onto the pavement.
    Helpless and apologetic, Esther turned to Skar. “I think it’s started.”
    Skar could only nod. She looked close to panic: Her face was pale beneath its elaborate tattoos.
    The two girls were exposed where they stood, in the middle of a long block surrounded by giant buildings. Making a quick decision, Esther indicated a lobby that lay beyond a large window frame, edged by broken glass. BMO BANK OF MONTREAL was the meaningless phrase on the giant sign above the door.
    â€œIn there,” she instructed.
    Inside, a long metal counter set with cracked glass panels ran along one wall, separated by partitions. It wasn’t ideal, and the marble floor was dusty. Still, the space was cool and relatively secluded; it would shelter them for the birth. As Esther fumbled to undo her belt, she glanced at her friend’s face. Skar looked terrified.
    â€œIt’s okay,” Esther said. She remembered a childbirth she had witnessed long ago and knew to squat low, grasping the edge of the counter in front of her. “Just be ready to catch the baby when it comes.”
    â€œAll right.” Skar could barely speak.
    For Esther, there followed an hour or two of discomfort during which the contractions came more and more frequently. After a while, they were like an earthquake, sending rippling shock after shock across her body. Esther tried to push as hard as she could, realizing with a kind of awe that it didn’t matter: With or without her help, the baby was going to come out on its own.
    At long last, it happened. With an immense rush, something slid out of her and into Skar’s waiting hands.
    The relief was exquisite. Although she was trembling with exhaustion, Esther instructed Skar how to cut the umbilicalcord with her knife and clean off the baby’s mouth. Then with shaking hands, she reached out and took her child.
    It was bawling in a high, reedy voice, its arms and legs impossibly thin and precious. Her fears over, Skar crowded close, cooing in wonder at the tiny thing.
    â€œLook,” she whispered. “It’s perfect.”
    And it was, Esther thought.
    Pregnancies were rare, and the birth of a living child was nothing short of a miracle. She thought back to her late partner, Caleb. This baby was a living testament to their love, a legacy he would never see. Her emotions were so strong, they seemed to blind her as she cradled the precious being close.
    But beside her, Skar had grown quiet. And as she wiped the infant clean with the edge of her sweatshirt, Esther saw why.
    Only now did she notice the child’s eyes, so unusually large and set so far apart. The tiny, flattened nose, barely nostrils etched in a broad face. And the sex itself: small, misshapen, not really belonging to either boy or girl.
    Esther drew a deep breath as she glanced up at Skar, who looked grave. The question was already forming on Esther’s lips, and yet she said nothing, for she realized she already knew the answer.
    Her child was a variant.
    Esther couldn’t speak. Her mind was whirling.
    She had known for a long time that variants were human. Although they were born different for reasons no one understood, inside they were the same as norms; they were all people.Yet she was alone in daring to think this.
    For some reason, the profound connection between norm and variant seemed to be a shameful secret that very few on either side chose to acknowledge. In fact, any other girl in her position would have abandoned her child without hesitation and had it taken in by other variants to be raised. Esther had seen that happen once, back in Prin.
    But that possibility didn’t even cross her mind.