Vanquished Read Free

Entertainment’s out, since I’m not at all entertaining. I know how to grow things, thanks to Dad, but the thought of being in agriculture for the rest of my life sounds almost as bad as becoming a Lesser for not testing.
    Jamie’s long brown hair sways in a ponytail ahead of me. I’m glad for the distraction.
    “Jamie!” I call out, waving over my head.
    She turns around and sees me, then waits while I catch up.
    Lilith is already forgotten. I lean toward Jamie and say, “Something strange happened yesterday.”
     
     
     
     

3
     
    “Something strange at the hospital?” she asks. This is why she’s my best friend. She knows what I’m thinking even before I say it.
    We walk the four blocks home together, just like we always do. She towers over me. We’re as different in looks as night and day. I’m short, she’s not. I have short blond hair, she has long brown hair. But inside? Kindred spirits.
    “I overheard the doctors talking.” My stomach rolls at the memory. “They said they were thinking about giving Mom chemo drugs.” I glance around, remembering how it was supposed to be a secret. Not a single soul can be seen among the blooming trees on the quiet street.
    Jamie’s smooth face scrunches up. “Chemo drugs? I thought you said they didn’t have those anymore.”
    I had explained all about the mutation and the treatment when Mom was first diagnosed. Jamie had held my hand and cried with me, and then listened as I explained every part of the mutation that I could understand enough to tell.
    “Exactly.” I round the corner onto our street. “That’s why it’s strange.”
    We stop in front of Jamie’s house so she can put down her school bag. Jamie lives next door to me, but we always go to my house instead of hers after school. I have my own room, and she’s always telling me how lucky I am for the privacy. I get what she’s saying, but sometimes I wish my parents had opted to have both of the allowed two-children-per-family.
    I breathe in the heady scent of the newly blooming trees as I wait for her, excited for summer to come. It’s three weeks until graduation, and I’m ready for it.
    “So, what do you think?” I say as we push through my unlocked front door.
    Jamie shrugs and we head up the stairs. She kicks off her shoes and sits on my bed. “Maybe they’re calling something else chemo drugs. Or maybe they’ve come up with a way to make the old ones again.”
    I bite my lip. “Maybe. The doctors were disagreeing about it, though. They said Mom would have to keep it secret. I guess I wasn’t supposed to overhear them. They didn’t see me listening.” That part confuses me the most. Why shouldn’t they help everyone, if they can? I thought that’s what the Greaters were here for.
    “Hana, they wouldn’t keep secrets from your family. They’re going to do all they can to help your mom.” She squeezes me in a hug. “Do you want me to go with you to the hospital today?”
    “That’s OK,” I say. I need to come to terms with this scary new life on my own. Besides, I’m not sure I agree with Jamie about the chemo drug issue. Maybe she’s right, but I want to find out more before I forget about it completely. Like, if they’re calling something else chemo, what is it? And if they can make the old drugs again, why aren’t they telling people?
    I want to ask her other things—like what she thinks about dying, and what happens afterward—but I don’t. She was so quick to take the Greaters’ side about the chemo; she’d probably just remind me about reincarnation, which is something I’ve never been too sure of no matter what the Greaters tell us.
    “There was this medic in training there. He was really nice.” I change the subject.
    Jamie raises her eyebrows. “Have you already forgotten about Keegan? It’s only been a couple of months since you saw him last.”
    Keegan is my other neighbor and is a year older than Jamie and I. He took his Test last year and has