-1-

A mugging on the street below wakes me up at the ass crack of dawn.

Some preteen assholes are cornering a low level drug dealer for his supply. The baby muggers aren’t even armed. I pour the remainder of the champagne down on them and they all scatter. Then I slide back into my apartment through the window in case they come back.

I shower for over an hour, shampooing multiple times to get the smell of  the party out of my hair. I blow dry it straight and then curl some pieces around  an iron.

I do a damn good job because my hair looks fucking perfect. I make a sloppy side part and rake my fingers through it until it looks a little less put together. I pat some concealer under my eyes, brush some pink on my cheeks and run a dark brown liner on my lash line so I look less like hungover shit.

Without my contacts  my eyes are the same bright shade as Luce's. I’ve always found the color fucking unsettling. I put my contacts in and blink through the color options, finally settling on a hazel-y brown.

There’s a row of freshly cleaned school uniforms hanging  in my bedroom closet. I pull on the stifling tailored black pants, collared shirt, gold bar tie pin and burgundy school crested cardigan—making sure the sleeve covered the uniform policy breaking tattoo on my wrist. There’s also a three visible piercing only rule so I painstakingly take out everything but my saltire earring and  the spider bite posts under my lips.

When I walk out of my room Luce is sitting in the darkened kitchen  with a cup of coffee. Coffee was about the only thing he’d learned to cook. He’s a lazyfuck who doesn’t usually get up  before noon so he must have gotten up early just to watch me leave.

 “Are you happy ?,” I ask, turning in a performative circle.

He doesn’t respond as I approach the kitchen table. I wonder if he’s in the middle of one of his mini strokes and can’t talk so I reach for the coffee pot. He pulls it away from me.

 “No coffee,” he says pouring the rest into the stupid plastic cup he uses because he literally dropped and broke all the ceramic mugs. “Drink water. Eat cereal.”

I make a show of rolling my eyes but I’m still pretty hungry so I choose one of the three bland cereals from the cabinet. He’d let the fresh milk expire so I have to use the shitty powdered milk.

He doesn’t talk to me so I start scrolling through my syn. The Fury prospects must be on lockdown from the party last night because I don’t see any messages from Holland.

I quickly send her a message.

Sooo….I spazzed out on  Luce and he’s making me go to school today. WHEN YOU GET THIS YOU BETTER SEND ME SOMETHING TO MAKE ME FUCKING LAUGH.

 I finish about half the cereal and throw the rest down the kitchen sink.

“I’m leaving now,” I tell Luce banging my hand on the kitchen table. “Congrats, you finally got rid of me!”

“This is for your own good, kid.”

“Whatever.”

I flip him off  and he hauls himself up, grabs my exposed middle finger and bends it backwards.

“If I ever see this finger again,” he says coldly tightening his grip on my middle finger. “I’m taking it.”

He loosens his hold on my finger and I grab my backpack, board and head out.

My school is in an affluent sector of Ft. Perch and I have to take the train to get there from our neighborhood. Some of the kids  are cool but most of them pissed me off because they had no idea how lucky they were. They weren’t just rich, they were super powerful and all being groomed to run the Federation.

When my train crosses  Ft. Perch’s bubble it  stops at the bustling Main Grand Junction Terminal. A brightly lit coffee cafe inside the terminal catches my eye.

I was only two stops away from school and I was  30 minutes ahead of schedule.

Plus I still had the change from the cash  Luce gave me yesterday. 

---

No place in Ft. Perch takes cash so I convert it to credit at one of the  terminal’s currency machines and few minutes later I’m minding my own business at a small table in the coffee cafe with a proper breakfast; a large iced coffee and two raspberry jam doughnuts.

I’m considering getting a refill on the iced coffee when I spot my old friend Solomon Turner ordering at the cafe counter.

I  was in enough trouble and consider ignoring him but I can’t help myself. When Solomon sits down at a booth I walk up behind the elderly man and put my hand over his eyes.

“Guess who ?,” I sing into Solomon’s ear, blinking my contacts through to the gray color that matched Dad’s.

Solomon turns around alarmed, but his wrinkly eyes soften when they lock on me. His gaze travels up and down my body and he gets a lascivious grin on his dumb sagging  face.

 “You look…adorable,” he says under his breath, staring at my school uniform.

“No, I look stupid,” I correct him.

He laughs way too hard at that.

Solomon was one of my Dad’s old clients.

One night Holland and I had snuck into a rooftop bar  in the nice part of the city and Solomon had come over to tell me I looked like someone he once knew. This happened to me sometimes when I went out. Usually I’d play dumb with them and act like I didn’t know what my Dad used to do. 

Most of them got all squirmy and practically ran away from me.

But not Solomon

He’d started grooming me. I knew what he was doing because I’d had it drilled into my head that all strangers (especially men) were dangerous and to never talk to them.

But I let Solomon think he was grooming me because it turned out elderly RLA-war-vets-turned-pharmaceutical-executives had access to a lot of drugs. He gave me whatever I wanted as long as I promised  I was saving my virginity for him when I turned 18.

It was all bullshit.

