I showered in record time and then tore into the changing room. My Auctioning clothes tumbled out of my bag. It had taken me months to find them; I must have gone shopping with Carly and Eleika almost fifty times. Finally, I'd chosen my colors. Orange and black. Purple and red. Sleek leggings under a half skirt that floated up my back into a hood, and then a jacket that I'd zipped up this morning over my jumpsuit to hide the brand printed across my chest. My hands felt thick and clumsy as I stepped back into them. It took me two tries to get the zipper up, but once I did, I took a moment to lean into the mirror and smile against the glass. My heart thumped hard against my ribcage.

"Happy Auctioning, Madeline Merce," I whispered.

The words tasted like blasphemy. Sweet. The girl staring back at me from the mirror looked electric, alive and frightened all at the same time. I blew her a shaky kiss and laughed at myself. Maybe I'd change my face when I got to MERCE. You couldn't change with ANRON—they were testing too many things to factor in the extra surgery and drugs. It would be good to finally look in the mirror and see something human look back. Blue skin, maybe. Or angel-wing eyes.

I took one more breath and then ran again. I grabbed my skimboard from the parking lot and tore through the Promenade, pushing my modded engine to its limit. The DRAYTH patrollers could eat my dust if they wanted to get me for speeding. Not that there were any around. My knuckles were white on the handlebars—it felt like I was flying through a ghost town. Empty shops with darkened windows whirled past me in a blur. Everyone was already at the Auctioning, sitting in the stands and gossiping about who would go where and for how much.

Feeling like my nerves were about to swallow me alive, I skidded to a stop outside Unilox Hall, hastily locked up my skimboard, and then sprinted up the marble steps. I pushed open the door and felt eyes on me in the semi-darkness, zooming in and glittering in incredulity. Can you believe her? Late for her own Auctioning. I flushed and tried to hide under my hood. I moved down the aisle looking for a familiar face. Finally, my display zoomed in on Eleika. She'd saved me a seat. I collapsed next to her. "What'd I miss?" I whispered.

Eleika's hand fastened on mine in a death grip. "Aliss went for eighty-nine thousand," she said. "Back to ANRON."

I couldn't help myself. Four years of petty rivalry bubbled up in me and I smirked. "She must be cut she didn't make the nineties."

This time Eleika did look at me. She was nearly grey in the shadows cast by the lights on the Auctioning stage. Her eyes were dark. "Shut up, Maddie," she said, and turned away.

I winced. Once again, I'd just opened my mouth and . . . "Sorry," I whispered. I squeezed her hand. "You'll be fine. We'll be fine."

She didn't respond. I looked down at my lap, feeling guilty about my luck. She'd grown up with the mantra "anywhere but DRAYTH" and seeing her parents worn down to the bone every day. I'd grown up with my parents' Auctioning certificates displayed proudly on the walls. My mother had gone for fifty-two thousand. My father for fifty-one. Thirty years ago, that sort of money had been the equivalent of the great one hundred thousand—the century. With those genes, ANRON would have to be mad not to bid at least some sort of equivalent on me, even if I'd bombed my interview.

The key was getting someone to bid back.

I looked down over the rows of students in front of us, down to the pit where the corporate representatives waited with the hungry look of investment bankers. Above them sat what felt like everyone in Unilox, minus those who were unable or unwilling to take the afternoon off. Such as my parents. I swallowed down my resentment and glanced at the stage, at the Auctioneer and her hammer and the wall-length screen behind her. Right now, the face of someone I vaguely recognized from math was blown up across it, a giant twin to the real kid standing on the platform next to the Auctioneer and trying not to tremble. Declan? No. David. He wore HARLIN's trademark pants and shirt with an ill-fitting grace. The current bid number was projected over his face. Only twenty-four thousand. I winced. His eyes had an unearthly sheen to them. I remembered seeing him helping another kid parse his data in class. He didn't deserve this. I suddenly found myself holding Eleika's hand just as tightly as she was holding mine.

"Twenty-four thousand, two hundred and fifty," someone called out from PERCO. The numbers over David's face updated. There was a brief conference amongst the HARLIN suits, all ducked heads and waving hands. And then the lead bidder shook his head.

The Auctioneer straightened. "Going once," she said. She paused. "Going twice." Nothing. "Sold, to PERCO Agriculture Limited for twenty-four thousand, two hundred and fifty credits!"

My gut twisted with horror and sympathy. I couldn't imagine being valued below thirty thousand credits. David looked like he'd been hit by a hovercar. Security came from behind the screen to lead him off the stage, but then he had to stumble by himself all the way to the back where the kids who had already been Auctioned stood. Some of them were happy, but it was easier to see the ones that weren't. The ones choking on muffled tears, or turned away, or even just watching the Auctioning with faces so blank they scared me.

