Human Error

BOOK 1 // FIVE: A Dark Hour

 Two years ago, Nova was the centre of our family.

It was difficult to put my sister into words. Most people had one distinguishing feature: the thing that others tended to notice first. With me, it was usually my blue eyes, or the way I could rack my brain for every word someone had ever said said to me. Orla had the type of striking dark-skinned beauty that turned heads on the street. Verity had the tall, slim stature of a supermodel.

Nova, on the other hand, wasn't so easy.

There were so many things to notice about her, even in passing, that anybody would struggle to pick just one. Her hair was a mane of tousled red waves, and the right lighting could set the colour on fire. Most modified kids were designed with unblemished skin, but my parents had gone all out on her freckles, dotting them all over her face. She went overboard on gold jewellery – bangles, rings and huge earrings had her jangling when she walked, which meant she could never sneak up on anybody.

And all that came from a glance. When you got to know her, there were just more quirks to learn. She could talk your ear off about old Buddhist traditions, tell you an elaborate story behind any of her rings, laugh until her stomach ached at the worst joke in the world. She could capture you with a smile, and let you go with the same thing.

There were no words big enough to describe her. She was just... Nova, and that in itself was the only explanation.

Until the side effects started showing. Then, Nova became much harder to define.

Even as a kid, she'd never had the longest fuse. Temper tantrums happened on a daily basis for eighteen years, usually stemming from the simple fact that Nova hadn't got her own way. In our teen years, disagreements with my parents ended in various acts of rebellion, ranging from staying out all night to that neck tattoo. Of course, that was the type of thing that could be overlooked. Just normal teenage behaviour. Stuff she'd grow out of.

But what happened next definitely wasn't.

We noticed it in the months leading up to her disappearance. A few standard rows over dinner had culminated in more anger than ever, which left Nova looking close to throwing something across the table. Then, my mother noticed her eyes, and she was being pinned to the floor before any of us had time to realise it.

"Harry!" Mum had shrieked, fighting to keep Nova's shoulders against the carpet. "Look at her! Her eyes!"

"Are you mental?" Nova screamed. "Let me go!"

My dad was out of his seat like a shot, kneeling beside the two of them. I wondered if I should've done the same, but pure shock had frozen me into position. My sister being manhandled by our parents was not a sight I'd ever thought I would see, and it was much more frightening than I could've anticipated.

They looked at each other over Nova's squirming figure, exchanging a glance I couldn't quite see.

"What do we do?" my mother asked, a note of pure panic in her voice.

It was the question I desperately wanted to hear the answer to. Unfortunately, this was also the moment they seemed to remember I was still in the room, and both heads snapped in my direction at once. The look on my dad's face told me not to argue before I even tried. "Astrid," he said, in a low voice, "could you finish your dinner upstairs, please?"