Total skitting freaks.

Rama and Judit had entered a wide room, the ceiling and far wall made entirely of glass, revealing a vista of the pink-bottomed evening sky. But Judit couldn't see that. She couldn't see any of it.

All she could see was the kids.

Every single one of them bore that curse that, until now, she had thought was hers alone.

Orange.

The shades changed, running from peach-blonde to amber: the mottle of rust; the bright shimmer of a dimming flame; the lurid tangerine of a gummy sweet.

The hair. They all had the hair. She'd never seen it before, on anyone else, and here it was. On every single inhabitant of this room. Except me, Judit thought, moving her hand to the blue brushing her collar.

The kids were frozen, all looking at her. They were teenagers, a similar age to her she guessed, some older, between about fifteen and twenty. They were all wearing the same sober tracksuit she was.

Their poses suggested they'd been relaxing before she came in, their recreations paused while they stared at her.

After a short moment of utter scrutiny, some of them returned to what they were doing, albeit with a degree of self-consciousness. Others continued to stare.

"Hi everyone!" Rama said, all bright cheerfulness. "This is Judit. She's going to be joining us tomorrow, so I'm sure you can help her get settled in!"

A few of the other kids looked towards her, perhaps ready to offer greeting, but she avoided their eyes, surveying the room around her instead. It was chic and minimal, full of slouchy white sofas. There was a long, empty table along the glass wall. The whole place was rose-tinted by the long-shadowed sunset.

Judit moved to the window quickly, keeping her back to the room and its inhabitants. Outside was a rectangular grass courtyard, enclosed on all sides. Slap bang in the middle of the little field was a pile of dark stones, neatly stacked into a long, squat rectangle. Bundles of what looked like grass were leaning against it.

"Do you want a drink?" Rama joined her. His tone was intimate, as if they were kin. She didn't like it here in front of everybody. It was like he was trying to make her look weak.

Judit nodded, keeping her manner as distant as she could, and took a bottle of juice. She nursed it, glad to have something to do with her hands, and went back to staring out of the window. Beyond the grass yard she could see into the building at the other side. It looked like conference rooms, stylish white chairs in semi-circles, pointing towards large wall-mounted screens. Everything was chic and brand new.

Rama started talking, as if she actually gave a dag what it was she was looking at. "This is the social room. You have your meals here. Beyond the quad are the classrooms." He waved toward the courtyard, and smiled at Judit. "Beyond that, there's a larger outdoor training ground. Do you want to see the blackhouse?"

"No. I'm alright," Judit said listlessly. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"Okay." He was still upbeat, despite her hostile response. "You'll be able to see it tomorrow, anyway."

Judit stared at the plastic rim of her bottle, giving it the same level of attention that she'd previously given the window.

"They're doing thatching at the moment," he said. "We won't let you miss anything, even though you've joined us late. We're hoping—"

She purposefully turned and walked away before he finished his sentence, pretending to study a boring picture on the wall, more forest scenes.

After a while, he started up a conversation with someone else behind her. She felt both relieved and disappointed. She didn't want to be in this room, standing alone. She kept her back to the crowd. Trying to act natural, trying to be Lox.

At least I know why I'm here now, she thought. To join the orange-head freak brigade. Ugh. The shame of being in this weirdo little group was drowning her. I really don't have to be nervous. As if it was worth caring what any of these nyaffs thought.

She inhaled, put on her game face, and turned around to study the other kids. There were about twenty teenagers in all, most of them looking pretty indiscriminate in their matching uniforms. Without even thinking about it, her mind automatically started trying to sort them out, see if there were any sleek guys, if anyone looked sharp.

A few stood out, showed a glimpse of personality. Judit's eyes were immediately drawn to a girl with a single braid coiled around her head, her hair a rich terracotta colour.

She was by far the sleekest girl here. There was something in her that, just like Lox and her big ears, managed to turn a flaw—her ginger hair—into a unique attribute of beauty, especially hers. Judit found her eyes flicking back to the girl repeatedly as she surveyed the room's other residents. She was sitting with another girl who had a beehive, like Lox's, though not as tall, and in that ridiculous colour. But maybe she had some pitch.

There was a tall thin guy, leaning on the back of a chair, holding a bottle of juice in his hand as if it was a beer. His hair was a kinky, sandy orange, all on top of his head, shaved at the back and sides. He maybe had a bit of tang. Another guy he was talking to had hair right down to his waist, thick, a deep, burnt sienna. Gross, judit thought.

Pretty much everyone else blended into the background with their identical uniforms, their weirdo hair. She noticed that a few of them had tried to give personality to the featureless clothes. Some of the boys, the maybe-tang-maybe-not one with kinky, sandy hair included, were wearing their tracksuits purposefully small, so they were tight to their chests, the legs stopping at the calf, showing a line of flesh above their socks, which were pulled up high. Some of the girls had done this with their trousers too, though they eschewed the hooded jackets in favour of the thin black t-shirts they'd been given to wear underneath, which were tucked into the trousers, the sleeves rolled up.