I turned back to the stage, my heart hammering. I was so tense I felt like one wrong move would snap me in half. I wished they would call me. But I had no idea when they would. None of us did. They randomly generated the order each time. After David they called up Pian-Ling from MERCE. Then Huon from DRAYTH Industries. It was all brutally efficient. I could see that the suits had all of our data arrayed on the screens around them, churning through formulas that told them how high to bid or whether or not to bid at all. I fixed my eyes on the MERCE UConns and prayed, focusing so hard that I almost didn't notice Eleika get called.

"Eleika!" I lunged for her hand, managing to grab it again before she moved away. "Good luck."

She looked back at me like I was a stranger. Her eyes were glassy, as if she was being chased. She nodded once, mute, and then let go. She was shaking when she got to the stage. Worse, I saw that she knew she was shaking, but she couldn't stop. I swallowed around a suddenly dry mouth. What would I be like when my turn came? Would I shake too? Would I burst into tears if nobody bid, or if nobody bid high enough? Or would I just stand there, mute and stricken, until the Auctioneer called security to lead me away?

The Auctioneer looked down at her UConn and cleared her throat. "Eleika Anron, license number 92841XC. Starting at forty-four thousand, two hundred and forty-nine!"

I smiled up at her, hoping she could see me. But she stared right past me. Over me. The collar around her neck gleamed. A man from DRAYTH Industries raised his hand first. "Forty-five thousand!"

Eleika looked like she'd been hit across the face. I stopped breathing. For a terrible moment I thought that that was it, and then a woman from PERCO waved back. "Forty-five thousand, three hundred and fifty!"

I started breathing again. I scanned the other groups desperately. But none of them were looking at their UConns anymore. They were sitting back, stretching, joking. Bored. Eleika's data must have run through their formulas and come up . . . lacking. It was between PERCO and DRAYTH.

Eleika's face had drained of blood. Under the Auctioning lights, she looked like she was cut out of paper. The numbers came like the echoes of a gunshot.

"Forty-five thousand, five hundred!"

"Forty-five thousand, six hundred and fifty!"

"Forty-five thousand, eight hundred!"

"Forty-six thousand!"

"Forty-six thousand, three hundred and fifty!"

Silence. DRAYTH's offer was still written over Eleika's face. I fisted my hands in my jacket and leaned forward, willing PERCO to respond. The woman from PERCO turned, spoke to someone, and then shook her head.

The Auctioneer's voice sounded like it came from far away, like it wasn't real.

"Going once!"

I turned away.

"Going twice!"

I couldn't watch this.

"Sold, to DRAYTH Industries Limited for forty-six thousand, three hundred and fifty!"

I caved and looked back at the stage, just in time to see Eleika collapse.

The Auctioning rolled on. Faces showed up on the screen, crying, smiling. Numbers were called out, meaningless. Everything blurred together. The empty chair where Eleika had been sitting next to me burned with the reminder of what could happen. Her eyes as she'd been helped off the stage haunted me. I was sick with grief for her and worry for myself. I wished they'd call me already. It had been almost three hours. I looked around. Most of us were gone. There had been three hundred and sixty-seven of us. Now there was only maybe twenty-three, kicking their feet, going pale in the darkness.

Then twenty-two.

Then seventeen.

Number fifteen went for a century to MERCE. There was a shocked silence, and then applause rattled through the hall. I didn't know her, but if I could have sold anything at that moment to be her, I would have. Surely MERCE would still have budget for me?

Thirteen.

Twelve.

Six.

The Auctioneer was flagging. She'd been standing for hours in those heels. Her fingers kept going to her white collar, clutching at the edges as if they were keeping her upright. I was hunched like a little girl now, holding myself together by my knees so I wouldn't shake myself apart. Come on. Come on.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

I was the last one in the stalls. I had to be next. My palms sprouted sweat as I stood, ready to walk down. My legs shook. I felt fear and exhilaration pump through my veins. This was it. Finally . . .

The Auctioneer cleared her throat. "And that closes the Auctioning for this year," she said. Her voice was hoarse now, spent. "Thank you all for coming."

I stopped. Shock snapped through my system. Time slowed. A good five to ten seconds passed where I just stared as the suits started moving, packing up, stretching, heading toward that back door. Then the words burst out from nowhere.

"Wait!" I cried. My voice cracked. "Wait!"

The Auctioneer turned. I zoomed in automatically and saw the surprise tightening her eyes. She hadn't seen me. My heart gave an awful lurch. "Wait, please," I said stupidly. "I . . . I haven't been Auctioned yet."

She stared at me with a puzzled frown, and then she glanced down at her UConn. Behind her, the suits were still leaving. I took a few shaky steps forward. If they left I wouldn't get a good price. I might not get any price. "Wait!" I pleaded again. But this time, I wasn't sure if anyone heard me.

Long moments passed as the Auctioneer checked her screen. I watched every flicker of her eyelids, saw the moment that her face froze abruptly. But when she looked up, her expression was so neutral my heart sank.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You're not on the list."

I found out then, in front of three hundred and sixty-six kids, in front of the contingents of all the Corporations in Unilox and one thin-lipped Auctioneer, exactly the sort of person that I was.

The type of person who turned and ran.