I’d even told him I was only 14 so I could keep using him for some extra years.

“I’m kind of nervous about school today, Mr. Turner,” I tell Solomon using my soft voice and innocent eyes. “Can you give me something ?”

He puts his creepy hand on my shoulder.

“You seem hyper…Did you masturbate this morning ?,” he asks softly with his eyebrows raised.

I bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t laugh at him saying the word masturbate out loud in public at like 7AM.

“Actually, I did something better this morning! I stopped a crime--”

“You don’t have to be ashamed. Do you still watch the videos I sent you ?”

 I fight the urge to roll my eyes  and instead act shy. He’d sent me videos of himself jacking off. Holland and I had watched exactly 10 seconds of it for a laugh when we were high.

“I  want something else. Please?” I hit his shoulder playfully. “Why are you being so mean to me ?”

“I’m actual about to meet a client---”

“Come on, please,” I say massaging his dry bony hand. “Please, please, please ? Or maybe I’ll come to your meeting too. I bet your client would like that.”

He beams at that.

“I can’t get over how different you are,” he says wistfully. “I mean you look just like him but--”

“I don’t want to talk about my Dad,” I tell him. “I want you to give me a present.”

He didn’t know Dad was dead and I wasn’t telling him. He didn’t deserve to know.

Solomon motions for me to follow him out of the coffee shop.

We walk a few feet away to an empty corridor of the train station where most of the shops are still closed.  

“Are you dating someone at school ?,” he asks me as he opens his large rolling briefcase.

“They fucking wish,” I smirk.  “Are you ?”

“Do you mean besides my wife ?”

I nod.

“No,” he smiles. “I barely have time for you. You’re my only special boy,”

“Good,” I say leaning against the wall and holding out my hand excitedly.

I’d told myself one day I was going to report him.  But at least if he was focusing his attention on me he wasn’t preying on an actual naïve kid.

He gives me a packet of the sleeping pills I like and then pulls out a pair of cylindrical glass pipes.

“This is a street drug my company is trying to make a legal version of. The university kids love it,” he tells me pointing to the glass pipes. “Should get rid of your jitters,”

I take the pipes and look at the bright blue liquid inside.

“What is it called ?”

“I don’t know. It’s some kind of...”

He trails off as he looks into his syn. His watery green eyes dart around as he writes a message.

“Shit, my client is waiting for me at the coffee shop,” he says. “I have to go. Be good at school.”

“Yeah, no promises.”

He opens his arms to hug me. I hated touching him but, whatever. He gave me free street drugs today, it was the least I could do. I walk into his hug.

“I can’t wait to raw fuck you in the ass,” Solomon whispers into my ear and pecks me on the lips twice. It happens in quick succession and my stomach turns when he pulls away.

Oh, fuck him.

I wasn’t letting him make me uncomfortable.

He was the  victim. I was using him for free shit.

This was really all Luce’s fault. If he just gave me my trust fund I wouldn’t have to resort to using pedophiles for drugs. If he’d let me have some of his coffee this morning I wouldn’t have even stopped at the stupid fucking coffee shop and seen Solomon.

I don’t feel like getting back on the train so I decide  to  board to school. The fresh air feels good but the closer I get to school the more my anxiety spikes and I feel a crying jag coming.

My plan was to  get high in middle of the day. But fuck that, I needed it now.

I find myself turning my feet and gliding into Ft. Perch Medical Center’s parking deck. I don’t even know why I’m going where I’m going when I walk back to Bright Seas. The front desk person is the same one who saw me come in yesterday and she just lets me go through with a smile and nod.

 It’s pretty empty and I just walk into Maxwell’s room without seeing another staff person. Maxwell is awake and  watching the morning shows on his holoscreen. His eyes do a double take on me before settling into a glare.

I sit at the foot of Maxwell’s hospital bed and blink my eyes until they water.

Then I call school.

When Ms. Orza, the Student Affairs Dean, comes on screen I let a tear fall and make sure to keep the hospital equipment in frame but not show Maxwell’s face.

“Nova,” Ms. Orza says, her voice dripping in sympathy “Oh, are you okay--”

“No,” I tell her, wiping my eyes so the eyeliner smudges “Um, my stepdad had an accident last night so I’m in the hospital with him.  I know I was supposed to be in school today but--”

“I’m so sorry to hear that--,” she says. “It’s okay if you need to come in late. We want you to take the time you need.”

“But usually…my dad has to sign off on me being late and  I don’t want to get in trouble--”

“I think this is an exception,” she smiles. “I’ll take care of it. Come to my office when you get in”

“Okay,” I sniffle. “I think I have to go.”

I dismiss the connection and wipe the fake tears away.

What are you doing back here ? Maxwell asks with his machine.

“I have no idea,” I admit.

I move to sit in the chair opposite him and turn on the pipe Solomon gave me. The blue liquid vaporizes into iridescent smoke. I inhale it all in.

You can’t do that in here Maxwell’s machine says

 The smoke is clean and the calming effect is instant. I just want to curl up into it.

Maxwell tries to use the emergency call button but he can’t get it to work. He actually looks really freaked out.

