what we
walked in on. Vanishing into nowhere was his lopsided grin and his
smug arrogance.
Distancing himself from my family in just
the way he'd always done, Jayden stepped away from us and moved
toward the door as if he were the sentinel assigned to guard us
rather than the actual family member he was. I didn't have time to
scold him for isolating himself from us. Instead, I ran in the
opposite direction and toward my family: Mom, Dad, Gran, and
Tawney.
"Is someone going to tell me what the heck
is going on here?" I demanded.
I wanted to use language a lot more colorful
but had the common sense to think those words rather than say them.
The last thing my parents would have appreciated was glaring proof
that I was quite nearly an adult because that— I suspected —was the sole reason we were all
cowering inside this barn in the middle of the night.
"Is all of this because I'm almost
seventeen?"
No one needed to answer me. They were all
uncomfortably fidgeting and glancing toward each other like they
were trying to decide who was going to tell me what was going
on.
Finally, Mom stepped out of the line and
toward me. Face to face and bravely staring me in the eyes, she
said, "Carlie, sweetie…" She breathed a shaky sigh. "Sweetie,
i-it's time for all of us to separate."
I'd known since she woke me what was
happening. Still, I felt like someone had just socked me in the
stomach. With a loud harrumph , I
wrapped my arms around my midsection and mumbled through the phlegm
clogging my throat.
As if all it would take to make my parents
change their mind, I shook my head and shouted, "No. No, it's not.
We're a family, and we're staying together. I don't want to go to
the academy. I don't want to leave you and Dad." I glanced in Dad's
direction, praying I could make him see the light. "Dad, you know
without Mom, Barone will use the MicroPharm to turn me into a
mindless, robotic vegetable.
"By the time he's finished with me, I'll be
some kind of frighteningly submissive housewife who claims Aspect
Nation is the only nation, and my uber dominant husband will be
allowed to decide if and when I have a kid, what sex it will
be, and the kid's every distinguishing feature. All President
Barone cares about is creating his perfect society. I can't be part
of that. Please let me stay with you. Please don't make me go
through that," I begged.
Before that moment, I'd have sworn that
living on a farm surrounded by separatists was the thing that
frightened me the most. Now, I knew going back to the nation's
capital without my parents— with
Barone— was a hundred times worse.
Barone, the things he'd done to me and the
way he studied me— like he had plans especially
for me —was scarier than anything I could imagine. In the
past, my parents had been there to protect me. Without them, there
was no telling what he would do to me.
As if she could hear my thoughts, Mom
visibly shivered. On cue, the rest of the room grew absolutely
quiet. They all realized that my speaking up, doing anything but
remaining reserved and under the radar, was out of character for
me. Tawney, who'd been curled in on herself sobbing just seconds
before, stood tall and stared toward me, while Gran's furrowed
brows and Jayden's complete attention fixed in my direction.
Comprehending that I was suddenly—and unwittingly—the center of
attention, I gulped back the rest of what I wanted to say.
I have to do what they're
asking. I have to be brave. For them I have to do this.
Dad warned, "Don't ever say anything like
that aloud again, Carlie. There are people who'll consider it
treason and kill you."
It was the first glimpse I'd ever given him
as it related to the knowledge I'd acquired working in Mom's
lab.
He has no idea what I
know.
One of my biggest discoveries came when Mom
had asked me to compile pre-MicroPharm statistics with
post-MicroPharm statistics. It took me several months to realize
the data I'd been given, posted on every website as factual,
walked in on. Vanishing into nowhere was his lopsided grin and his
smug arrogance.
Distancing himself from my family in just
the way he'd always done, Jayden stepped away from us and moved
toward the door as if he were the sentinel assigned to guard us
rather than the actual family member he was. I didn't have time to
scold him for isolating himself from us. Instead, I ran in the
opposite direction and toward my family: Mom, Dad, Gran, and
Tawney.
"Is someone going to tell me what the heck
is going on here?" I demanded.
I wanted to use language a lot more colorful
but had the common sense to think those words rather than say them.
The last thing my parents would have appreciated was glaring proof
that I was quite nearly an adult because that— I suspected —was the sole reason we were all
cowering inside this barn in the middle of the night.
"Is all of this because I'm almost
seventeen?"
No one needed to answer me. They were all
uncomfortably fidgeting and glancing toward each other like they
were trying to decide who was going to tell me what was going
on.
Finally, Mom stepped out of the line and
toward me. Face to face and bravely staring me in the eyes, she
said, "Carlie, sweetie…" She breathed a shaky sigh. "Sweetie,
i-it's time for all of us to separate."
I'd known since she woke me what was
happening. Still, I felt like someone had just socked me in the
stomach. With a loud harrumph , I
wrapped my arms around my midsection and mumbled through the phlegm
clogging my throat.
As if all it would take to make my parents
change their mind, I shook my head and shouted, "No. No, it's not.
We're a family, and we're staying together. I don't want to go to
the academy. I don't want to leave you and Dad." I glanced in Dad's
direction, praying I could make him see the light. "Dad, you know
without Mom, Barone will use the MicroPharm to turn me into a
mindless, robotic vegetable.
"By the time he's finished with me, I'll be
some kind of frighteningly submissive housewife who claims Aspect
Nation is the only nation, and my uber dominant husband will be
allowed to decide if and when I have a kid, what sex it will
be, and the kid's every distinguishing feature. All President
Barone cares about is creating his perfect society. I can't be part
of that. Please let me stay with you. Please don't make me go
through that," I begged.
Before that moment, I'd have sworn that
living on a farm surrounded by separatists was the thing that
frightened me the most. Now, I knew going back to the nation's
capital without my parents— with
Barone— was a hundred times worse.
Barone, the things he'd done to me and the
way he studied me— like he had plans especially
for me —was scarier than anything I could imagine. In the
past, my parents had been there to protect me. Without them, there
was no telling what he would do to me.
As if she could hear my thoughts, Mom
visibly shivered. On cue, the rest of the room grew absolutely
quiet. They all realized that my speaking up, doing anything but
remaining reserved and under the radar, was out of character for
me. Tawney, who'd been curled in on herself sobbing just seconds
before, stood tall and stared toward me, while Gran's furrowed
brows and Jayden's complete attention fixed in my direction.
Comprehending that I was suddenly—and unwittingly—the center of
attention, I gulped back the rest of what I wanted to say.
I have to do what they're
asking. I have to be brave. For them I have to do this.
Dad warned, "Don't ever say anything like
that aloud again, Carlie. There are people who'll consider it
treason and kill you."
It was the first glimpse I'd ever given him
as it related to the knowledge I'd acquired working in Mom's
lab.
He has no idea what I
know.
One of my biggest discoveries came when Mom
had asked me to compile pre-MicroPharm statistics with
post-MicroPharm statistics. It took me several months to realize
the data I'd been given, posted on every website as factual,
Similar Books
