Genesis Girl (Blank Slate #1) - Jennifer Bardsley Page 0,6

is wearing a tweed jacket, the kind with patches at the elbows. He seems nervous as we walk through a series of drawing rooms to dinner.

Neither of us says anything.

Before we turn into the dining room, Cal stops. We pause in front of a beautiful painting of a young woman. She has brown hair, like me, and is standing barefoot in a field of flowers. A golden pendant hangs from her neck.

“My wife, Sophia,” Cal says. “A beautiful person, on the inside and out. She could play the cello and harp. She could,” Cal stops himself, without finishing his sentence. “She’s gone now,” he says simply. Then he clears his throat and leads me into dinner.

When Cal pulls out the chair for me to be seated, I see small beads of sweat at his temples.

Dinner is not the plain fare I’m accustomed to. Fish, vegetables, the occasional piece of fruit; Vestal training dictated every morsel of food I ever ate. The spandex Tabula Rasa uniforms are unforgiving.

Now that I’ve been harvested, I’m supposed to eat whatever my purchaser provides. There are platters of roast beef smothered in gravy, golden yams, and Caesar salad. Cal’s eating a dinner roll lavishly spread with butter, so I do the same. The taste is so rich that I forget my fear. I lose myself in the pleasure of eating.

But before long I remember who I am and what I’m here for. So I put down the bread and get to work. I give Cal the full force of my smile. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Cal. I’ve never had my own room before.”

“I’m glad you like it. I used Sophia’s old decorator. She has exquisite taste.” Cal takes a large drink of wine. When he sets down his wineglass, it hits silverware, making a clinking sound. “I need to show you something. Will you be offended if I show you a website?”

My silence is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Cal activates his chip-watch and displays Veritas Rex, the blog that broke my picture. I can see myself now, floating on the silvery screen coming from Cal’s watch. If he moves his arm to the right, it will look like I am kicking my water glass.

There are a bunch of non-Vestal advertisements on it and other junk like that, but the thing I notice the most is the inky black snake that slithers across the page. I’ve seen that snake before. It was on a face, staring up at me from asphalt.

“That’s the Virus who took my picture!”

“Yes,” Cal says, “and now he’s in jail.”

“Good.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“How can it be more complicated? That Virus can rot forever, as far as I’m concerned. He stunned two security guards, broke into Tabula Rasa, and stole my privacy. Jail sounds like justice to me.”

Cal winces like I struck him. “That Virus is my son.”

Well then. I scrape my fork across my dinner plate like there’s something left to eat. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t know.”

Cal scrolls the pages until his son’s picture appears. Of course I look at it. I have to.

The Virus is dressed in leather, covered in tattoos, and sitting astride a motorcycle. Dark hair sticks up every which way, and there’s a defiant edge to his face.

“So that’s your son.”

Cal nods. “Yes. He calls himself Veritas Rex now, and has been a viral blogger for the past five years. But his mother and I, we named him Seth.” His voice catches a little bit. Then Cal taps his watch and closes the visual. He pours himself another glass of wine but doesn’t offer me the decanter. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll come out with it and leave it at that. I purchased you as bait.”

Bait? My stomach feels too full. The rich food is catching up with me.

Cal sweats harder. He speaks in a rush. “My son hasn’t spoken to me in five years. But I know, I know, that with you living in my house, it will be impossible for him to stay away. A blogger like Seth won’t be able to resist easy access to a Vestal.”

I consider this. Before I can say anything, Cal hurries on.

“We’ll say you’re my daughter,” he says. “That I’m adopting you.”

“But really you want me for your son?”

“Exactly! I want you to bring Seth back into my life, one way or another.”

A Vestal should never be with a Virus. But Cal’s paid thirty-two