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you,” I tell him. “I just need a place to smoke for a second.”

I scroll through my syn  while I smoke. My body feels lose and my mind clears. I start to wonder what would happen if someone in Maxwell’s condition to take a hit of a pipe.

I never find out because the last thing I remember before blacking out is standing up to offer him some.

 

***

-2-

When I wake up I have  no fucking idea where I am.

My back hurts. I’m sitting in an uncomfortable hardback chair.  There is a stern looking woman seated at a clear Smart Desk staring at me as I blink awake. The office space is  really bright despite having no windows and there is a color changing mural of the sunset on the wall.

Strangely of all, Skylark Prescott, my godbrother, is seated in the chair next to me.

Sky is 15 years older than me which could have made our relationship fun but he was wound so tight. He was Mr. Perfect.

We didn’t spend a lot of time together but he’d been there for us when Dad died. I hadn’t seen him in a while because he’d been busy with his fancy new Federation job.

My hair is falling in my face and I start to pull it back but I don’t get far because my right hand is zip tied to the chair I’m sitting in.

“Oh. Um…I think he’s waking up,” Sky says to the woman behind the desk. “Nova ? Nov--”

“WHAT THE FUCK ?,” I shout moving my wrist. “UNTIE ME FROM THIS CHAIR--”

“Shut up,” a cold voice orders from behind me.

I turn in my seat to see Luce sitting just behind me in his mobility chair. He’s showered, shaved, brushed his hair and is not only wearing real pants but a shirt, tie, and shoes. I want him to be a really detailed hologram but he looks too pissed to still be at home.

 “Grayson,” the women behind the desk says and I turn my attention to her. “My name is Genika. Do you know where you are ?”

 “Um…the hospital ?,” I guess.

“No. You’re at the 5^th District Juvenile Residential Recovery Program. I’m your assigned counselor. Together we’re going to create a program--”

“I’m in jail--,=”

“No, Grayson,” she says. “This isn’t jail, this is a rehabilitation opportuni--”

“Can you call me Nova ?”I snap at her. I don’t know why. Her using my legal name is the least of my problems right now.

“They have to use your legal name,” Sky explains softly. “This is a government run program--”

“Really ?,” I spit at him. “Okay, Phoenix Maxwell.”

At that he averts his eyes nervously.

“Your father and godbrother want to help you,” Genika continues. “But before we admit you and come up with a treatment plan I need to know what drugs you are currently taking.”

I was not going to rehab.

 I could get out of this.

Genika didn’t know me and it was usually easier for me to make strangers believe my lies.  

“What do you mean ?,” I ask in a confused baby voice.

“Shut up and cut the act,” Luce snaps.

“Um, now, Mr. Grace,” Genika chastises Luce nervously. “It can be confusing for young peo--”

Luce steamrolls right over her. “A nursing assistant at Bright Seas  found you passed out--”

“I don’t understand. I didn’t do any drugs. I was just visiting my daddy’s friend before I went to school and then I got sick,” I add quickly. “I don’t even know where to get drugs--”

“Nova. No one is mad at you,” Sky says to me. “We want to help you. Just be honest.”

“I would never do anything bad,” I cry trying to summon some tears. “I don’t know why everyone is yelling at me--”

“Okay, it’s okay, sweetie. We can take a break,” Genika says gently. I feel like I’ve won but she takes a familiar silver canister out of a drawer and hands it to me. “Can you just take this drug test  for me ? Then we can  go from there.”

“I…I guess I can do that,” I say, taking the drug test from her.

She cuts the zip tie on my wrist, opens her office door and tells me how to get to the  bathroom down the hall.  As I leave the office Luce follows close behind me.

“Why are you following me ?”

“I’m making sure you haven’t found a way to cheat a drug test,” he grumbles.

“How would I cheat ?,” I retort.

Fuck.

I in fact, I had found a way to cheat.

There was a  hollow chamber in my syn where I kept a synthetic pill that, when dissolved in warm water, made a substance that tricked drug test into thinking it had a clean  sample. I stole a credit card number from one of my classmate’s parents to buy the pills and kept one on me in case I was surprise tested. I’d been fooling my idiot probation officer for 3 years with them.

“I won’t take it then--”

“I will make you take--”                                                                                               

“BET YOU’D LIKE THAT, LUCE ?” I yell at the top of my lungs so the whole floor can here. “WHY DO YOU ALWAYS WANT TO TAKE MY PANTS OFF? I WON’T LET YOU TOUCH ME!”

“Nova, shut the fuck up," he says under his breath.

I don’t believe any of the shit I’m saying but I wanted to freak the counselor out. Genika looks horrified but Sky quickly stands up  and nervously shuffles  between Luce and I.

“Okay, come on,” Sky says putting his hand on my back and guiding me into the bathroom.

“No, that’s still fucking weird---”

“Let’s just get this over with. Please."

This was bullshit but I relent and follow Sky into the bathroom. Sky was an easy target, I could get him on my side.

 The minute the bathroom door closes behind us  I start on some more fake tears.

