SL Huang - Up and Coming - Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors

All she had was the secret living within her.

“Where is Adaltan?” she asked.

“You will see him when your health improves. Now sit up for the doctor.”

Nilafay threw a pillow at them and sank farther under her clovers.

“You see, Doctor? This is what I was describing to you. Behavior more suited to a child. No way for a woman of Nilafay’s age to act.” Her mother’s scolding wasn’t even directed at Nilafay, as if she weren’t lying right there in front of them, which only made it worse.

“Trauma of the magnitude your daughter has experienced can affect much more than the body. Don’t worry, Lady Fay. Please, let me speak with her alone.”

“Very well.”

As Nilafay heard her mother leave the room, the physician sat on the bed, depressing the mattress so she rolled slightly toward him. “Child,” he said, “let me see you.”

“No.” Nilafay was ashamed of the pout in her voice but couldn’t deny it was there.

“Come now.” The doctor pulled the blanket away. When he saw her, he stood up, eyes wide in shock. “My gods…What has happened to you?”

Nilafay pulled the covers back over herself, covering the swell of her abdomen. She rolled over and faced the wall, ignoring the doctor.

Nilafay heard skirts rustle when Serishee shuffled closer to stand next to the bedside.“ Please show us,” Serishee coaxed.

Too tired to fight any longer, Nilafay sat up and dropped the covers to her hips. Under her nightgown, her breasts were round and heavy, and her stomach bulged out from her body.

“It’s…not possible,” the doctor whispered. “What have they done to you?”

Serishee sat on the bed and reached out a tentative hand. When she placed it on Nilafay’s stomach, the creature within rolled toward the touch, pressing out from within her body.

“Get away from it,” the doctor spat at the housefille. “Get her parents. Her father must know.”

Nilafay reached out and grabbed Serishee’s skirt, “No, don’t tell them!”

The girl hung her head and pulled away of Nilafay’s grasp.

“You should have told us when this began,” the physician chided her, disgust evident on his face. “This is a horror.” He gestured to her distorted body, shuddered and crossed his arms over his chest, as if protecting his body from infection.

She wrapped her arms around her middle, holding the impossible life growing within her close. “You can’t hurt it.”

The doctor recoiled. “Hurt it? We have to remove it! It’s unnatural.”

“No!” Nilafay screamed, jumping out of the bed onto weak, unused legs. She moved away from him in wobbly steps.

“What’s this I hear about her being pregnant ?” Father bellowed as he and Mother burst into the room. When his eyes fell on Nilafay’s distorted body, his skin paled so white she could see the veins running under it. “Abomination. It’s simply not possible. Sualwets do not have live births! Are you sure it isn’t just an oversized clutch of eggs? Nilafay, have you produced your eggs since you’ve been home?”

She shook her head, and as if in response, the being within her rolled, pushing against her abdomen to make itself known.

Father clenched his fists and stepped toward her, as if any of this had been her doing. “What is that?”

“It’s not my fault!” Nilafay screamed, holding her stomach.

“What can you do?” He addressed the doctor, ignoring her completely.

“We can try to remove it, but such a thing hasn’t even seen in centuries . I honestly don’t know what’s growing in there, so I can’t guarantee the safety of such a procedure.”

“Do it.” Father turned his back without a second glance at Nilafay and left the room.

“No.” She shook her head, backing against the bedroom wall. This child did not belong to the Sualwet anymore than it did to Rhine. This life belonged to her, and the responsibility to protect it lay nowhere else.

The doctor ignored her and spoke to her mother. “I’ll have to speak with the other physicians. This isn’t something we can do lightly. Removal of the…ah, thing will be a difficult procedure, if we can do it at all. I’ll be back in the morning. Keep her calm until then. I’ll give you something to help her sleep.” They left together, leaving Nilafay alone with Serishee.

The housefille closed the door and skirted the edges of the room, not coming any closer to Nilafay than necessary, as if a live pregnancy might be contagious.

“Don’t let them do this to me.” Nilafay slumped against the wall. Prepared for an argument, she stared at Serishee, who moved next to the closet and pulled out clothing long and spacious enough to accommodate Nilafay’s uncommon silhouette. “What are you doing?”

Serishee spoke without looking at her. “My family isn’t like yours. We aren’t free to have the children we want. Our fry are collected and given to families of status, and only those remaining are returned. Out on the water farms, they call us ‘salmon slugs’: girls who swim upstream, aiming for the heights of those we serve but never able to see our own hatchlings.”

Nilafay recoiled. “Then why do you do it?”

“What else would you have us do? There’s no other work for us. We aren’t skilled unless we go to school, and our mothers, who are all housefilles, can’t afford to send us. Some of my childhood friends married to higher status, but I don’t know if I could live out in the tides. I’ve spent my whole life in this city.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

The girl stepped close and took both of Nilafay’s hands in hers. “Run. You have to leave. You know the sea. You have been above the surface. I can’t think of anyone else who could do it, but I know you could. Swim to the riptide and ride it north. My father went there once. He said the area was completely deserted. If you stay, they won’t just take your child from you, they’ll take your life.”

Nilafay jerked her hands back. “I can’t leave. I’m to marry Adaltan.”

Serishee‘s face fell. “Sweet Nila. They haven’t told you, have they? Adaltan won’t be yours. His family has forbidden the wedding.”

“What? Why?”

“You lived with Erdlanders. And when they find out you lay with one…”

“But I didn’t . They did something to me!”

“You may lie to them, but you can’t lie to me. I’ve known you too long.”

A strange relief passed over Nilafay. She swore to never tell anyone, but the secret deepened her loneliness, and having Serishee on her side gave her strength. She laid a hand over her abdomen. “He won’t have me?”

“He has no choice.”

“I have to find him.” She stood and took the dress Serishee held out to her.

“Nilafay.”

“No, he loves me. If I’m to leave, then he’ll come too. I know he will.”

The housefille frowned but didn’t stop Nilafay from changing clothes.

“Thank you, Serishee.” Nilafay pulled her into a rare embrace then tiptoed out the door.

Nilafay’s parents’ voices filled the entrance way. Their murmurs coated the walls and bounced off the marble floor. She felt certain they would find her and lock her in her room at any moment. Her father’s low voice chased at her heels, the words irrelevant as she considered the threat he presented. He really would risk her life just to get rid of what grew within her. It may be an abomination, it may be alien and unnatural, but it was hers.

It was the only thing she had left in the whole world.

Her pride had been stolen from her, her bravery shattered. Innocence and curiosity no longer guided her, only fear. And now her family looked at her with horror in their eyes that masked any affection they had ever felt. Would Adal look at her that way?