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was where he’d final y met Pip and Peter and together they had made the shocking discovery that Surpluses were being shipped in and used for their stem cel s to make Longevity+, the wonder drug that would treat the external signs of ageing as wel as the internal renewal process.
    That had been the end of Jude’s existence as a Legal citizen – from then on, he’d needed Underground protection. But the truth was, Legality wasn’t al it was cracked up to be, not when you were the only Legal person your age in what felt like the whole city or possibly the whole country.
    ‘No thank you,’ Sheila said haughtily, immediately starting to push her broom around the floor. ‘I’ve actual y got a lot of things to do.’
    Jude grinned. ‘But we both know you’re not going to do them.’
    Sheila folded her arms defensively. ‘I am. I’m not a layabout like you.’ She turned and swept some dust out of the corner, then swept it back again. He watched in amusement, but didn’t say anything. Sheila had grown up in a Surplus Hal . She never tired of tel ing anyone who’d listen that she wasn’t a Surplus, that her parents had Opted Out of the Declaration, forgoing Longevity so they could have her, but even so she’d stil ended up being taken by the Catchers and trained to be a Valuable Asset, a housekeeper or other servant. Except it seemed that wasn’t what Valuable Assets were after al . At Pincent Pharma, she’d discovered that Richard Pincent needed them for . . . other things.
    ‘Suit yourself.’
    ‘I wil . And if I were you I’d read some of those books Pip gave you. You’re lucky to be here, Jude.’
    ‘So what – I should make myself more valuable?’ Again he regret ed the words as soon as they were spoken. When they’d first been taken in by the Underground Sheila had made a big deal about the housekeeping skil s she’d learned at Grange Hal , about how valuable she’d be to everyone. But the Underground tended to choose derelict and uninhabitable buildings for its premises, and it wasn’t that easy being a housekeeper in a place that was ful of dust and where no one real y seemed to care if the floors were clean or not. It soon turned out that Sheila wasn’t that great at cleaning anyway, nor at cooking, unless charred food was your idea of haute cuisine. Which meant that she spent most of her time trailing around the place, a slightly defensive look on her face. Jude could relate to that; he felt like he was continual y trying to defend his position, his value, his usefulness.
    ‘I was rescued ,’ Sheila said, evidently deciding that at ack was the best form of defence. ‘I was in a Surplus Hal because the Catchers stole me from my parents.
    You’re . . . wel , you were just living in a house, weren’t you? I mean, you don’t real y need to be here at al .’
    Jude took a deep breath. Always the same digs, the same pointed comments, as if life was a competition and if Sheila didn’t at empt to put him down at least three times a day she’d somehow be losing in the game of life. Trouble was, she’d already lost so many times and Jude knew it. A life spent at Grange Hal , her first taste of the world outside being strapped to a bed in Unit X, Pincent Pharma’s dirty lit le secret.
    Sheila had never been on her own but he knew she’d been lonely – desperately lonely. She’d been very hazy about her friends at Grange Hal , but she sometimes told him stories about the vicious games they played there, the bul ying and the punishments regularly dished out, which made Jude ache when he thought about it.
    He would forgive Sheila anything because of what she’d been through – her biting comments, her twisted morality, the way she watched him quietly then skulked into the shadows the moment he turned round.
    ‘Not like me,’ she continued. ‘I mean, I was Legal too, but the Catchers stole me from my grandparents and my parents couldn’t find me again.’
    She shot Jude a meaningful look