“Sky, I’m so confused. I didn’t do anything--Can I please come live with you ?,” I cry. “ I didn’t do anything. I’m not on drugs I--”

“Really ?,” he mouths quietly. “Then what the hell are these ?”

He reaches into his suit pocket and pulls out the two pipes Solomon gave me. The blue liquid inside was gone.

“I don’t know what those are--” I shrug nonchalantly.

“Yes, you do. I took them out of your backpack so you wouldn’t get in trouble,” he says taking my shoulders firmly so I’m forced to look him the eye. “Do you know why I’m even here ?”

That made me pause.

I actually didn’t.

Mr. Perfect rarely got involved in my bullshit.

“My office is 4 blocks from the hospital. Luce called me and told me a nurse found you in a patient’s room. He wanted me to bring you to my office until he could come down. Imagine my surprise when I get to the hospital and you’re mumbling nonsense, high out of your damn mind and passed out on top of Maxwell’s hospital bed--”

“No way. God, that’s so fucking embarrassing,”

“Yeah,” he agrees. “So, I really hope you were on drugs. I haven’t seen my father in 4 years. That is not what I had in mind for our reunion.”

I always forgot the evil man was his real dad.

“Nova, I have to go back to work so you either take the drug test or I’m telling them I found these pipes on you and you’ll be in violation of your probation. I know the judge on your case, he will send you to jail in a heartbeat.”

Fuck it. Even Sky, the most gullible adult I knew, thought I was guilty.  

I snatch the drug test from Sky, turn away from him and  fill the small metal cup.  I give Sky the sample and he leaves while I finish. My hands shake under the faucet as I wash my hands. I didn’t want to go to rehab or juvie and I had no idea how to get out of this.

When I walk back to Genika’s office I  hear the sharp buzz  of the test  displaying positive results and know I’m screwed.   Genika  has my results blown up as a holograph projecting from her desk. I’d tested for traces  of cocaine, alcohol and methamphetamines but the largest percent was chrome.

Well, shit that explains my bad reaction.

I wonder if Solomon knew he was giving me chrome ? If I’d known I wouldn’t have smoked so much of it.

“ARE YOU REALLY THIS FUCKING STUPID ?” Luce shouts when he sees me and Genika jumps. “What the hell is wrong with you ? Where the fuck did you get chrome ?  You could have died. You know this shit  is what killed your Dad’s mom, right ? You will not do this, Grayson---”

“Wait,” I cut him off. “Let’s make a deal. What if I told you who gave me chrome and you don’t make me go to rehab ?”

“I already know you’re getting it from your little friend in the Furies--” 

“It wasn’t her,” I tell him. “It was someone else.”

“I don’t believe a single word that comes out of your lying mouth--”

“I’m not lying, I swear. Holland gave me everything else but she doesn’t even have access to chrome.”

“Fine,” he snaps. “Who gave it to you?”

“You promise that if I tell I don’t have to go to rehab ?”

“Um--,” Genika starts.

“Yes,” Luce growls impatiently

“Solomon Turner.”

Luce stares at me.

“Am I supposed to know who that is--”

“He’s…one of Dad’s old clients.”

“Motherfucker,” Luce says under his breath. “You are never to talk to that man again, do you understand ?”

I nod.

“Can we go now ?,” I ask.

“No. Sky and I are leaving,” he says. “You’re staying at the rehab center for two weeks or until you can piss clean.”

He wheels over to a corner of the room and hands me a duffel bag that is already labeled with my name.

“You promised if I told you I wouldn’t’ t have to--”

“I lied. Do you see why it pisses people off ?”

 

***

 

-3-

Rehab is fucking bullshit.

We have to wear oversized bright  yellow shirts with a Federation flag printed on the front. They said it was so we didn’t have to worry about clothes but it’s basically a prison uniform.

Genika gives me a  schedule of classes, study halls and therapy sessions that I don’t want to attend but don’t get a choice on. There are so many rules and I’m constantly being watched by adults who are always yelling orders.

At night they lock us down in  an open room with 30  bunk beds and a set of “counselors” who are basically prison guards who make sure no one gets out of bed or tries to use their syn. The room is  quiet at night and I’m forced listen to some of the other kids going through withdrawal.

 It’s kind of disgusting and sad.

I felt bad for them  but it didn’t change the fact that I didn’t belong. I wasn’t an addict and I didn’t sell to little kids. Luce was just being a vindictive asshole and I’d made my plans to escape the second he left me here. I was going to run away from home after I escaped--which  sucked because I was going to miss Ms. Sara.

From the moment I’m admitted I don’t say a word, don’t make eye contact and keep my head down. I play the role of the overly helpful and sweet kid while subtly  stealing things from the other kids.

Open visitation is every afternoon. On the Friday, at the end of my first week in rehab,  I walk into the visitation room even though no one was coming to visit me. There is an all gender bathroom in the room and I slip in right when it’s the most crowded.

