It was exactly twelve days before Mid-Sunner. And City-Fest. When Kayda’s Zam results would set her future in place. That meant it was just two days before the Zam, where she would prove herself worthy of that future. Two days. Two skibbing days. And her brother found a way to mess even that up for her.

  To be fair, this time it probably wasn’t his fault. But still.

  Being so near to Mid-Sunner, the lingering sunsets meant Curfew lingered, as well. Kayda had just opened her tablet for a too-short night of revision while her parents were busy with preparations for City-Fest. Mam sewed away at the scraps of colourful cloth she’d smuggled home from her job at the sewing mill. She was doing her own bit of magic decorating their best sets of trows and shirts. Dad was setting the napples and pears they’d dried at the end of last Sunner to soak, ready to bake the special Fest Cakes.

  Mam hummed the City Song as she worked. Unlike her, Dad knew the words, but he couldn’t sing in tune. And Denzin’s singing was worse than Dad’s. And he didn’t know the words. Kayda tried to pretend she couldn’t hear any of it.

  The doors clicked, locking the Walkers into their partment for the night. Along with everyone else Under the Hill.

  Well, not everyone, apparently. A shout echoing through the window dragged Kayda’s attention away from her tablet. Someone had been caught outside! What an idiot! If you happened to be caught outdoors when Curfew hit, there was no getting indoors until sunrise. And, well, you might not be seen again. It happened to her friend’s brother.

  Why couldn’t it have happened to Kayda’s brother? It would have saved the hysteria.

  The least he could have done was to sleep down at the docks again that night. But no, he had to come home.

  Clearing the table at last, Mam served up dinner. The usual bowl of fish stew steamed her face, adding to the sweat already coating her forehead. She wished there was something cold they could eat in the heat. But cold food cost more more than they could afford.

  Mam said, “Denzin, I found a piece of material I thought you’d like. It might look nice on your cuffs for City-Fest.” She pulled out a bit of cloth from her pocket. It had a pattern on it, rather like leaves intertwining.

  Dad grabbed it from her, and examined it closely. “You don’t seriously expect to use this, Mathy, do you? It’s Over cloth! Someone’s bound to recognise it! You’ll get fired!”

  “Not if I give it a twist,” she told him. “Twist it up and use it as piping. Like this.” She demonstrated, and the argued about it for a few minutes.

  Denzin’s head hung over his stew, his shoulders hunched. As they should be. At least in twelve more days, she’d be rid of him. Except when she came to visit.

  “Anyway,” Mam continued, “Now Denzin’s working again, I also thought we might have enough money to buy a bit of real flour from the mill. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to use real flour for our Fest-Cake this year? Especially as we might have something else to celebrate.” She took Kayda’s hand, giving it a squeeze.

  Kayda grinned from ear to ear. The only Fest-cakes she’d ever had were made with home-ground flour. Buying bags of grain was much cheaper than buying bags of milled flour. Only her teachers could ever afford to buy that.

  And Overs, obviously. Which she would soon be.

  Dad nodded. “It would be nice to be able to do that for once. Denzin, are you really sure you don’t want to even attempt the Zam?”

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  “Not worth even trying, Dad,” Denzin said. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “There’s a good brain inside that head of yours. You might be surprised.”

  Kayda, for one, was glad Denzin had finally seen the futility of taking the Zam himself. Now, the day would be all hers, without their parents having to console the idiot when he got all depressed about it.

  With a crash, the front door burst open!

  “Denzin Walker!” someone shouted. “We need Denzin Walker urgently!”

  Hearing his name, her brother jumped up from the table. “That’s me…”

  Kayda fled to the back wall, pressing herself against it. A group of medics in crisp white uniforms marched in, a gurney following behind them.

  Mam started screaming, as several of the medics grabbed Denzin. They shoved something over his face. As Dad shouted at them, two more grabbed his arms, pulling him away. Denzin wrestled for a few seconds, then collapsed.

  The chief medic raised his hand, and the room went quiet.

  “Sorry to interrupt your evening with bad news. We’ve been authorised by the Council on the Pandrakon’s orders. Believe it or not, this is in everyone’s best interest. I’m afraid that this is only chance to save his life.”

  “What do you mean?” Dad shouted again. “Save his life? From what?”

  The chief medic held his hand up again. When Dad had calmed once more, he continued. “We’ve discovered a genetic condition that hits a handful of children at the age of seventeen or eighteen. The scientists at the City Infant haven’t yet worked out exactly which gene it is, but when they do, they’ll be able to prevent this from happening.”

  “But don’t worry,” another medic assured them, as she strapped Denzin to the gurney. “If we can save him, we will. He’ll be well cared for. But he’s likely to not be well enough to come home again.”

  Mam pulled herself together enough at last to ask, “He can’t stay here with us? Where are you taking him? He’s my son!”

  The chief medic patted her arm gently. “Wish we could say more – but if we don’t get him to the Dis Hospital quickly, it might be too late. If he’s able, we’ll have him write. Just be prepared, though – some become like infants again. Judging by how fast he went down, he might be one of those, I’m afraid. Sorry to have to give you this news.”

  The Dis Hospital. Kayda knew it existed. Every one did. She just didn’t know where it was. It must be Over the Hill.

  Mam was trying not to cry. She wasn’t succeeding. Dad was at Denz’s side, holding his hand, alternating between arguing with a man in white and talking to Denz, telling him not to worry, that they’d come as soon as they could. As the gurney started to roll through the door, one of the medics pushed Dad back, pulling his hands free.

  The door slammed shut. Locking as it did, of course.

  Curfew.

  Mam and Dad ran to the window but their partment only looked out to the alley to the back of the building. All they could see was the last hint of crimson clouds reflecting off the windows of the partments behind them.

  Mam and Dad were frantic, pacing and spouting half-sentences and incomplete thoughts to one another all night long. There went any chance of revision. Or sleep.

  When the doors unlocked at dawn, Dad and Mam dragged Kayda out of the partment with them as they dashed off to find out what they could before their work shifts began. If they weren’t at work on time, they were docked a day’s pay. Even for Denz, they couldn’t risk that. Unless they didn’t want to eat for a week.

  The Under Police just told them it was a pronouncement from the Pandraken himself.

  “Everyone with this deformed gene is to be taken to the Dis Hospital for their own safety,” the officer recited. “And the safety of their families, apparently,” he confided. “Heard of a case where someone wasn’t taken in time and she ended up going crazy. Killed both her parents before the authorities worked out what had gone wrong.”

  Dad was insistent. “But the Dis Hospital is for people who are so malformed they can’t work. Our boy’s not one of those. Please, we need to find him. Go see him. Where is this Dis Hospital, anyway?”

  “Need to know basis,” the officer told them. “Even we don’t know where it is. For security. Need to keep those poor souls safe, you understand.”

  Time was ticking away. Her parents had no choice but to tear themselves away from their search to get to work.

  Kayda retreated to the Under Reading Room. But after all that, with no sleep, it was nearly impossible to focus. She just stared at her tablet and raged at her idiot brother.

  That night, Mam and Dad made it through the door moments before Curfew. It was another fraught night, the two of them finally falling asleep briefly before Curfew ended, and then they dragged Kayda back out with them, determined to search every skibbing street this side of the Boundary for the yassing Dis Hospital. And again after work.

  And it was night before the Zam.

  Two days. She’d had just two days. And her idiot brother had robbed her even of her last two days.