The Trials of Renegade X by Chelsea M. Campbell

not stupid. But I couldn’t get it working quite right. The milk from these cows wasn’t exactly something you’d want to drink. And the meat was inedible.” She makes a face. “No one was going to pay for that. And then I found out I was pregnant with little Xavier here, and, well, I had to shut down my experiment. At least for the time being. But I guess I must have already had too much exposure to the formula, because here we are, four months and one healthy little baby later.”
    Healthy? I gape at her. Then at the baby in her arms. “You mean, he’s some kind of experiment?”
    “No! Of course not. He was exposed to one of my experimental formulas by accident, which is not the same thing. I was thinking maybe I could market it to busy women. Why take nine months to have a baby when you can do it in four? Or possibly three?”
    “That’s insane.”
    “That’s exactly what Taylor said. Men . You just don’t get it.”
    “But what’s going to happen to him? To my brother? I mean, if he’s going to age twice as fast as normal—”
    “ At least twice as fast, Damien. Give my formula the credit it deserves. Some of those cows grew at absolutely astounding rates, if I do say so myself.”
    “Then he’s not going to live as long.” Suddenly, I wish I hadn’t held him at all, that I hadn’t felt his weight in my arms or the way his tiny little legs wiggled inside his blanket. I was probably never going to get to see him again anyway, and now I find out he’s only going to have half a life. Less than that, according to Mom. Less than half as many leg wigglings. Less than half as many times hanging out with his friends. Less than half as many kisses. Less than half as many everythings .
    I gape at Mom, horrified, and back away. “How could you do this to him?”
    She holds Xavier extra close and glares at me. “It wasn’t something I did on purpose. Do you really think so little of me?”
    “How could you let this happen? How could you want to let this happen to other people ?!”
    “Keep your voice down. Obviously my formula needs some more work before I put it on the market. And he’s going to have a perfectly healthy and happy life, just like everyone else. The formula will wear off. I think.”
    “So he just doesn’t get to be a kid for very long, is that it? Let me guess—he’ll stop growing super fast once he turns sixteen, gets his V , and becomes my replacement?”
    “Damien!”
    Xavier starts full-out wailing, his little wrinkled face turning red and angry. I have to shout just to be heard over him. “So I guess that’s why you weren’t going to tell me about him! I wasn’t good enough for you, and instead of making things right with me, you just have a new kid. One who won’t waste any time growing up into a perfect teenage son, and then you can pretend I never even existed.”
    “I think you should leave.”
    “Yeah, I bet you do.”
    I turn to go just as there’s a knock on the door and Taylor comes in, balancing a couple of bags of Chinese food in his arms. “They didn’t have the pork that you wanted, but I got the— Damien?” He’s so shocked to see me, he loses his grip on one of the bags and has to scramble to keep from dropping it. “What are you doing here?”
    “ Leaving .” I push past him, and the only reason I don’t slam the door on my way out is for Xavier’s sake. He’s going to have a hard enough life as it is.

Chapter 5
    I DIAL KAT’S NUMBER for about the fiftieth time when Gordon, Alex, and me get home from the hospital. Today must be “nobody answers their phone” day, because she’s not picking up. Even though it’s after six and I know her classes must be over and she must be dying to tell me how it went.
    After about ten rings, her phone sends me to voicemail. Hey, this is Kat. I’m probably screening my calls right now, but if you leave an awesome enough message, I might call you back. Except you, Damien—you’re always awesome and