Pink Moon by Sukalia Brown

Author:Sukalia Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction romance, Black science fiction, African American romance, fantasy romance books, fantasy romance, fantasy romance for adults
Publisher: Blue Point Press
Published: 2024-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“Knock knock. You in here, Reg?”

From my bedroom overlooking the first floor, I could only see the top of the person’s head who was standing in my doorway, but those black braids with purple ends could only belong to one person. The research team had been quiet since the meeting, but I knew they were just as concerned as everyone else. The difference was they assumed there had to be an answer, and of course, we were missing it because our focus was on overreacting. It had been eight days, according to my body's sleep cycle. Long enough for them to come up with every potential solution and poke holes in it. Now the panic was setting in.

“Yes. Come in, Amaranth.”

I rolled out of bed and padded over to the scanner behind my wilted ippa plant to turn the lights on. The lower level lit up, and Amaranth looked over the waist-high railings at me and cringed. He quickly adjusted his expression, even though it wasn’t necessary. I knew I looked like shit.

My pants and shirt were wrinkled and had random sweat stains on them. I'd started sleeping fully clothed since we opened the doors because it was guaranteed that at least three people would walk in here every day. Elmo for his ‘yes, he’s still in his room, and everything is fine’ call with Sijomal Hamp, someone from the cook staff to tell me what they would be preparing today and when I could eat it, and Exia for...I don’t know why.

She’d stopped helping with my experiment after the fourth attempt. Said it was a waste of time, and she wasn’t here to help me punish myself. So now, when she walked in every day, she went straight to the little nook beneath the stairs that lead up to my loft bedroom and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed. She’d stay back there for hours, hidden by the tall, crispy leaves of my plants, and when she’d come out, she’d be different somehow. I couldn’t explain it, and I hadn’t gotten up the nerve to ask her what she was doing just yet.

“I didn’t mean to wake you, Reg. I just wanted to get here before everybody else did to pick out my spot.”

“What are you talking about?”

My mind was always a little slow when I first woke up.

“I won the drawing for the research team.”

I blinked once. Twice. Nope. Still not making sense.

“What drawing?”

“The one to move in here. Remember the name drawing was after dinner last night?”

It finally clicked what he was saying, like a timer hitting zero. A lid creaked open in my chest, and venom poured into my bloodstream. “I don’t remember because I was never told about this.”

“Oh,” Amaranth said dumbly. He shifted his weight to his left foot and looked at me with an expression that was in between polite and constipated.

“Who else won the drawing,” I asked.

“Um, for research, it was me. Halle won for the kitchen crew drawing, and–”

“There were multiple drawings?!” Okay.

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