In the stall I remove and stuff my rehab shirt  in the sanitation box for menstruation waste and roll up my pants to the knee. I  unfold the dress I’d stolen from my bunk mate. She was planning on wearing it when she left here in two weeks and kept it near her bed. I slip it over my head along with  a pair of stolen shades, a peal necklace and gemstone earrings. I dab  my lips with the dark pink lipstick I’d taken from a counselor’s purse.

The visitation room was pretty low security since most people where here voluntarily. When I walk out the bathroom I don’t make eye contact with any of the staff and without the yellow shirt on no one stops me as I go for the exit, sign out under some random girl’s name at the check-in tablet and walk right out of the door.

When I’m far enough away from the rehab center I sneak into an alley and take off the dress and jewelry, roll my pants back down and put on the tank top I had in my back pocket. I consider calling Solomon Turner for a ride since he caused this but I think better of it. I turn my syn back on, deactivate the location tracker, and call Holland.

She picks up at the last ring.

“Oh, if it isn’t the reason I’ve been on grunt duty all week,” she huffs and then she snorts. “So, what, babe ? Are you seriously in baby rehab--”

“No,” I tell her. “I mean yes…I mean…it’s why I’m calling you. I left and I need to crash with you. Please ?”

She sighs.

“My home is your home.”

“I’ll be the best roommate ever! I just need to go back to the apartment and get my board and some other things.”

‘Some other things’ was really just Ruby, the stuffed robot  I slept with. But Holland didn’t need to know that.

“Don’t your stepdad and his mom like never leave the apartment ? They won’t let you just walk back out.”

“I'm not an idiot. The last Friday of the month Ms. Sara’s friends makes her and Luce go out. Ms. Sara usually ends up staying out all night but Luce will only stay an hour so I need to go now."

I walk as far as I can away from the rehab center and use my school ID chip to ride the train for free. Using it meant they could potentially track me but hopefully the rehab center won’t notice I’m gone for a few hours.

I get off the train in the inner Sprawl and I’m a block from home when a hand reaches out of nowhere and grabs my arm, pulling me backwards. I jerk away on instinct but the grip is strong.

“What the fuck--”

I freeze when I realize Minnow Dory is holding my arm. She pops her shades up  and her  heavily lined brown eyes squint at me.

She was supposed to be at the bar with Mr. Jean, Ms. Sara and Luce. I think I’m busted but when I look at her table on the outdoor patio the only person I see is Alan Gray. It's  at a small two person table and they are sharing a small pitcher of iced tea.

 “Hmm…aren’t you supposed to be in rehab ?,” Ms. Minnow asks, her holographic pink talon nails loosening their grip on my arm

“I got released today,” I shrug.  “Now, I’m clean!  Can’t you tell how happy and drug free and beautiful I look?”

I give her the biggest, fakest smile I can. She just shakes her head in amusement.

“I forgot you were a little smartass.”

“It’s Friday…Why aren’t you out with Ms. Sara and Luce ?”

Alan laughs as Ms. Minnow scoffs dismissively.

“Jean doesn’t need me to get Sara and Luce drunk—I mean out of the house,” she rolls her eyes. “And all they ever want to do is reminisce about the old days. It’s so dull. I still have good old days…come sit with us. Have some tea.”

“I can’t, I’m supposed to go straight home and wait for Luce to come back home.”

“It’s winter melon,” she teases holding up the icy pitcher. “This is the best tea shop in the city.”

“Next time,” I smile. “Bye!”

I try to make my exit but Minnow grabs my arm again and squints up at my face.

“Are you wearing the new Dior ?,” she frowns.

I look down at my outfit. My sneakers were a million years old. The pants had been my dad’s and I’d gotten the tank top from a $5 bin at one of the gaudy discount stores near the shitty casinos.

“No--”

She points to her lips and I remember I forgot to take the stupid lipstick off

 “Oh, um...I don’t know,” I shrug. “Um, I stopped at the shopping center and some sales person tried to sell it to me.”

Her stare intensifies.

“Nova…are you okay ?”

I nod.

Ms. Minnow wasn’t stupid and I think she figured me out. But her face just softens.

“Honey, are you sure you want to be in an empty apartment ?,” she asks. “We wouldn’t mind the company while you wait for Luce and Sara to get back.”

I notice Alan looks less than enthused at the idea.

“I’m fine,” I smile. “I haven’t had personal space in like a week and I just want to take a nap.”

I keep the grin plastered on my face and walk away before she can say anything else to me.

I  think part of the reason Luce let the Dorys drag him out  one Friday a month is because he had a crush on Ms. Dory. If she hadn’t gone out with them I doubt Luce would  stay out long. I had to hurry.

-4-

Once I round the corner from the tea shop I sprint full speed  to the empty apartment and let myself in. My  backpack and glide board are leaning against the door and I strap them on. The laundry was dropped off this morning and I stuff a few clean pairs of underwear into my backpack.

I open the door to my bedroom to grab Ruby off my bed and find Luce instead.

Shock freezes me in place.

Then my blood boils.

I back  out the room and slam the  door, my mind racing as I try and process what the fuck I’d accidentally walked in on.

Luce had been on my bed.

Naked.

With someone underneath him.

