Awaken (The Awaken Series Book 1)

by Maggie Sunseri

  “Um… thanks.”

  Aunt May was keeping something huge from me, and I was desperate to figure out what it was.

  “Sorry, I must sound crazy right now.” May laughed, wiping the tears from her face.

  “Yeah, a little,” I said, keeping my tone joking. I glanced at the clock, standing up quickly when I realized the time. I told my parents I was staying after school for tutoring, and it was past time for when I was supposed to be home. “I have to go. Can we meet tomorrow at four?”

  “Yes, but I have to be somewhere at five,” Aunt May replied, her voice cracking.

  She stood up and wrapped me in a hug. I was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable about all of these signs. What were they pointing to? What was I missing?

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she whispered as she pulled away. She forced a smile—a smile so full of sorrow and regret, yet determination shining through the cracks. Aunt May was going through with whatever she was crying about, and nothing was going to change her mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Today is the day I will confront Councilman Tomlinson. Today is the day I will find out why.

  “Luna? Are you ready to go?” Mother called from downstairs.

  I slipped into a professional-looking navy skirt and tucked in my white blouse. I then slid my feet into terribly uncomfortable shoes that Mother all but forced me to wear. I could already feel blisters forming as I wobbled down the stairs, clutching the banister as I went.

  “You look ridiculous,” Mother said from the front door. I could tell she was holding back laughter, and I shot her a look of irritation.

  “I told you I was bad with heels,” I retorted.

  “Go change. Wear some black flats or something.”

  I let out a breath of relief. “Thank God,” I muttered. I unbuckled and stepped out of the shoes in a hurry.

  “Thank who?” Mother asked, cocking her head. I thought about it for a moment, realizing that I had just repeated something I always heard Jasper say. I honestly had no clue who I was thanking.

