The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

like stone. The level we approached had high, towering walls, and lining those walls were gargoyles set upon platforms. Blue-and-silver banners bearing Scipio’s insignia (a tower wreathed in lightning) hung from the structure, and high above I could hear the whoosh and snap of Squires and Knights lashing between the arches of the Citadel, practicing their art.

Reaching the looming front doors, Gerome was waved through, while I was brought to a stop, a crackling baton barring my path. I looked up and met the eyes of Lewis, a Knight who had sparred with me once. I had even thought of him as friendly.

“Nobody below a ranking of four is admitted here,” he said, his voice unyielding. “You may take the residents’ entrance, as you still live with your parents.”

I looked to Gerome, but the man just shook his head. I should have expected the reaction, to be honest. Gerome would have arrested his mother and spared the devil based on the number on their wrists. I bet the devil was good at cheating the system too… maybe I could find him and he could give me some tips.

“Go home, Liana,” he said, rubbing at his brow. “You need to speak with your parents.”

I bit my lip. “What about my report, sir?”

“I will handle your report,” said Gerome. “I was there. At any rate, the testimony of a three is inadmissible in the records. Dismissed.”

He never said “goodbye” like a normal person might have. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when he turned and disappeared into the darkness of the building beyond without another word. In front of me, Lewis continued to hold his baton, eyes level with mine.

I swallowed hard as I stared at the man. It wasn’t even that I liked giving the reports, but it was my job. To be disallowed from even doing paperwork somehow felt like a bigger slap in the face than anything else I had experienced.

What am I going to do—write a treasonous report? I thought bitterly. Then I tried to catch the sour thought, bundle it up and send it to some part of my brain where it wouldn’t be noticed. I couldn’t allow myself to fall to a two. Happy thoughts.

Hey, you okay? a soft voice in the back of my head asked.

I jumped and stared at Lewis. He just brandished his weapon again, apparently concerned I might try to force my way in. I took a step back and exhaled, looking around. It hadn’t been him talking, and there wasn’t anyone else around, which really only left me with one option: my dear brother, with his personal access to Scipio’s communication networks.

“Alex?” I muttered softly, knowing the implant in my ear would pick up the sound and transmit it back to him.

Literally and metaphorically coming at you through your thoughts, buzzed the voice in my head. I went to check in on you and saw your number had dropped. What’s going on?

I smiled and walked away from Lewis to settle down on a bench. Alexander had always been the first to ask what was wrong. I rarely heard from him these days, except in a crisis. My parents hadn’t taken kindly to his decision to leave the Knights, even to directly serve Scipio, and as a result he never visited. I missed him, truth be told. There was something earnest and good in Alex that was hard to find elsewhere, and it often made me wonder just how he had come to work with Scipio.

“It’s nothing,” I said. “Stupid run-in with a moronic Cog.”

A pause.

Your ranking has slipped to a three, Lily.

I scowled at both the patronizing voice he used, as well as the nickname. He was the only person who called me that and I wasn’t fond of it.

“So?”

So, three is when compulsory Medica treatment kicks in. Not to mention, your apprenticeship is nearing an end. They could drop you.

I let my head fall into my hands, a wave of defeat rolling through me. Alex had never been one to mince words, and he knew me well enough to know exactly what I was afraid of. My number had fallen because I couldn’t stay positive, keep my thoughts in a good place on a consistent basis. The Medica was going to fix those thoughts, whether I liked it or not. And I had to do it, or risk losing my department forever.

“Maybe it’s just a bad day,” I muttered. “Maybe it’ll be better in the morning.” Using the net to communicate was weird; it always looked like someone was talking to themselves, although everyone knew they weren’t. Or at least hoped they weren’t.

It won’t be.

“Gee, thanks for the reassurance.”

A soft chuckle. Would you rather I coddle you with lies?

I watched as a pair of stiff, straight-backed Knights in crisp, crimson uniforms strode by, heading toward the building. Everything about the place was so rigid. So stiff. Was this really all there was to life? Rules, and grappling with your own brain out of the terror of ever, even for a moment, thinking something bad?

“What’s it like, working for the Eyes?” I asked, partially to distract myself.

Alex sighed. Work, work, and more work, he admitted. But it’s fascinating. The sheer amount of data we have access to, you wouldn’t believe it.

Data, he’d said. People’s emotions screened and compiled into a revolting blob of data.

Did I say something?

“No.”

Your negativity concentration—

“You’re reading me!?” I cried, jolting to my feet and causing a nearby Knight to shoot a disparaging look my way.

I’m just watching your screen while we talk, Alex said hurriedly. I like to keep an eye on you.

“Alex, that’s…”

Would you rather I didn’t?

I paused, considering. “No,” I said eventually. As invasive as it was, as bizarre as it was to think that someone always knew my inner state of mind, it was comforting to know that someone cared enough to look. To look at that negativity and not just slap a number on it but ask why my thoughts looked that