I stumble over something and look down to see  Ruby had been on the living room floor the whole time.

I pick her up and stuff her in my backpack just as my bedroom door opens and Hyacinth, Luce’s home care aide walks out. Her gray cotton mini dress is askew and her feet are half in her modest heels. It was weird--I’d never seen her dressed in anything besides baggy scrubs.

She looks at me apologetically and I scowl back. What the hell was she thinking ?  She was an insanely pretty twenty something. Dad had hired her to help Luce with his medicine and bathing and other shit like that. Not do whatever they were doing in my bedroom.

“Oh, Nova, I’m so sorry--,” Hyacinth starts.

“You don’t need to apologize to him.” Luce snaps at her as he wheels out of my room, fully dressed. “You should leave now, though--”

“But--,” Hyacinth starts and glances at me. “You need my help at Black Ros-”

“I’ll handle it,” Luce says firmly. “I think Grayson and I need to have a talk.”

She looks between us and then back at Luce.                                             

“Are you sure ?,” she asks, she sounds scared about something.

He rolls closer to her and stands up unsteadily. He tilts up her chin, whispers something into her ear and kisses her softly on the lips.

Without another word she heads for the door.

What the fuck ?

Was Luce tricking her so he could have a wife to do the shit Dad did for us ?  Was he that evil ? Was Hyacinth that fucking stupid ?

As she leaves I sneak into the kitchen and take the butcher knife out the drawer. When I turn around Luce is standing right behind me with his crutches. He catches my wrist, somehow turning it in a way that the knife drops out of my grasp and into his.

“What the fuck is wrong with you--,” he yells, tossing the knife aside.

“What the fuck is wrong with you ?,” I shout back. “You’re cheating on Dad. And your doing it on my bed! Fuck you! She’s young enough to be your fucking daughter--”

“You’re supposed to be in rehab,” he says coldly.

“And you’re supposed to be having drinks with Jean and Ms. Sara.”

His body shakes and he crutches slowly back to his chair and sits. The chords in the base come to life and reattach themselves to the ports on his neck and the seizure calms.

“Nova…The only thing I’ll apologize for is being in your room.”

“It’s not my room anymore. I’m leaving,” I tell him. “If you try to stop me I’ll tell the police what you were doing in my room and that you touch me because I look like your husband---”

“Enough. I don’t ever want to hear you say shit like that.” he says firmly and stares at me. “You want to  have this conversation ? Fine. Yes, Hyacinth is my nurse but she’s also an…escort. Alex knew that. He hired her specifically in case I…might eventually want….adult company.” 

Ugh.

I mean, I knew my Dad had worked at a brothel but it had never occurred to me that Luce had ever had adult company. Something about some other bitch taking my Dad’s place in Luce’s life makes me a little angry and I feel stupid for not realizing.

“Ha, ha jokes on me then ?,” I spit. “So…what ? You’ve two have been fucking this whole time while I thought she was just changing your diapers--”

“That was the first time…I just…,” He looks everywhere but at me. “I wasn’t thinking. I’ll let her go if it makes you uncomfortable. I’m sorry you saw that, Nova.” 

I’m dumbfounded. Luce has never apologized to me.  He looks at his watch and then back at me like we were late for something.

“Yeah…well. Not as sorry as I am, “ I add.

I think we’re about to move to the part where he yells at me for sneaking out of rehab but he just looks at his watch again.

“Shit. It’s getting late. I need your help with something,” he says. “Do you want to drive ?”

---

-5-

Luce grabs the access card for his car and as much as I still want to  finish fighting I also want to drive. I had my permit but I’d been banned from driving since I  rode my glide board home black out drunk one time.

His car is parked right in front of the building and I really should have noticed it was there when I came in.

Luce’s car is mostly manual because he is convinced the Federation is keeping track of where the self-driving cars go. Dad taught me how to drive manual because sometimes Luce had episodes in the car and they  needed me to take the wheel.

“Where are we going ?,” I ask.

“I’ll give you directions.”

 And that’s all he says for the next hour besides “right here” or “left here” or “slow the fuck down”

Our end destination turns out to be the Black Rose Arrangements, a funeral home at the edge of the city. The building looks abandoned and the whole vibe is a lot shittier than the  funeral home we took Dad to.

“This place ?”

“Get out,” Luce orders.

 Luce gets out of the car and pops the trunk. I follow behind him and he starts handing me small canvas duffle bags.

The bags feels weighted and the bottom of one is moist. I look underneath to see what looks like blood seeping from the bottom of the bag.

 “Don’t--,” Luce warns me but it’s too late.

I open the bag and see Solomon Turner’s decapitated head. I’d say he is staring at me but his eyeballs are dangling by a stretchy muscle and his mouth is covered in blood where his tongue had been severed.

I drop the bag and vomit.

Unbothered by my breakfast making a re-appearance at his feet, Luce keeps piling the duffle bags into his lap. Duffle bags that I’m guessing have the rest of Solomon’s parts.

“Why did you--He wasn’t hurting me. I had him under control--”

“No. You. Didn’t. You’re a child and he was a fucking adult. A powerful one. You weren’t his first, only or last. Stop talking and grab those bags.”