  “Um, never mind. I’ll go change.” I carried the heels up the stairs, a sinking feeling in my chest at the thought of Jasper.

  ~~~~~

  I sat in Mother’s office, my stomach churning as I ran through how I was to confront Tomlinson. The fear of wasting the opportunity when it finally presented itself weighed heavily on my mind. Did I really have the courage to go through with this? If I approached Oportet’s leader, the man who, with the wave of a hand, had the power to wipe my entire mind, would I really be able to use my words the right way?

  Mother was typing away on her computer, her face rigid. She rubbed her eyes, her limbs moving in slow motion when the phone began to ring.

  She took her time raising the phone to her ear, and I straightened up in my chair. I took deep breaths as I waited.

  “I’ll send her down right away,” Mother said, sending a nod my way. She gave me a small smile, but I was far too nervous to do anything but breathe.

  It will all be okay, I told myself. I repeated the line in my head until it was nothing but a way to keep my mind distracted. I repeated it as I exited Mother’s office, as I waited in the elevator, and as I steered through the hallways of the vast government building.

  The walls were white. The floors were white. It even smelled like white.

  The Council members and close advisers—like my Father—were located in an annex that was attached to the main building. Before I could pass through the connecting hallway, I would have to face the Council’s relentless security system.

  There were three armed guards positioned there now, and the one manning the electronic, steel doors leading to the Council’s headquarters looked up as I approached. The other two were stationed at either side of the doors, their faces stone-like.

  “Name?” the guard at the desk asked me.

  “Luna Beckham.” The attempt to make my voice sound strong and purposeful only half-worked, making me sound more like an intimidated teenager.

  The guard typed something on the large, sleek computer at his desk—technology like I’d never seen before. The man gave me a slight nod before typing something else on his computer, followed by a loud mechanical noise emanating from the Council’s building.

  The steel doors glided open within seconds, and the two guards positioned in front of it moved to let me pass.

  I took yet another deep breath and moved on through the doors. The connecting hallway was entirely concrete—and dark. The only light came from the flickering fluorescents positioned along the walls. At the end of the hallway was another set of guards, but only two this time.

  In between the two guards was the large body scanner Father never stopped complaining about.

  I could not help but feel awkward as I walked down the long hallway, the two guards focused on my approach. I suddenly had to concentrate to walk normally under their scrutiny. The sound of my feet hitting the concrete echoed dramatically against the walled enclosure.

  “Step through,” one of the guards said when I reached the end. When I stepped into the machine, the guard studied the screen on the other side. Finding nothing incriminating, he signaled for the second guard to type a code into the wall next to the doors.

  “Have a nice day, Ms. Beckham,” he said.

  I did not have time to figure out how he knew my name before I was ushered through the second set of doors.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled as I passed.

  I was finally inside the Council’s main building. I took out the folded map from my pocket, studying the path marked in red that led to Tomlinson’s office. The offices of the councilmen were located in the very center of the building.

  I made my way down the first hallway, turning left at the end, and then took an elevator to reach the second floor. In the elevator, a man in the corner was speaking into what appeared to be a small wireless phone. I did not think that those kinds of devices were allowed in Oportet. I glanced at it out of the corner of my eye, worried that the man would notice me staring. He was too caught up in his conversation to pay any attention to me, though.

  The technology I had observed in the Council’s building and with the guards was far more advanced than the average citizen’s possessions. What was so dangerous about these slim and sleek phones and computers?

  The elevator came to a stop at the second floor. I exited, leaving the man and his intriguing technology behind. Moving through this final hallway I passed a woman with some kind of gadget attached to her ear. She was speaking like she was in the middle of a conversation. I looked around the hallway to see if I was missing something, but the hallway was empty. The earpiece must have been yet another kind of exotic communication technology.

  When I reached Tomlinson’s door, I paused a moment with my hand on the knob. It will all be okay, I repeated one final time.

  I knocked three times and waited.

  “Come in,” said a voice from inside. I turned the knob and entered, my heart ramping up to a dangerous pace.

  I shut the door behind me and took in my surroundings. The office was much larger and more luxurious than Mother’s. Tomlinson sat at a large wooden desk, a full-sized bookshelf behind him. There was a leather couch to my left, leaning up against a red wall. I stood on an expensive looking carpet.

  Tomlinson’s face was withered by age and stress. “Sit, Luna,” he instructed.

  Something about the way Tomlinson commanded me brought all of my anger to the surface. The man who had caused me so much pain and confusion wanted me to sit before him and act calm and orderly, as if he hadn’t destroyed my relationship with Jasper or ripped away my past.

  The time for pretending had passed. It was time I received the truth I had been craving since I regained my first memory.

  “No. I’m fine standing.” Now I had his full attention.

  Tomlinson studied my face, and a knowing smile reached his lips, like I was a petulant toddler who thought she had power o
ver her parents.

  “I can assume that you are not actually here to discuss your occupational decision, correct?” he asked.

  The humor in his voice made me want to flip over his desk or break a lamp. It pushed me to throw the tantrum he obviously expected. It was because of this expectation that I managed to refrain.

  “I want to ask you why you did what you did, and why you forced my family to lie to me about it. How did you manage to intimidate them into secrecy? Did you threaten them?”

  Tomlinson leaned back in his chair, cocking his head to the side. “What is it that you think I did, exactly?” he said with a raised eyebrow.

  “You forced me into a medical procedure to take away my memories, then you covered it up with the tale of a tragic accident!” I exclaimed.

  I was expecting a lot of things from Tomlinson when I finally confronted him about what I knew—surprise, anger, and denial—but how he really reacted did not make the list.

  Tomlinson laughed.

  It was not the kind of sinister laugh of a man who was just caught in a crime and was powerful enough to get away with it; it was the laugh of a man who was just accused of a crime he was not responsible for.

  This realization hit me hard. Where had I gone wrong?

  “Is that what you think happened?” he asked when he was done laughing at me. I remembered a similar reaction from Megan earlier that week.

  “Then what did happen?” I asked, my voice not as strong as it once was.

  “You seem to be very emotional right now. I’m not sure that it would be wise to unload that kind of information.” Tomlinson smiled, the same one he’d given at my OGS: a smile of pity. “Besides, it is not my place to say.”

  “I need to know,” I said firmly. I had already uncovered most of the truth. There was no use hiding anything at that point.

  “You should really ask your parents,” Tomlinson said, and my stomach began to recoil against his words. “You really think a troubled adolescent is important enough for the Head Councilman to concern himself with? How…egotistical. Don’t get me wrong, your particular case has proven to be beneficial for me in the long run, but the choice to better your mind last spring had nothing to do with me, let alone the Council.”

  It felt like someone had knocked the air out of me. I couldn’t remember how to breathe, how to speak, how to function. The answer had been right in front of me this entire time.

  They were my family. How could they?

  Time seemed to stop.

  Soon I was out of Tomlinson’s office, down the stairwell and through the connection hallway.

  “Hey Luna!” Father called cheerfully, spotting me moving toward him in the hallway leading to the building’s exit. “Everyone has been asking me how Bring Your Daughter to Work Day has been.” He chuckled. “Imagine the look of envy your mother and I get when we explain that you’re here to meet with Tomlinson,” he gushed. As I came closer he began to scowl. “Is something wrong?”

  “Don’t you dare call me your daughter ever again,” I said, moving past him toward the exit.

  I pushed through the glass doors, the sunlight blinding me as I stepped outside.

  ~~~~~

  It took me a little under an hour to walk home from the government building. I did not plan on staying there long, just long enough to force the truth out of my little sister and pack up my things.

  The middle school let out at two-thirty, and it was around three now. Megan should’ve been home.

  “Luna?” I heard Megan call from her room. “Is that you?”

  I shut the front door behind me and made my way up the stairs. Megan’s door was wide open, and she was sitting at her desk with an Algebra textbook open. She turned her head as I entered, looking at me with concern.

  “Why are you home early? Did something happen?” Megan looked scared now, and I could only imagine the look on my face.

  I wanted to cry out for the betrayal, lying, and scheming committed against me by my own family, but somehow I contained myself.

  “It wasn’t Tomlinson who erased my memories. It was Mother and Father,” I said.

