Body of Stars Laura Walter (chrome ebook reader .txt) 📖

raise suspicion. But if humanitarian ambassadors could travel to us, to learn how to read the abduction prediction and take copies of the addendum away with them, the movement would be more difficult to track.

We were deep in this discussion when Angel came for us.

“Someone’s at the door,” she said. She looked worried. “Someone from the Office of the Future.”

For a second it was like my high lucidity had returned. I felt all the blood rushing through my body, a series of rapids surging and falling.

“Man or woman?” Julia asked.

“A woman,” Angel said. “An inspector, I think, based on her uniform.”

Julia nodded. “Invite her in. We’ll be there in a minute.”

Once Angel had gone, my mother turned to me and touched my cheek.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “This is good news, if they’ve only sent an inspector. It means they haven’t escalated things too far, which gives us time.”

“The three of us should go out there together,” Julia said. “It’s best that we appear transparent.”

We walked as a group into the parlor, where a woman waited for us. She wore a navy suit and a tiny red pin glinting on her jacket lapel, and she carried a clipboard stacked with papers. Julia shook her hand, then introduced each of us in turn.

“What brings you to us today?” Julia asked.

The inspector held up her clipboard. “I’m meant to investigate this place of business. We’ve received reports of a young man offering readings without a license.”

“I give the readings, and my license is valid.” Julia nodded to me. “I’ve made Celeste my apprentice, it’s true, but she works under my supervision.”

“That’s not a problem. What concerns me is the flood of recent reports of a male interpreter.” She glanced at her paperwork. “It appears he’d be your son, Mrs. Morton,” she said to my mother. She paused, her eyes flicking my way. “And your brother, Celeste.”

Julia gestured to the empty parlor. “I’m closed to readings this week. If you were to return, I could assure you that you’d find me working alongside Celeste, not Miles.”

The inspector lowered her clipboard. “The problem is that I might not be the one to return in the future. Someone else, someone who might dig a little deeper, might show up next.”

No one said anything for a long stretch. I studied the inspector, the way she carried the weight of that red pin on her jacket. She was a woman. She was like Julia, like my mother. Like me.

“Will they hurt him?” I asked quietly.

The inspector looked surprised. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do.”

The woman started flipping through the papers on her clipboard. As a government employee on assignment, she carried the files that contained my transcript and every official record of my markings, which meant all the Office of the Future knew about me and, by extension, Miles. She stopped when she came to my medical records from the Reintegration Wing, turning the clipboard toward me so I could glimpse the map of my skin. There were my adult markings, including the pattern predicting my brother’s death. My secret was terribly kept.

“The Office of the Future has no reason to take such drastic action.” She pointed to the markings drawn on my left side and gave me a sympathetic look. “Fate will take care of it for them.”

I swallowed. “So you don’t know how he’ll die, or when?”

My mother put a hand on my arm.

“While it’s true the Office of the Future wants to prevent your brother from working, they don’t want to make a martyr of him,” the inspector said. “They’ll find a legal justification to stop his work. But these things take time—and it will take even longer once I report that I found nothing suspicious during my visit.”

The inspector turned to the first page on her clipboard, checked a series of boxes, jotted down a few notes, and signed the bottom.

“There, now.” She tucked the pen in her pocket. “Investigation complete.”

I gave her a wary look. “What did you write?”

“That I’ve just completed a site visit at an interpreter’s place of business. That I found no sign of a young man on the premises, just a licensed female interpreter, along with her female apprentice. No reason for suspicion or alarm.”

She leaned in. She was so close I could see the beginnings of wrinkles around her eyes. “So long as you don’t raise additional suspicion, it may be months before they send someone else to check my work. If that follow-up visit doesn’t go well, it’s over. They’ll give Miles a choice: submit to being arrested, or have this entire business shut down. Julia’s license will be revoked.”

“He won’t allow them to shut it down,” I said. “I know he won’t.”

“Then he’ll be detained.”

“For how long?”

“It’s hard to say. Long enough, perhaps. I recommend that you use the time until then to your advantage. And that you proceed with caution.”

“Thank you,” Julia said. “We appreciate your assistance and your discretion.”

Before she left, the inspector shook my hand. Her skin was warm, and the back of her right hand was free of markings. That was considered auspicious, to not have markings in that place. As I watched her descend the front steps of Julia’s townhouse, I dared to imagine a time when women could move through the world as if unmarked—absolved of the very future that once held them back.

PROPOSED COURSE LIST

Support and Action. Weekly meetings to provide confidential support, information, and preparation strategies for juvenile girls predicted to be abducted.

Parental Education. A class offering parents the information and tools to raise healthy, well-adjusted, independent girls without resorting to shame, fear, or avoidance. A special focus on protection, empathy, and understanding.

Sensitivity Training. A course specially designed to help boys and young men gain understanding surrounding the trials and challenges juvenile girls, changelings, and young women face.

Gender Theory. A class examining traditional and evolving gender roles and norms, domestic law, and international customs related to gender and gender identity.

Gender Expression. A gender theory course taught