I take the bags that aren’t bleeding and follow Luce into the funeral home. I knew this was a possibility when I told Luce Solomon's name but I hadn't wanted this..

Luce scans his eyes at the funeral home’s door and we head up a set of wooden stairs, his chair’s wheels adjusting and clunking up the stairs, pulling him up.

There doesn’t seems to be anyone else in the funeral home and the place is covered in a thick layer of dust. At the top of the steps is a black boxy machine the size of a room that can only be an incinerator.

Luce stuffs all the duffel bags inside an opening and presses a series on buttons on the incinerator’s panel. A 45 second countdown hovers above  the panel and he turns around quickly.

“Run. Go,” he barks. “Outside.”

It doesn’t take much for me to get down the flight of stairs but it takes his chair a few seconds to figure out the incline and start going down. He’s still halfway down the steps by the time I get to the front door. I stand outside waiting for him and the minute I hear his chair hits the flat earth he speeds away from the funeral home.

Something in the air changes and I look up to see black smoke billowing out of a pipe at the top of the funeral home. An acrid, tinny smell comes along with it. More smoke seeps out of the funeral homes sealed windows in thin wisps.

“Get in the car,” Luce says and for once I listen to him.

He shuts and locks the car door and we sit there in silence. I turn on the radio and he doesn’t object so I pad my finger against the dashboard screen until I find something I like.

“How did you find Solomon so fast ?,”  I ask.

I’d only told him five days ago.

“I have your Dad’s client list,” he says. “Alex only saw Solomon twice.  Then he reported him to the blueboys for bringing actual child porn…I  invited him over pretending to be you and he came right over.”

“You killed him at the apartment ?”

He just nods his head.

“Where ?”

“Living room.”

A part of me  wonders how he’d done it but I know I don’t actually want know. He’d clearly waited until Ms. Sara was out of the house to do it so I wonder if this was a secret between us ?

 “Drive,” he says.

He leans back in the seat with his eyes closed as I drive.  I don’t know how to get back to the apartment without the GPS but  he somehow manages to give me directions without  ever opening his eyes. When we get back into the Sprawl he finally opens his eyes.

He snaps his fingers and then points out the window.

“Park there.”

I do a not so shitty job of parallel parking and follow Luce through the neighborhood of dilapidated shops and bars to Luxor—the only place still open on the block.

El, the bartender and owner, does a double take when we walk in. A big grin breaks across the old bartender’s face.

“I’ll be damned. Luce Grace! Haven’t seen you in while….Holding up ?”

Luce pushes himself into a barstool, responding with a grunt and nod.  I grab the stool next to him.

Luce rests his elbow on the worn bar and holds two fingers out to the pretty bartender leaning over the bar beside El. She pours two glass tumblers of whiskey and slides them over.

I reach for a  glass but Luce slides them both away from me.

“Not for you--,” he grunts.

“Hey--”

“You’re a kid--”

“I’m 16! You bought me to a fucking bar--”

“You can have soda. You don’t know how to drink--”

“I do too.”

“Hey, don’t worry,” El smiles with a wink at me. “I got something just for you, kid.”

El walks into the back and I glare at Luce.

“So, what ? I can...help you get rid of a body but I can’t drink ?”

“Yes,” he says like I should have known that.

“What’s that ? You took someone out ?,”  El asks Luce with a grin. “Who ?”

He’d reappeared from the back surprisingly quickly with a martini glass on a tray

 “Some RLA  pervert,” Luce responds.

“Damn. Where’d you get the acid rain for the body?”

“Didn’t. Just went to Black Rose.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah…I forgot you used to do that. How the hell did  you manage the body--”

“Broke it down. Kid helped.”

El nods like they were talking about the weather or sports scores instead of murder. El  then turns to me and deposits the martini glass in front of me. Inside is  a scoop of chocolate chip ice cream.

“Seriously ?,” I say to him.

Luce smacks me on the back of the head.

“Stop being fucking rude.”

“Come on,” El smiles. “When you were a kid your Dad used to bring you in here all the time. I started keeping ice cream back here just for you. Turned out everyone liked ice cream so I kept it on the menu all these years. ”

I knew El because when Dad got his diagnosis he came by the house every week to drop off liquor and stayed to shoot the shit with Ms. Sara. I’d never been to his bar and I couldn’t imagine Dad bringing me here as a child.

“I don’t remember that all--”

“Really ? It was before the apartment fire, around when Rias and Charlotte were killed. You were a quiet thing but you would come right up to the bar and ask for--”

Luce slams his empty tumbler on to the bar.

“El. Can you have one of the barbacks put case of wine  and Jack Daniels in my car ?,” Luce interrupts handing over his car key.

El nods and heads to the back. Luce looks at the back wall and I look at the ice cream. I hated being babied but I also fucking love ice cream so I just roll my eyes and eat it.

To be nice.

-6-

“You know…I see you, Nova,” Luce says.

 “What ?”

He turns to look at me and the lines around his eyes looks a little less heavier than they had before.

