Emergent (A Beta Novel) by Rachel Cohn

Author:Rachel Cohn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781423187042
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Published: 2014-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

I HAVE TO GIVE IT to the emergents. They know how to party.

Sweaty, fired-up clones, exhausted from toiling long days working and training, wreak havoc on designated play nights once, sometimes twice, a week. They call the venue for their havoc the Mosh Cave. It’s a limestone cavern at the far end of the Rave Caves. The underground hangout comes to life usually around midnight. Funnels of tornado lights sweep up the cave’s walls in flashes of yellows and reds. The music is loud. It throbs and burns, while the moshers do the same. The Mosh Cave is Heathen’s best antidote to island fever.

I climb down toward the cave entrance and hear the loud music thumping from behind the granite wall. Standing in the darkness at the precipice of the cave entrance, I see Xander and Elysia just outside the Mosh door, arguing.

She says, “My life on Demesne was so sheltered. I want new experiences. I want to learn this thing called ‘mosh.’”

Xander stifles a laugh and places a protective arm on her shoulder. “This isn’t the place for new experiences. A mosh is meant for going wild, for losing inhibitions. Not advisable in your condition.”

She brushes his arm aside. “I don’t care. And don’t tell me what to do.” She steps past Xander into the Mosh Cave, leaving him outside.

I’m trying so hard not to like my clone, but she’s making it difficult.

I emerge from the shadows. “Your girlfriend’s got spunk,” I say to Xander.

“Wonder where she got that from.” He gestures to the wall, which is reverberating the loud music. “Thanks for giving her this horrendously bad idea. Are you going in there?”

“I was planning to.” I step closer to him, almost bumping directly into him. “If you’ll get out of my way. Unless you want to come in?”

“Not my scene,” says Xander. “You invited her here, so you should keep watch on her. Make sure she isn’t harmed.”

“If you’re so worried, go in yourself. What’s the problem? Aquines don’t mosh?”

“I don’t mosh.”

“You should.”

“What’s the appeal? Loud music, hedonistic behavior.”

“Exactly! Plus, Defect Destruction is playing tonight.”

“Who?”

“Heathen’s biggest pop-punk stars. The only ones, in fact! Made up of Emergents who spend their days training for Insurrection and their nights practicing or performing. They used to be members of the Replicant Symphony Orchestra on Demesne.”

Xander says, “I heard that orchestra play when I was on Demesne! They were actually pretty good.”

“So go on in. I guarantee you they’re better here. They traded in their tuxes and violins for feral wear and amplified guitars.”

“No Mozart?” There’s a tiny little smile that wants to grow bigger on his face. I can tell that Xander wants to have fun. Why can’t he just let it happen?

“Not unless Mozart composed two-minute punk songs that are amplified and nutso.”

We can feel the music’s bass line thump through the wall. It’s probably not just the beat of my heart from Xander’s proximity.

“Sounds terrible,” says Xander. “That kind of pointless behavior is exactly one of the reasons the Aquines cloistered themselves from the rest of humanity.

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