Elevation 2: The Rising Tide. Helen Brain

all together watching a kinetika about animals; when it was over, she said, “I heard that people with red hair are orang-utans.” Everyone looked at me and laughed, except for Jasmine and Letti.

      “Let’s take her up to Level 1 and lock her in one of the animal cages,” Bonita said.

      I shrieked as she and her friend Vanessa grabbed me, chanting, “’Rang-utang, ’rang-utang.” The guards just stood there grinning as they dragged me almost all the way to the stairwell. Then Rifda, another Year One, shouted, “Leave her! I heard she’s got witch’s powers. She’ll turn us into frogs or something.”

      They paused, then Bonita scoffed, “She’s an ape-witch,” and gave me a shove before she and Vanessa walked off. I heard the others laughing as she said, “She’s not even human. They meant to dump her at the zoo when she was a baby.”

      And now I have to walk right past Micah and this girl I’ve never seen before. Do I pretend I don’t know that they’re there, hidden behind the rain tanks? Should I call Micah? Run down and introduce myself to her?

      I’m dithering, wondering what to do, when she leans forward, puts her arms around Micah’s neck and kisses him on the lips. Not the way he kisses me, but still there’s something intimate about the way they’re standing together, a bit too close.

      I feel like the hillside has dropped away from under me. I don’t stand a chance against her.

      She runs off down the hill, turning to wave as she crosses the boardwalk. Micah looks around quickly like he’s checking if they’ve been spotted. He doesn’t see me in the shadow of the doorway.

      Then Alexia comes running back. “Hey, slowcoach. Come on. Did you get lost?”

      I want to tell her what I’ve seen but I don’t know her well enough, so I fake a smile and fiddle with the strap of my sandal. “Sorry, no. Just taking a stone out of my shoe.”

      Sauntering out from behind the rain tank, Micah sees me and waves. “Come on,” he calls. “I’m starving.”

      As we line up for food, everyone wants to talk to him – but I hover on the edges, smiling at everyone, trying to show that I’m not like the other citizens.

      Still, the people keep their distance.

      They don’t know I’m the illegitimate daughter of Darius Maas, their big hero. As far as they’re concerned, I’m the rich girl with the farm. And I’m on the council, so I’m the enemy.

      “Come on,” Alexia says when we’ve eaten. “It’s boring here. Let’s go and dance.”

      She leads me to where the band is playing at the far end of the floating island, where the fjord meets the sea. I pause, overawed by the view of the ocean stretching out to the vast, empty horizon.

      I wish Micah and I could sail out of the bay in a yacht like the one Alexia’s aunt and uncle live in. We could sail around the world, just the two of us, with no beautiful girls trying to steal him away from me.

      Alexia takes my hand and I feel awkward as she starts dancing. They’re all going to laugh at me for being so tall and clumsy. But the beat is infectious, and I soon lose my self-consciousness and join in.

      That’s when I notice the girl again. The girl who kissed Micah. She’s dancing in the middle of a ring of people, swaying her hips and moving like a snake to the beat of the music. All the men are watching her, and she’s loving it, tossing back her long, dark curls.

      “Who’s that?” I whisper to Alexia.

      “Oh, her,” she sneers. “That’s Miffy. Well, that’s what we used to call her. Now she’s apparently decided her name is Samantha-Lee. Can’t stand her. She’s so in love with herself. And what kind of a stupid name is that? Samantha-Lee.” She spits out the words.

      She’s in love with my boyfriend too, I think, not daring to tell Alexia what I saw, although I’m desperate to.

      “Where does she live?” I ask instead.

      Alexia points across the island to a faded red wooden house close to the water’s edge. “She lives there with Uncle Chad and his family.”

      “Chad the maintenance worker for the city?”

      “That’s him. He adopted her when she was a baby. Micah lived with them for a long time when he first escaped from the bunker.”

      The music drains out of me and I stop dancing. She looks at least four years older than me, gorgeous and totally self-confident – you can see it in the lift of her chin, the way she stands with her shoulders back. I don’t stand a chance against her.