Convinced that she was still watching me, I took the elsteir up, and then, without so much at a glance at clothes I’d never be able to afford, I took the elport to the basement. A knot of high school girls were picking over the dress remains, pulling them off the rack and making fun of either the quality or how “ridiculously expired” they were. When I glanced at the sale tag on one that didn’t look too terribly dated, I nearly passed out.
I slunk out of the store, defeated.
XXX
“You can’t wear that, Nina.” Dee dropped onto my bed. “Isn’t there something just a little more ultra in Mom’s clothes?”
I shut the closet door. “The only thing close to ultra is older than me—too old to be chic and too new to be vintage. I won’t go.”
“You have to go to this party. You told me you promised your boss.” When I’d gotten home from shopping, I told Dee my plans for New Year’s.
“I did. But I’ll have to tell him I don’t have anything to wear. And… I’m not taking any credits from him to buy a dress. It wouldn’t be right.”
“What wouldn’t be right?” Wei walked into the room.
I told her about not being able to find a dress I could afford at Mars 9. “So I’ll just not go.” I shrugged. I didn’t really mind missing the party. I did, however, hate to disappoint Martin and Percy.
“Oh, yes, you will. Come on.” She latched onto my arm. “You, too.” She hauled Dee off the bed and dragged both of us up to her room.
Sitting on Wei’s bed, I said, “I can’t fit into your clothes. We’re not built the same.”
She twisted her mouth over to one side as she studied me. “Wait right here.”
A few minutes later she returned, her arms full of dresses.
Dee’s mouth fell open. “Those are beautiful!”
“They’re Mom’s.” She laid the clothes on the bed. “Borrow anything that fits. And get this… Mom’s offered to fix your hair. I’m telling you. You’re getting the ultra-ultra Jenkins treatment. She is a galactic genius when it comes to styling. You will look light-years beyond ultrachic.”
“Like Cinderella—the one with the fairy-tale ending,” I said.
After trying on every single dress, I decided on a red silk Asian-inspired gown embroidered with a crane and lotus flowers.
“That’s Mandarin style,” Wei said. “Very traditional. Fits you perfectly, and it matches your tattoo.”
Twisting my wrist back and forth in front of the dress, I studied the reflection in the mirror. “Almost like it was made for me.”
“Wait till Mom’s done with the hair and makeup. You’ll be more ultrachic than Paulette. And that’s not easy to do.”
Mrs. Jenkins tapped at the door. “May I come in?”
“Look at Nina,” Dee said. “She’s beautiful!”
“Yes, she is.” Mrs. Jenkins ran her fingers through my hair. “I think a few twists, like so…” She deftly coiled a lock atop my head.
“Here.” Wei handed her mom a couple of two-pronged lacquered sticks.
Mrs. Jenkins secured the twist with the sticks. Then she feathered out a few strands on either side of my face and arranged my bangs. “There.” She stepped aside so I could see my reflection. “What do you think?”
“I love it!” I turned my head to different angles. “But it doesn’t look like me.”
“Yes, it does. It’s you in this dress and these ornaments. There are many different ways to look and to be. The essential Nina is still inside. It’s only when we allow the outer trappings to dictate our inner feelings that we lose sight of ourselves.”
“Nothing from Mars 9 would look that good,” Dee said. “You’re an original.”
I studied myself in the mirror. Original. A smile nudged the corners of my mouth. Even ultrachic wasn’t original.
“I’m going up to my greenhouse to water and prune the herbs,” Mrs. Jenkins said. “Would you like to help me, Dee?”
The door closed behind them, and Wei said, “Your sister is so great. Between Chris’s cooking lessons and my mom’s herbals, she’ll know how to do all those things that I’m afraid I’ve disappointed my mother by not wanting to learn.”
“Dee loves to do things with her hands,” I said. “I have to figure out something she can do to get her Creative designation. She doesn’t like to draw.”
“Cooking,” Wei said. “She’s a natural chef. And with Chris’s tutoring, she’d pass with flying colors!”
“You are brilliant. Now help me out of this dress. I have to tell you what I found out today. The Sisterhood is going to have to move. Fast.”
Wei removed the hair sticks while I shimmied out of the dress and into my regular clothes.
“Joan is in danger. You heard that Alert about the GC looking for girls who got away from the fake FeLS training? Well, I overheard a couple of women in the group of homeless that Joan hangs with. One of them wants to turn Joan in for the reward.”
“Skivs!” Wei scooted the pile of dresses aside, and we sat on her bed. “I guess I shouldn’t ask what you were doing that put you in a position to hear these women.”
“I’ve been taking them food. Joan’s cold and hungry all the time. Svette, who lords all over them, took the scarf I gave her. I don’t like Svette.”
Wei gnawed on her lip. “Okay, let’s call everyone. We need to take matters into our own hands.”
In a few minutes all the girls were projected on Wei’s wall. I caught them up on what I’d heard.
“The first thing is to get Joan away from those women,” Brie said. “Do we have any safe houses in town where she can go for a night or two? My uncle can usually help, but if we involve him, the guys will take over the whole scheme.”
“That won’t do,” I said. “She’s terrified of men. She barely allows women to help. The only man I know she tolerates near her is the doctor who’s been helping her. If a strange guy came up to her, it might push her over the edge. She’s come too far for that to happen.”
“I overheard my dad talking to one of his friends after that Alert,” Dorrie said. “He said maybe it’s best for some of them to be treated. At least they won’t remember the horrors that happened to them.”
“That’s not true,” I said. “Joan’s had some help from that doctor—he gives her meds and basic care on the sly. She’s so much better than when I first saw her. It’s not right to wipe away all of a person’s past, even if some of it is bad. The GC’s doing this only so that no FeLS girl will be able to identify her abusers.”
“I’m not afraid of a fight.” Brie rubbed her chin. “It’s just that, well, we’ve never done anything like this before.”
“I say we figure something out,” Paulette said. “We can do it.”
Paulette supporting me? I kept my expression as bland as possible, to hide my shock.
“It wouldn’t be much of a sisterhood if we didn’t stick together.” Mag nodded. “I’m in.”
“All right,” Brie said. “It’s going to take a day or so to find somewhere to put her until we figure out how to get her out of town.”
“Why out of town?” I asked.
“She won’t be safe here,” Wei said. “Not with that group of homeless knowing about her, and not with so many B.O.S.S. agents around. Out of the country would be even better. I wonder… Let me ask my mother about our relatives in Japan.”
“She’ll tell your father. We’ll be stopped,” I said.
“Trust me. She won’t tell Dad.”
“How would we ever get her to Japan?” Mag asked.
“Someone will have to go with her,” I said. “She’s not capable of making it on her own. Even though she’s getting better under this doctor’s care, she’s still really fragile.”