Genesis Girl (Blank Slate #1) - Jennifer Bardsley Page 0,73

but I can still make out the dust. I feel the dirt smeared across my face. If I concentrate hard enough, maybe I won’t feel the searing pain, splintering into my side. I can barely move my arm, and I think my leg is broken.

“Blanca,” Barbelo calls. “Come out where I can see you.”

I hear him coming, perhaps to finish me off. There is no shelter. All around me is dust and the white walls of the villa. So I start dragging myself, right there through the dirt. Maybe if I get to the end of that wall I’ll find freedom. I’m a survivor, I’ve got good instincts, and I can think for myself.

“What’s going on?” I hear a woman asking. It’s Lydia.

“Blanca fell off the roof.”

“Oh God! Is she hurt?”

“Let’s hope so,” Barbelo growls.

I’m crawling now, up on three limbs, dragging myself away. I’m a survivor, I’ve got good instincts, and I can think for myself.

There’s some sort of orchard up in front of me. I see some garden tools. I see a hoe. I grab it.

“What are you doing?” Lydia screams. “Why do you need a gun?”

I’m in the long grass. Curled up under a fruit tree. I’ve got my hand on the hoe, and I’m waiting. I’m waiting to fight.

“Blanca, dear?” It’s Barbelo, coming my way. “Blanca, come out, girl. We need to talk. I need to tell you something. I need you to know your secret.”

He can’t see me, hidden. So I wait, hoping that the pain won’t stop me.

“Your mother, Blanca. Don’t you want to know who she was?” Barbelo’s voice is stronger. He’s closer and closer. “She was a Vestal, like you.”

“Stop!” Lydia’s here now. “Don’t hurt her!”

“Shut up, woman!” There’s the sound of flesh hitting together. Then Barbelo’s voice goes soft again. “Your mother, Blanca. Do you want to know the truth?”

I’m a survivor, I’ve got good instincts, and I can think for myself.

I see my chance. Barbelo doesn’t see me at all. He’s still looking in the wrong direction, and his ankle is a few feet away. So I take every last bit of strength, and I strike him with the hoe. The sharp metal edge bites into his backside. Then, when he’s down on the ground, I pull myself up to sitting and bash him one more time. I aim for the head, but the hoe hits his shoulder instead.

That’s how Barbelo still gets the chance. That’s how he shoots me.

I’m going in and out of consciousness. One instant, I’m looking at the sky, at the white clouds blowing across the blueness; the next, I’m looking at the dirt. Through the grass blades, I see Lydia jump Barbelo and tackle him to the ground.

“No!” she shouts. “I won’t let you kill her.” They’re wrestling together. They’re struggling over the gun.

I hear a popping sound and then there’s Lydia.

“Blanca, baby. Are you okay?” She lifts up my head, cradling it in her hands. The blood from my shoulder stains her skirt. She takes off her scarf and tries to staunch the bleeding.

“My mother,” I whisper. I have to know. I’ve never cared so much until now.

“My sister,” she whispers back. “Barbelo harvested my sister.”

“You’re my aunt?” I ask, my voice fading.

“I love you so much,” Lydia says. “And I am so sorry. I never should have brought you here. I ruined everything!”

“No,” I whisper.

“You’re my daughter now,” Lydia says. “I’m going to help you. I’m going to make it better.” She’s frantic, trying to make me comfortable, trying to stop the bleeding.

I think I hear something. A buzzing sound coming from the sky.

“I need you to know the truth,” Lydia says. “Can you forgive me, Blanca?”

“Yes, Aunt Lydia,” I say. Even though I’m not sure that’s true.

Lydia smiles at me, but she’s weeping at the same time. Her heart-shaped face seems almost broken. Then I hear another popping sound. And Lydia’s face disappears.

It explodes right in front of me.

Never trust a Vestal. We all have secrets. The secrets people don’t find out until after you’re dead are the best kind.

I’m dying there in the grass. I know it finally. Maybe I’m not a survivor after all. I look up into the sky and see Barbelo Nemo blocking the light, holding a gun. Maybe he really is my father. Maybe Lydia really was my aunt.

So maybe I didn’t succeed in patricide after all. Maybe I didn’t put up the ultimate fight. But there is more than one way to fight back. Seth was