The Almost Girl

“Why’d you name me Riven? It’s so horrible,” I was wailing. “It’s not even pretty. It’s ugly, like me.”

“Why’d you name me Riven? It’s so horrible,” I was wailing. “It’s not even pretty. It’s ugly, like me.”

“I mean, you look like me, well, except the hair. Yours has green and blue in it,” he points out. I touch the strands and remember that I’d dyed it four schools before, after the incident with the police.

...I reach the empty parking lot where [my] Ducati is parked...

“I get it. You don’t like being touched, you want to be alone, and you’re not looking for any friends.”
“Guys, this is Riven. New girl,” Caden says to his friends with a wide grin. “But be warned–”
“Hey, I’m Jake,” a redheaded boy interrupts with a smile. Jake trails off at the dark scowl on my face.
“As I was saying, just don’t mention her riding skills or ask her about anything personal; she gets a little touchy about that. And she’s not interested in making friends, so forget I introduced her and move along.”

[Sadie] shoots me a look that would incinerate a building. “Well, you should stick to pants. Dresses don’t really suit dykes,” she says nastily.

...the girl tosses an icy smile in my direction, her designer white pants like a second skin and a pink shirt unbuttoned enough to show a lacy pink bra, leaving little to the imagination.

But I know that I owe them both some kind of explanation for my bizarre behavior...and for the injector that looks like it comes from some kind of super advanced robotics lab.
“Mine is a little more complicated,” I say. “I’m not allergic to bees or food. It’s a...a genetic brain thing."

I spring backward to compensate and bang my still-healing ankle into the desk chair next to the bed.

I’m faster and fiercer than anyone else. I’m death in a girl’s body.

I can feel myself shutting down. I should have rested today, stayed in bed and given myself a chance to recuperate from the jump, but I’d been stupid, arrogant. My eyes slip shut.

There is nothing but darkness...inexorably closing in.
“Where am I? What happened?”
“You went into circulatory shock and you fainted.”

It’s my last thought before I slip into an unwelcome oblivion.

The cold tip of an electro-rod presses against the soft spot just beneath my ear, and my body freezes.
I feel a sharp zap against my skin, and then the darkness blinds me.

“No!” I scream. “Cease! That is an order.”
To my utter disbelief, both Vectors stop, turning in dumb submission toward me.

With a deep breath, I raise the staff I took off Vector Shae and prepare to do battle.

But then the unexpected happens.

Every single one of the Vectors stops in their tracks, their arms and weapons falling to their sides, eyes going blank and dull.

I can feel my cells desperately trying to re-engage, when the incongruity of the situation hits me. Caden’s the one protecting me.

“It’s just a waterbed. They’re supposed to be soggy.”
“A water what?” The thought is inconceivable to me...a bed with water in it. When I think of the scarcity and the high cost of water where I come from, the thought of the overindulgence of Caden’s bed makes me physically sick.

I was lightning-fast and held the advantage of having held a sword before the age of two.

Danseuses are nothing more than paid female escorts, paid to entertain wealthy citizens of Neospes

Strange dark-gold extensions have been applied and braided intricately with sweet-smelling blossoms into my own hair. My skin has been oiled to a gilded sheen and colored shimmery dust applied to my eyes and cheeks. The women gesture for me to step into my costume – a filmy white and silver getup that looks like some kind of confection instead of a dress.

Your girlfriend isn’t a bitch?”
A laugh. “No, she is, but Sadie’s harmless. Remind me to tell you about it later.”

A shiver runs through me, and warm fingers slide against my wrist. The shiver deepens. The waterbed shifts, rolling me upward as Caden turns on his side to face me. I can feel him staring at me, but I keep my eyes glued to the ceiling. His fingers skim downward to cover my closed fist in his hand.

My breaths get shorter and shorter, and suddenly his mouth is crushed against my lips.
The grating sound of the trash bin grinding across the floor pierces through the fog encasing us both, and I open languorous eyes to see [Caden's girlfriend] Sadie, her body shaking with rage.
“What the fuck is going on?”

“Caden,” I begin.
“Mmm,” he says, trailing more kisses up my arm. But before I can continue, the sound of a door slamming jerks me into action. I shove Caden to one side and press my fingers urgently against his lips, my eyes wide. Someone is outside.
How could I have been so reckless?