“Are you kidding me?!” Conrad Kratz, my boss, had just sent out an email asking to see the draft market research report by next Wednesday. I was flustered. My team had only just finished gathering the data on consumers, competitors, and market conditions, and we still needed time to analyze the information and convert the findings into a written report. Most days this job was a breeze, so I didn’t mind it, but lately, my “boss” had been trying to prove himself to his new boss, and he was putting the squeeze on everyone below him. It was ridiculous that I had to put up with all of this just to keep my cover safe—especially for someone with my family's status. I really shouldn’t have to work for anyone. I slammed my hand down on the desk, annoyed.
“I’m going be here all weekend,” I grumbled as I sent a text to my colleague, Ty, to cancel our after-work tennis plans. A few minutes later, Ty popped his head into my office.
“Kratz problems?” he smirked.
“This is the second time this quarter he has placed impossible timelines on us.”
“Want me to tell my dad to get rid of him?” he offered slyly.
Ty was one of the few people who knew my real identity. His father was the head of security for my father, a powerful D Glow. My real name was Stephen LeBete. Out of security concerns, my mother insisted I go by Julien Romero and pretend I was her nephew. My mom, Esmerelda, had then started a rumor that Stephen LeBete had moved to Buenaventura, Colombia, when he turned eighteen. Her sister's son, Julien, moved to Manhattan and Esmerelda invited him over for family events from time to time. This apparently seemed entirely plausible to Normals and Glows. I had been homeschooled since I was ten years old, so not many people really knew what an older Stephen looked like.
“Thanks, Ty,” I sighed, “but I will pass this time—only because he would just be replaced with another Kratz-type person.”
If I had said yes, Ty would seriously have done it. He was a D Glow like me, clearly influenced by his D Glow father, Feng, who got full custody of him after he departnered from his D Glow mother before their partner contract was up. His mother had initially fought to keep him to get the alimony, but my father had resources to help a trusted employee when needed. She took the money and Ty never saw her again. I have no idea why Feng had fought to keep him. Maybe revenge? Pride? He was never home, so Ty was pretty much raised by a number of different nannies.
Even though we were both Pure D Glows, I sometimes felt like Ty was darker than me. He was always trying to hack into a computer system, break someone's heart, or steal someone's identity, all to impress his dad. I seriously doubted Feng would ever be impressed with anything Ty did. He was a cold, emotionless man. I kept this thought to myself though—I kept a lot of thoughts to myself. I remembered my mother had laughed when, years ago, I asked why I didn’t feel like living for my own selfish interests, inflicting pain on others, and generally wreaking havoc like most D Glows did. I was worried that my annual scaling would reveal that I had moved, somehow, into the light zone.
“That's impossible,” she chastised. “Both your father and I are powerful Pure D Glows. You are far too strong in darkness to move into the light.” She added that D Glows manifested in different ways and then warned me never to tell any D Glow that I felt this way under the threat of death; this terrified me enough to keep my mouth shut. So I typically went along with Ty's crazy plans to hot-wire a car and go for a joyride or shoplift from the grocery store—not that we couldn’t afford it. If it ever got back to my father that I did anything to the contrary, I would be in serious trouble.
“Suit yourself,” Ty retorted. “I know some good moves myself, you know.” He did a swift kick up into the air that looked more like an eighties breakdance move than an intimidating martial arts skill. “Think your sister would be impressed by that?” he asked, hopeful. Ty's ideal partner was apparently my egocentric sister, Alecia. She didn’t care for Ty, but she put up with him because she admired Feng. Although she was on my dad's intelligence team, she often collaborated with the security team, so she knew firsthand he was skilled and reliable.
“You’re too good for Alecia,” I quipped. “Besides, I hear Hollywood needs more breakdancers. You should forget Alecia and go bust out the moves in a B movie.”
“Go to the light,” Ty jeered.
“Ouch, harsh words for a tiny dancer,” I retorted. Ty put both hands up in the air.
“I see what's happening here. You’re just jealous.” He laughed and bounded out of the office. After Ty left, I began to send out emails to the team about the new deliverable timeline. As I hit send, my thoughts wandered to the woman I had met the other day at the health fair. What was her name? Stella? Stacy? I racked my brain. She had to be a Light Glow. No designer clothes, a nutritionist, no makeup…Probably best I didn’t ask for her number; it would be more trouble than it was worth. Then again, I could have checked out the situation to see if there was a way I could move her on the scale toward darkness. Irritatingly, I couldn’t shake the notion that this wasn’t what I wanted to do. What's wrong with me? Why can’t I just enjoy destroying people's lives like most D Glows? My father would approve of me trying to turn an L Glow for sure—then again, if I screwed it up, he would be pissed. I decided not to think about it anymore and started to ruffle through the stack of papers that had grown on my desk.