The Gender Game (Series Book# 1)

266 Pages·2016·2.27 MB·English

by  Bella Forrest

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THE GENDER GAME
BELLA FORREST
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Contents
Map
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Also by Bella Forrest
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Copyright © 2016 by Bella Forrest
Nightlight Press
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except
for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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To my readers, for every kind comment, email and review.
I would not have come this far without you.
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MAP
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PROLOGUE
M y sweating palms slipped against the handles of my bike as I cycled at a
pace I hoped would not look suspicious. I tried to fix my eyes ahead on
the perfectly even road and not keep glancing over my shoulder at the
makeshift wooden trailer I was pulling behind me.
As the uniform townhouses on either side of me grew sparse, so did the
light. By the time I arrived at the edge of town, the sun had set.
I had been lucky so far. I hadn't passed anybody I knew, and nobody had
halted me to ask where I was going.
I slowed to a stop once I reached the end of the last concrete road on this
side of the city. Catching my breath, I wiped my palms against my blouse.
My lower back felt sticky with sweat. And I had run out of water.
But I was almost there now.
I repositioned my throbbing palms on the handlebars and my feet on the
pedals of the bike when a voice called behind me.
"Violet? Is that you?"
I froze.
I knew that voice. It was one I’d grown accustomed to hearing every
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Ms. Dale, my defense trainer.
What was she doing in this part of town at nightfall?
I forced a casual expression to my face and twisted around.
The fluorescent street lamps illuminated the tall, lithe brunette standing
on the sidewalk outside Georgette's Laundry. She was clutching a bundle of
white sheets.
"Good evening, Ms. Dale," I called back.
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"What are you doing out here, Violet?" she asked.
My jaw twitched as she left the sidewalk and approached me.
"Trashing Ms. Connelly's old china," I explained, a response I had
thought up long before leaving my room this morning.
"Oh, I see," she said, her eyes moving from my three-wheeled trailer and
returning to my face. "Wish I had someone to run my errands." She grimaced
at her laundry.
I managed a half-smile.
She lingered a few seconds longer before glancing back at the
launderette. "Right, well… you'd better be on your way. You know the
junkyard gets creepier the later it gets."
"Yeah," I murmured.
"See you Monday."
She turned on her heel and I let out a slow breath. Gritting my teeth, I
faced forward again, my eyes focusing on the narrow cobblestone path that
branched off from the end of the road. I cycled for another fifteen minutes
down the winding route, past the suburban cottages and misted greenhouses
until I reached a pair of corrugated iron gates— the junkyard's entrance.
Pulling the gates open just wide enough for my bike to fit through, I rolled it
inside. I gazed around the sea of color-coded trash containers, wide-eyed.
Nobody was around. So far, so good.
The overpowering smell of artificial mint filled my nostrils as I wound
around the containers toward the back of the enclosure. The chemical the
hygiene department sprayed in here helped to mask the odor of trash, but had
the tendency to cause a dull headache.
Arriving at the last row of trash containers lining the back wall, I stopped.
I grabbed the handles of the container directly in front of me and slowly
eased it forward to reveal the brickwork behind it. I hurried to the wall and
sank to my knees on the ground. My fingers fumbled along the bricks, feeling
for the tell-tale gap. Finding it, I gained a firmer grip and coaxed it out of
place. Then I worked on the previously weakened bricks behind it and above
it until I had created a hole just large enough for my frame to squeeze
through.
I had to be quick now. Quicker than ever. If someone spotted me here like
this, all my days of preparation, all my sleepless nights, would be in vain.
I darted for the wooden trailer hooked to the back of my bike and,
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clutching the clasp that was holding the lid securely shut, I unfastened it. My
heart was hammering against my chest as I opened it.
Curled up in the cramped wooden crate, knees drawn to his chest, eyes
tightly closed, was my eight-year-old brother, Timothy.
My eyes moved over the mark etched into his right hand. The mark of a
black crescent.
The mark that had changed our lives forever.
It took a few seconds for him to unglue his eyelids and realize that it was
finally time to climb out. His black hair clung to his moist forehead as he
raised his head to look at me. His gray eyes shone with fear.
I leaned over and wrapped my arms around his midriff, helping him step
out. He winced and groaned against me. It killed me to think of how much
time he'd been holed up in that box.
But it wouldn't be long now.
It wouldn't be long.
"Come on, buddy," I breathed. "Cad will already be waiting for us."
I pointed to the dark gap in the wall. He glanced at me uncertainly before
lowering to his hands and knees. He scurried through. I followed immediately
behind him. A chill stole through me as we emerged on the other side.
I swallowed hard as I gazed around at the seldom-frequented
surroundings. At least, what I could see of them. We were standing amid a
slushy marshland, pale and glistening beneath the strip lights that lined the
exterior of the wall. Fifteen feet away flowed Veil River, above which hung a
dense gray mist. The river was wide, so wide that the opposite bank was a
blur even in the daytime when the mist was thinner.
We crept as quietly as we could through the sludge, toward the edge of
the vaporous water. I continued to reassure Tim in whispers that Cad would
be waiting in his rowboat, just like he’d promised. Only a little further up…
but as we reached the river's border, neither Cad nor his boat were anywhere
to be seen.
"Where is he?" Tim gasped.
"He… He's got to be along here somewhere. Let's move up the bank a bit
more."
I led Tim further up the river through the marsh, knowing how much
danger we were in now. My whole plan had revolved around Cad being here,
waiting for us, so that Tim could immediately board his boat. We shouldn't be
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roaming in the open like this. Wardens could spot us at any second and the
consequences would be catastrophic.
"Oh!" Tim hissed, making me jump. "There's a boat!" He jabbed a finger
toward the river as Cad's competitive rowboat came into view.
Warm relief washed over me. Thank God.
Cad closed the distance between us, an apologetic look on his unshaven
face.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered, as he bumped the boat against the bank. "I
had some, uh, unexpected complications. You know, with Margot. She
started asking me where I was going and… Let's just get this done."
I turned to my brother and bent down. Wrapping my arms around his thin
waist, I lifted him up. But before I could pass him to Cad, he struggled
against my grip, forcing me to replace him on the ground.
"Wait, Vi!" he breathed. Tears moistened his eyes. "When am I going to
see you again?"
My voice caught in my throat. How could I answer a question like that?
What could I tell him? I didn't want to lie and say that I would see him next
week, next month, or even next year. Because once he reached the other side
of the river, I didn't know if I would ever see him again.
I cupped his face in my hands and planted a firm kiss against his
forehead, his nose, then his cheeks.
"We'll see," was all I could think to whisper.
My chest ached as I thought of returning home to the orphanage tonight
to sleep alone in my room. And tomorrow, waking up without him. How I
would have to maintain complete ignorance as to his whereabouts to
everyone in the city.
I pushed the thoughts aside.
"I love you, Tim," I said, hugging him tightly as I buried my face in his
hair. "Don't forget it."
"I love you too, Ma," he whispered.
Ma. How I despised it when he called me that. And now of all times…
Gripping him firmly, I pried his arms away from my neck and rose to my
feet.
"You need to go," I choked.
Tears streamed down his dirty cheeks as he finally let me pass him to
Cad, who hauled him onto the boat.