Rebellion by J. A. Souders Read Free Book Online

here!”
    Father stares at him. “Where else would you prefer? The Residential Sector where Mother knows you’ve been staying? Or maybe since you’re intimately familiar with the Detainment Center, you’d like to be there. Perhaps you prefer more palatial surroundings and would like to stay in the Palace Wing itself. It would make it easier for Mother to find you.”
    â€œMother can find us here! How do we know that these people”—Gavin makes a wide gesture—“aren’t working with Mother?”
    â€œWe are not,” Nadia says from the doorway. She spears Gavin with her eyes.
    I clear my throat. “Gavin brings up an interesting question. How can we be sure that Mother won’t find us here? She knows everything. She has eyes and ears everywhere.”
    â€œWe’ve lived here in peace for almost fifty years. Mother may know almost everything, but she does not know about this place. I assure you.”
    â€œAnd we’re supposed to just take your word for it?”
    â€œYou do not have a choice,” Nadia says. “You have nowhere else to go.”
    Gavin opens his mouth, but I interrupt. “Maybe it would help us if you could tell us a little about this place. Like why it’s here, who you are, and why you want us here.”
    She nods. “I’ll start from the beginning.”
    â€œI really must go or Mother will start wondering where I am.” Father leaves the rest unsaid, but I get it. If she starts to wonder where he is, then she really will know where to find us.
    I nod my understanding and gesture for him to go ahead. I’m not exactly comfortable staying here in a place I don’t know, with an entire group of people who I don’t know, but at this moment here is safer than where I was.
    He takes a step, then hesitates. “Do you want me to send for your mo … get Evangeline? She’s been Linking me all day wanting to hear from you.”
    I glance away from him. “No. She’s better where she is.”
    â€œEvie…” Father starts.
    â€œDon’t. Don’t push this on me. I’m not ready yet.”
    â€œYou’re going to have to deal with her eventually.”
    â€œI’m not ready,” I say again in answer. I’m not ready for any of this. Especially not her.
    No one in the room says anything. If this were the Surface, you’d hear crickets. Finally Father nods. He leaves without looking at me.
    Nadia clears her throat. “Are we ready for the story now?” I nod so she continues, “I am Nadia. I was the staff nurse when this was the Elysium Resort. Now I’m the head of the Caverns.” I open my mouth to ask a question, but she holds up a finger and continues. “As you know, when Mother took over, she killed her own father, then everyone else she didn’t want as a member of her own family. I made it through the first round of her culling.”
    â€œHow?” I demand. “She only kept those that look most like her.”
    â€œMost like her mother actually. But that part didn’t come until later. Her first culling consisted of those she disliked. I’d always been kind to her. And at first, that’s all that was needed. No one is truly sure how she killed so many people, but I suspect poisoning. Their deaths were hideously slow. And to most of us, it appeared that someone had contracted one of the Surface diseases and it was spreading. Mother used our fear of another outbreak to inject everyone with nanites. She even convinced mothers to allow her to shove them in babies. Before anyone really had time to think about it and the consequences, everyone in Elysium had them.
    â€œThen came the second culling. It started with anyone who Mother connected with the war. Basically anyone who wasn’t American. Since the original hotel employed people from across the world, there were a lot to choose from. Most of the Citizens