Two of the girls had brutally short fringes, showing huge expanses of forehead, and one wore massive glasses, the lenses extending a good distance above her eyebrows. All together, these flourishes reminded her of a style she'd seen around, fashion sites, guys in bands online, that sort of thing, but not the kind of music she listened to.

Judit moved towards a chair and sat down, away from the other people, trying to act nonchalant, be fitter than them, channelling Lox.

"Hiya. Grinn hair."

Despite her best intentions, Judit was actually kind of relived when someone came to speak to her. It was hard acting sharp on your own without even a screen to look at.

It was one of the girls with a brutal short fringe. It made her head look massive. She had the same tight-and-short trouser thing going on as maybe-tang kinky boy, and the rest of her hair was wavy and shoulder length, shorter at the back than the front. It was a really unfortunate traffic-light bright orange.

"Bet they went skitting dagcrank over that." She nodded to Judit's blue bob. "Just like this." she raised her hands, knuckles uppermost, towards Judit. Black letters were tattooed on her forefingers, spelling out the words

HOPE LESS
ROMA NTIC.

"Sharp," Judit said, forgetting to be superior for a moment. It was pretty sharp.

"I had it done just before I came. Dunno why. Just so I could, I suppose. They're making me lazer it off," the girl said, dropping to the chair next to Judit. "Enjoy it while you can, they'll have that," she gestured to Judit's head, "dyed back to your natural colour before you know it. What's it like? Bet you're not as intense as me."

Judit pulled a face, not liking the idea of being lumped in with this group of hair-mutants, even though her natural colour was pretty much dead in the middle, a fiery ball of orange curls. Not luminous, like this girl's, but rich and bright in hue.

"Dunno," she said. "Just normal. Like, brown."

Why was she lying? Why else would she be here?

"Oh," the girl said, pursing her lips. "Well I'm sure they have their reasons. Anyway, I just think it's nice to get some fresh blood in here, not from the reservation."

"Reservation?" Judit echoed.

"Yeah." The girl looked at her like she should know what she was talking about. "There's hardly anyone here we didn't know before. Just you and Fat Jaddy." she pointed to a guy sitting in the corner, short and corpulent, with a buzz-cut.

Judit nodded, the kind of nod that says okay, whatever.

"I keep hoping they're gonna walk in with some sleek guy," the girl continued. "No such luck. Rama says you're it, now. My dreams are dashed."

Judit didn't know what she was talking about. She was momentarily tempted to ask the girl to tell her everything, but that would give the girl one over on her, which didn't seem like something Lox would do.

"I'm Merle," she said, reaching toward Judit—with her right hand, HOPE ROMA—to shake hands. It was an ironic sort of gesture, people their age didn't really shake hands.

"Judit."

Judit took Merle's hand for a millisecond before stuffing her own under her thigh.

"Judit? That's weird. I've never heard it before," Merle said.

"Not as weird as Merle," Judit shot back.

Merle shrugged. "Yeah, 'spose."

She pursed her lips again. "You look kinda like you could be Exotic or something."

Judit looked at her sharply. "Do I?"

Merle nodded and said, "Yeah."

Judit considered whether to be offended, and decided no. Merle's outright question was better than the murmurs of the medics earlier.

"I'm half Exotic," she conceded. "My mum."

"That's crude!" Merle said. "I love it! But it's kinda weird too, what with the project."

"Is it?" Judit asked.

"Yeah," Merle said, "because we're supposed to be, y'know," she changed her voice, going all deep and spooky, "the last of the Natives. Ah well, I'm sure they know what they're doing."

"Maybe it's a mistake," Judit said.

Hadn't the induction woman said that? That she thought it was a mistake? That Judit shouldn't be here? Hope leapt in her stomach violently, making her feel almost sick.

"Nah, I don't think so," Merle said. She was quiet for a moment. "I wonder if they'll make you change your name?"

"Why would they?"

"Y'know, to summat more...Native. Like 'Maukin' or something."

Judit screwed up her face. She couldn't handle this conversation any more.

"I've gotta go," she said to Merle, standing up. "Nice to meet you or whatever."

"Yeah, you too!" Merle tipped her chin to the side, her wavy hair falling back from her face. "I'll see you tomorrow. We can sit together for botany. That'd be grinn."

"Okay, Merle," Judit said, in her best I don't care Lox-voice. She gave a grim smile, pulling back the corners of her mouth only, not moving her eyes. She didn't know what "grinn" meant, and she had no desire to sit next to Merle anywhere tomorrow.

"Rama?" Judit angled her body towards him to avoid making eye contact with the people he was talking to. "I want to go back to my room. Now please."

Rama looked momentarily surprised at her commanding tone, but did as she said.