Read Firstlife for Free Online

the first time.
    Have access to the best advisors in the world.
    Make friends who will always have your back.
    Pick one. Pick all. Gimme. But too bad for her, Myriad makes the same promises.
    I place my newest blood mark on the calendar and straighten with ease. My back is on the mend, my range of motion almost normal.
    â€œTell me something,” Bow says as she ties her boots. I’m surprised she’s lucid. She spent the entire night threatening the wall. Go away. I’m going to kill you . Oh, yeah? Well, I can definitely hurt you. “Have you met with a new ML lately? A boy? Maybe kinda sorta...handsome.” She gags, as if the word tastes foul. “Maybe he pulled you aside in secret.”
    ML—Myriad Laborer. “No. Why?”
    She hikes a shoulder in a faux-casual shrug. “I know Myriad’s MO. When a teenage girl refuses to do their bidding, they send a boy they think she’ll like. One who’s supposed to rev her engine.”
    â€œMy engine is set to idle, remember? Maybe permanently.” After James... No. Just no.
    â€œHey. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    My parents would never agree to...
    Oh, who am I kidding? They so would.
    â€œI guess it’s better than the alternative.” She stands, stretches her arms over her head and arches her back. “If Myriad ever considers you a lost cause, there’s a good chance they’ll send someone to kill you.”
    Same with Troika. There have always been whispers about Laborers who poison the Unsigned to prevent a pledge to the other realm. “One, I’m not close to signing, period. And two, if I die here, Dr. Vans won’t get a bonus.”
    The pro? The greedy bastard would take a bullet to save me. The con? It’s just a matter of time before he ramps my torture to the next level.
    No matter what’s done to me in the future, I will hold out. I must. I’ll be released on my eighteenth birthday. Though my parents signed with Myriad before my conception, there was a special clause for the birth of a child.
    When I came along, their contracts had to be renegotiated. Now their benefits are dependent on my decision. An incentive to raise me the “right” way.
    If I haven’t signed with Myriad by the time I’m a legal adult, my parents will lose everything they love more than they ever loved me. Money, prestige. Homes. Cars. Boats. Not to mention the things they were promised in the Everlife.
    Bow sighs. “Another day, another breakfast. Or a meal pretending to be breakfast.”
    A sense of doom overtakes me, a shadow I’m unable to shake. Bad is coming. Bad is always coming. But since six days have passed without incident—bad is coming soon .
    Sounding resigned, she says, “Our cell will open in—”
    â€œThree, two, one,” I finish.
    The doors slide apart, and we race into the hall.
    Sloan spots me and flips me off. I know she’s pleased four guards are missing, but she’s also ticked about something—clearly—and lashing out.
    I look her over and find finger-size bruises around her neck. Someone tried to choke her out. Been there, lived through that.
    If I show her an ounce of sympathy, she’ll try to throat punch me. I blow her a kiss.
    â€œCome on,” I say to Bow.
    We make our way to the cafeteria, where I count the occupants out of habit. My gaze lands on a boy I’ve never before seen and oh, wow. Okay. He. Is. Gorgeous. Not that I care about a pretty face. Pretty can hide a monster. But I’m not overhyping when I say he’s a living ad for every dream-boy fantasy every girl in the universe has ever had.
    He has dark hair that hangs over a stern brow. I can’t make out the color of his eyes, but just like with Bow, I can feel the intensity of them—because they’re locked on me. His nose is straight, perfect, and his lips soft and pink. His jaw is strong and dusted with the shadow of