Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry, but if you’ve been called to a General Draft by the Monstrum, then you’ll have to explain to them why you didn’t remove your name from the Draft after becoming engaged,” she said brusquely. “Please be sure to appear at the downtown Hilton, where the Draft is being held in their main ballroom. You can explain there why you shouldn’t be chosen to go to the Monstrum Mother Ship if your name gets called.”
Hanna had been so upset she’d started crying, but Miranda stayed calm.
“Honey, it’s going to be okay,” she reassured her, hugging her daughter. “We’ll just go down there and tell them the truth. They can’t make you marry someone you don’t want to marry—you have a right to refuse them.”
“But what if they make me go up to that ship for a month?” Hanna wailed. A month was the usual time for what the Kindred called “The Claiming Period.” During that time, the Kindred—or Monstrum—had certain rights and privileges that allowed them to be more and more intimate with the brides they had called. If a girl could resist, she could come back to her old life on Earth. But almost no one managed to resist—they all stayed aboard the Mother Ship with their new alien husbands.
“Look, I’m sure they won’t—” Miranda began.
“The wedding is this weekend!” Hanna exclaimed, running a hand through her dark brown hair. “If they make me go up there, I’ll miss my own wedding! We’ve been planning it for months.”
“I know, honey—I helped you plan it,” Miranda said dryly.
“The wedding is on Saturday!” Hanna was getting more and more upset.
“I know, honey—I know. You’ll be there,” Miranda said soothingly. “We’ll all be there.”
Unfortunately, that included Hanna’s father—Miranda’s ex—and his new wife. He’d left Miranda for her six months ago, and the two of them were already expecting a baby.
To be honest, Miranda suspected that Jolene—that was the name of the new wife—had gotten pregnant even before Martin left her. She was fully twenty-five years younger than Miranda herself and had an unbearably smug attitude with absolutely no shame at all about being a husband-stealing home-wrecker.
Hanna had offered not to invite them to the wedding, but Miranda knew she was close to her dad. Even though Martin had been a lousy husband, he’d been a pretty good father, and Hanna wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t walk her down the aisle.
So she’d told her daughter not to worry about it. She would just have to suck it up and endure Jolene’s smug looks and pregnant belly and Martin’s sly, cheating grin. He clearly thought he’d won in the game of life, getting rid of his old, used-up wife and finding a brand new one to give him a son—which he’d always wanted.
Miranda was determined to make the best of it. She was going to wear her hair up and put on her nicest outfit. Never mind that she had gray streaks in her auburn mane and there were crows' feet around her eyes and laugh lines at the corners of her mouth. And never mind that she wasn’t exactly thin anymore—Martin could have his young, pregnant, skinny wife. (yes, even though she was pregnant, Jolene was still somehow skinny. Her whole body was thin except for the little bump in her midsection.) Anyway, her ex could have all that—Miranda was determined she would do her best to ignore them both.
She told herself she didn’t care about any of it. She was just going to go for her daughter and to make sure everything went smoothly. She wasn’t even going to look at Martin and Jolene or pay any attention to them, so—
“But what if they make me go up there—to the Monstrum Mother Ship?” Hanna’s plaintive wail snapped her back to the present.
“They won’t—I’m sure they won’t.” She did her best to keep her daughter calm. “Look, I’m sure they’ll understand. We’ll just go to the Hilton early and tell whoever’s in charge what’s going on.”
Not like they had time for this Monstrum nonsense, she’d thought to herself in irritation. She and Hanna were in up to their necks in last-minute wedding planning! But rules were rules and if a woman didn’t show up to a Drafting call, she could be arrested. There was nothing to do but answer the summons and explain the situation.
But despite their plan to be early, they barely made it on time. Traffic and parking around the Hilton had been awful—apparently hundreds of women had been called. By the time Miranda and Hanna got to their seats, the event was already starting and they didn’t have time to talk to anyone in charge.
The announcer—an ancient-looking Monstrum Satyr who introduced himself as “Stor’kuum” and looked human from the waist up but had a goat’s legs from the waist down—got on the PA and explained that only a fraction of the women who were seated would be called today.