  Megan’s face paled. “Luna, they only wanted the best for you. They thought they were doing the right thing. I know now that it was wrong and terrible, and I hate myself for not speaking up, but they really believe in all of this. They wanted to fix you.”

  “I wasn’t broken!” The urge to break something once again presented itself. “Tell me exactly what happened. Now.”

  “First you got into a fight, and you were sympathizing with the Outsiders. Next you were spending far too much time out of the house. It made them feel so powerless. They were losing control of you. They suspected you were still seeing him—Jasper.” Megan’s big green eyes let out a single tear, and she quickly wiped it with her sleeve.

  “One night, you came home an absolute wreck. Right after that we found out Aunt May had died in a car wreck. You were talking all crazy, and Mother began to suspect you had been meeting with May, too.” Megan paused, contemplating something. She shook her head like she had decided against it. “It was crazy talk,” she repeated.

  “It wasn’t too long before Mother called in a favor at her office and had a device installed to tap into your phone calls. One night, she used it. I remember her completely losing it. She was screaming at Father about how they had to act quickly, or they would lose you forever.”

  “Because I wanted to leave,” I whispered. It was all coming together now. The pieces were connecting. The puzzle was almost complete.

  Megan nodded. “The next day a couple of guards showed up on our doorstep. You fought them, and that’s when you fell and hit your head.”

  “Wait, I thought there was a medical procedure?” I asked, interrupting her.

  She shot me a glare, letting me know that she was getting to that. “You hitting your head was truly an accident, and you didn’t hit it hard enough to have amnesia. They took you away in a black van.”

  My head was spinning. I thought I wanted the truth, but the truth was too painful.

  “Dr. Gary Reynolds was the neurosurgeon who carried out the procedure. I remember Mother inviting him over for dinner while you were resting in the hospital.” Megan shook her head again, as if realizing how twisted that was. “You woke up, and everything was back to normal.”

  “Normal,” I echoed quietly. The name of the neurosurgeon—Dr. Gary Reynolds—earned a nudge from within my mind. He was an important puzzle piece, I was sure, but where did he fit?

  “What are you going to do, Luna?” Megan asked, fear lacing every word. “Please don’t go.”

  “I can’t stay in this house anymore.”

  “Please don’t go.”

  I locked eyes with her, and a look of understanding passed between us. She was pleading with me to stay for the same reason I clung to Aunt May in my memories. I held the key to her freedom. Megan wanted me to free her mind. She was telling me that she was ready, just as I had been when I showed up on May’s doorstep.

  It was at that moment—the split second in which Aunt May crossed my mind—that my grip on the present moment began to diminish.

  “Luna? Are you remembering something?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I was furious at Jasper for arranging a meeting with the Council later that night, but I felt even guiltier for letting him walk into a trap. Aunt May warned me that the Council could manipulate people that wanted to leave Oportet into wanting to stay.

  I told my parents that I was going for a bike ride. In reality, I was keeping my promise to visit my uncharacteristically emotional aunt.

  I left my bike leaning against the garage door before climbing the front porch steps. I knocked three times and waited. Aunt May was on the phone when she swung the door open, and she didn’t greet me before she stalked off in the other direction, furiously waving about the arm not holding the phone.

  “It has to be right now. I just spoke to him, and he says we only have
an hour before the window closes,” May said. “Yes, I know, but it’s not like medical paperwork is really going to matter after all of this is over.” May paused again. “Look, Gary, I have to go. My niece is here.”

  I was waiting by the door, trying to decipher the meaning of May’s peculiar conversation. May hung up the phone and turned to face me.

  “I apologize for my rudeness,” May said in an even, flat tone.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  May paced back and forth. “Um, how about you stay here while I run an errand for a friend,” she said finally.

  “Okay,” I mumbled.

  May brushed past me in a hurry, swinging a black backpack over her shoulder. She placed a hand on the doorknob, only to hesitate and look back at me. Her eyes glowed, and her lips trembled.

  “Luna?”

  “Yes?”

  May twisted the doorknob.

  “Follow your gut instincts,” she said. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I said as she stepped through the door.

  When the door fell shut, it was time to move. I peered through the curtains in the living room, watching as May got into her car and pulled out of the driveway. As soon as she started moving down the street, I flung open the front door and raced toward my bike.

  The speed limit, as written in the rules, was twenty miles per hour in all residential areas. I pedaled furiously to keep May in sight. The periodic stop signs kept me in the chase, allowing me time to put myself close enough to see her car, but far back enough to stay undetected.

  May turned left, moving further and further away from the main part of town. She was heading to the outskirts, to the city’s border. In fact, she was heading straight for the main gate—the electronic entrance to Oportet manned by designated guards. It only opened a few times a year, to transport new citizens from the Outside.

  I had little time to think as I trailed May’s sleek, red vehicle through the winding neighborhood roads. Oportet was organized so that the government building was in the very center, and it was surrounded by the scientific and medical centers. The next layer was the schools and occupational training centers, and then the business and commercial sectors followed. The final layer was the residential area that surrounded the rest of the society. Beyond the rows of houses lay Oportet’s walls.