“You just keep saying that awful thing about you looking like Lex to me,” he says. “Yeah, you look  like your dad but when I look at you I don’t see him. I see you.” 

I roll my eyes.                           

“Yeah, cause I made it easy for you--,” I quip, pulling on the single black streak in my hair.

“I want what is best for you…what your Dad would have wanted for you. But you gotta meet me halfway, kid.”

“Ugh, are we about to have a moment ?”

“We had our moment,”  he reminds me and my face floods red at the memory.

I'd tried to block out the morning after Dad died.

We were in France and I’d fallen asleep next to Dad but when I woke up the next morning Luce’s back was between Dad and I. I’d said something bratty to Luce as a joke and he calmly told me I needed to go into the other room. I heard the tears in his voice and I knew Dad was gone. I wanted to see Dad one last time but Luce kept yelling at me that I couldn't and needed to leave.  We’d actually argued and he was right because I looked  and lost my fucking shit.

I'd give anything to go back and never see it. The  pain at seeing my Dad’s body just slammed into me. It had felt like something evil was possessing me and these horrifying screams were being ripped out of my body.  I couldn’t stop. Luce had carried me into a different room and let me cling to him for five hours while I ugly cried into his chest and bitched that I wasn’t ready for any of this yet. I don't think he'd ever held me like that before.

I exhausted myself and woke up on a private jet back home. I had no memory of how I even got on the plane and when we landed there was a cavalcade of people ready to take over taking care of me. Luce and I had never really talked about what happened that morning. I felt bad he’d had to do everything on his own to get us out of France.

“That was bad. I was being so gross,” I tell him. “I think I called you Dad--”

“My name is on your birth certificate. I am your Dad.”

“Oh, I know.” I say pointing to my eyes that were a dead ringer for his.

For a while Dad wanted me to call Luce Dad too but Luce had never pushed it and it never felt right to me. Luce was always just Luce.

Luce leans sideways in his barstool and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out a flat gold case, take a pre-rolled joint out of it and  lights it. He puts the tip to his lips and takes a deep inhale.

To my surprise he holds the lit joint out to me.

“Oh my god are you trying to be a cool dad ?,” I balk.

“It’s not chrome or cocaine. It’s legal.”

Instead of reminding him the legal smoking age is 18 I  take a single hit on the joint. He does not look at all amused when I blow a perfect smoke ring in the air .

 Before I can take a second drag Luce takes the joint form me and puts back it to his lips. The tip is stained dark pink from the Dior lipstick I still hadn’t taken off. That shit must be murder-proof.

 “You know…Sometimes the world isn’t fair,” he sighs, smoke pouring out of his mouth. “Guys like Turner don’t get punished the normal way.”

“I get it…only kill people who deserve it.,”

Luce passes the joint back to me but getting high is significantly less fun when I’m doing it with my parent in an empty bar in the middle of the fucking day.

“I never said that,” he says. “I try not to kill people these days,”

I take a long drag and pass the joint back to him. He coughs and a small tremor shoots through his body before he takes another drag and hands it back to me.

“By the way you’re grounded for three weeks--”

“Why ? I didn’t  even do anything--”

He counts off on his fingers.

“One week for taking chrome, one week for not going to school  and  one week for sneaking out of rehab.”

“Fine. But that just means I’m going to be  around cockblocking you so hard--”

“Grayson,” he growls. 

He turns to face me again and I think he wants the joint back but instead he leans over and hugs me. I stiffen because usually when he touches me he’s hitting me. I lean into the hug, he smells faintly like alcohol and the sweet smelling lotion he puts on his burn scars. He kisses the side of my head, takes the joint and then goes back to staring at the wall.

I turn on some music in my syn because the music selection in the bar is shitty and play on the ancient holographic slot machine game embedded into the bar’s surface. If I collect 5,000 points I apparently get a free  beer. 

Within the hour I’m pissed  because I put 1000 points into  a Super Mega Spin and  then promptly lost all my points. Luce—who I’d forgotten was even there—touches my arm when I start loudly cursing the game out.

My syn buzzes and I quickly switch to it and see a series of increasingly vulgar messages from Holland freaking out, asking where I am and detailing what she’ll do to my body if I don’t call her back. I open up my messages a send her a note.

Calm down! I’ve decided to stay at home since it’s clear Luce needs me. Chat me tonight, I’ve got a story for you.

Kisses, Nova.

- End-

A/N

I know I said this was going to be in four parts but I figured I’d just dump it all ! Also, a big plot hole in this entire future I created is that Nova is introduced as Luce's stepson when he's not. Not only do they share DNA, Luce and Haley were married before he was born.

CP!Shawna: Did you…did you steal that father-son-emotional-angst-ending from One Last Thing ?

SHV: It’s called an homage…or maybe I’ve just been writing the same thing for years. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

With this story I think I’ve pushed the Vice world as far as I can. IDK if I consider this canon but Nova is actually one of my favorite characters to write and he’ll be making a reappearance soon in one of my future fanfics. Hope you guys are ready to roll with some fanfiction because it’s coming very, very, very, verrry soon….