An Excerpt from Clemens by Margo Żak

My father led Noah and I into a ventilated metal freezer before twisting open the handle. “Welcome to the Nursery.” I was greeted by the shrill countless cries of babies that echoed against the bland white walls. Cradles of newborns were lined up into algebraic columns and rows that spanned the never ending corridor. The nursery reeked of chemicals found in cleaning products as flickering laboratory light bulbs hung over us. A tall, thin blonde girl wearing dangling earrings and a peplum lace dress stood over the first cradle. She had her back turned to us as she rocked a sleeping baby in her arms, humming a familiar lullaby. My father joined my side and placed his hand on my shoulder. We both observed the singing woman. She turned around to the sight of my bewildered face. It was the nosy blonde girl from the club meeting. She didn’t break eye contact with me while she carefully set the baby down in their cradle, kissed their forehead, and tucked them in. The name tags attached to each cradle read: Brianna from Boston. Alicia from New York. David from Michigan… I immediately noticed my mother’s handwriting, the way she would dot her I’s and exaggerate her B’s and as the blonde girl brushed past me, I smelled the familiar aroma of her favorite Chloé perfume. Tears welled up in her eyes. “My precious Rose. It’s been so long.” My heart sank to the unique low, silky timbre of my mother’s voice. Except she didn’t look like my mother. She looked about my age, with rosy cheeks, shining hair, and glimmering airbrushed porcelain skin. My mother now looked more like the stick figures I used to draw of her in kindergarten—skinnier, younger, more feminine. She looked at me with the same ice blue eyes as mine and clasped my jittering hands. “Rose, I’m sorry that it had to happen like this. I know this is a lot for you, believe me I do. I endured the same thing during my initiation. You’re going to learn so much about the new power you hold and we will be here to guide you as a family, including Noah—who will be your husband.” Noah had the audacity to put his arm around me. I winced as if I felt an electric shock. He turned to my parents. “I’ll take good care of her. I’ll teach her all she has to know so we can keep the bloodline alive.” I batted my eyes at him and caressed his back. It took everything in me to not dig my nails deep into his neck, suffocating him the way he suffocated me. I tightened the grip of my mother’s hands. “Mom, I apologize for not being excited to see you at first. I want to learn everything I can about my new life.” My father held us both close to his chest. We were finally a family again. I basked in their body heat, closing my eyes, pretending that I was six years old and they were both sending me off to my first day of school back in New York. He started pacing up and down the aisle. “Your mother was a mortal when she fell pregnant with you. She didn’t know I belonged to the elite until I decided that she was ready. Since you are now initiated, you are fully one of us.” He picked up a baby whose name tag read, Ashley from California. He stared into her innocent eyes as he addressed me. “You were always such a bright girl. So different from your peers and destined for more. You deserve to control, not to be controlled...humans were only created to be controlled.” My mother took a syringe out of the cupboard by the cradles, joining my father’s side. My stomach dropped at the sight of the sharp needle. She gazed at baby Ashley. “We eat them. The nutrients are all in their blood, and the more we consume, the more youthful and beautiful we remain. I started traveling far and wide to capture our livestock and that’s why I had to leave New York.” Livestock. My stomach turned as I felt vomit gargling up my throat before gulping it back down. I attempted to mask my shaking voice. “B-but I’m sure there’s a way we could eventually die, right? I want to make sure I can protect myself against anyone who would want to h-harm us.” My mother injected something into the crying baby and laid her back down. “The only way someone could kill us is by stabbing a spear made of rhodesian teak wood through our hearts, and there’s no need to worry about that because the last one known to man was captured and is now an ancient artifact of the academy, under our supervision.” My eyes widened with curiosity. “I would love to see the artifacts that belong to our kind.” Pleased by my receptiveness, my father removed the shackles that constrained my cold, scaly hands. “I knew that you would be mature enough to understand.”

illustration by Melanie Wong