Immersed

by Jenetta Penner

  IMMERSED

  Book 2 of the Configured Trilogy

  JENETTA PENNER

  IMMERSED

  Copyright © 2017 Jenetta Penner

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events and locals is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 10 : 1548585300

  ISBN 13 : 978-1548585303

  Printed in the U.S.A.First printing 2017

  IMMERSED

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Final Thanks

  To my readers.

  Chapter

  One

  My twin brother lives. My mother is dead. Gone.

  Not Bess, my birth mother; she's still alive. Missing, but alive.

  Darline, the mother who raised me, the one who—at least at the very end—told me this existence held value, is not coming back.

  I breathe in the antiseptic of my room, the acrid scent burns slightly at the back of my throat. Sitting on my bed, I fiddle with the gold heart encircling my neck, dragging the charm from side to side over the chain. Ben gave me the necklace when we were almost four, before he died.

  But that's the point—he didn't die. He's been alive, here, in New Philadelphia, all this time. I found out as I was escaping from Elore, and I haven't seen him since. Or anyone else, for that matter, in the last three days since we arrived. Only the medic, who comes into my room every two to three hours, pats me on the hand, and says, "You're doing great, sweetie." Then she pokes and prods, scans my body, and adds a "Not long now" when she leaves. What's a "sweetie", anyhow? I don't want to be a sweetie, I want answers. Where's Meyer? Where's my father? Where's Ben?

  I flip through a book the medic dropped off yesterday. The raised print on the cover reads To Kill a Mockingbird. Tangy mustiness from the yellowed pages wafts to my nose. The topic's something concerning a girl named Scout Finch. That part caught my eye because her last name is a bird, too. Lark … Finch … birds. I've never seen a book with paper pages before, and the chance to read one should excite me, but I haven't been able to focus on reading more than the first couple pages, so I toss it to the end of my bed, mostly unread.

  I peer down at the unfamiliar clothes I'm wearing. Gone is my dull suit, replaced by a pair of stretchy pants and a teal top, loosely hanging on me kind of like pajamas would. My restless feet beg for a run after being cooped up. I hop up and pace the sterile room, back and forth, around the stark bed and plain metal chair, but it's not the same.

  Click, click.

  The door whooshes open and I flinch. Maybe this will be the day they let me out. I turn toward the sound, expecting the medic. Instead, a boy—nearly a man—stands in the doorway, holding a tray of food. His uniform bears three red stripes on the sleeve, and he's got a jacket slung over one arm. My eyes snap to the writing printed over the pocket of his uniform.

  Porter.

  It's not his last name. But it's Ben. It has to be.

  The door slides shut behind him. Not knowing what to say, I stare at the familiar spray of freckles daubing his nose. He has the same hazel eyes and the same chocolate-colored hair as me.

  "If you read the sequel, be warned. It's not what you'd expect," he says.

  "What?"

  "The book." He points to it with his free hand. "To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a good story. I'm the guard assigned to you. Brought you lunch." He says it almost too casually and slides the tray of covered food onto my bed, placing the jacket next to it.

  "What's a ‘story'?" I ask.

  He tips his head and doesn't reply, but the question's not important.

  "Who are you?" I whisper, knowing the answer. My stomach knots after voicing the question.

  He clenches his jaw, changing his attention to the charm I still hold between my fingers.

  "Officer Ben Porter," he finally answers.

  Even though I already knew the answer, my mind dances with new activity.

  Where have you been? I thought you died. They told me you died.

  But before any of these words can coalesce and spill from my mouth, Ben's arms wrap my shoulders, squeezing me as if he wants to hold on forever. I clasp him back and an electric jolt instantly consumes me, making the space around us go sparkling white. Not the white of my holding room, but of nothing. The color dissolves and memories roll through my consciousness.

  Ben snaps back, eyes wide, but doesn't release me completely. He felt it too.

  Short, shallow breaths escape my lungs. "What was—?"

  "Shh." Ben presses his hand to my mouth. "I've received permission to take you on a limited tour outside the facilities." He looks up to the corner of the room where an audio surveillance device rests. "Told them it would do you good." He raises his voice, apparently to make sure 'they' hear. "What do you think?"

  Ben extends his hand and I take it. Still confused, I manage to mumble, "Uh, yeah. I'd love to."

  "You must remain under my supervision around the clock. Do you understand?"

  I nod, and he glances again at the audio device.

  "Oh ... yes, I'm clear." A million questions bubble to the surface, but I have no idea where to start. Continuing to grip my hand, he grabs the jacket, guides me to the exit, and activates the door. It slides back, and he pilots me into the hallway.

  A weight lifts from my shoulders as I pass through the doorway. Ben leads me through a facility bustling with medics working together, not speaking in hushed tones, but in real conversations, a smile tossed in here and there. As we pass a room with more medics eating, I hear a laugh.

  People happy on the job? What a concept. No one I knew in Elore ever laughed like that. Citizens are so focused on duty there; no one laughs at much of anything.

  Ben hands me the jacket and I put it on. We push through a door to the outside, my eyes stinging in the bright sun. I throw my hand up to cover them, squinting at my surroundings.

  "You still have it," Ben says, leaning closer and glancing at my neck.

  I bring my fingers to the charm. "Of course I do. I hid it for years."

  "I was so afraid you'd forgotten me."

  I stop and clutch his arm. "There wasn't a day I forgot you. You've always been there." So much of me can hardly believe Ben and I are here together. It seems like a dream.

  A look of relief washes over Ben's face, and he gestures for us to continue. I release him and we step off the sidewalk onto the green yard, which stretches away from the facility toward a
tall perimeter fence. The soft grass yields like carpet beneath my shoes, and I fight the urge to kneel and run my fingers over the dewy blades. The single place in Elore that has grass is the park. I inhale the earthy aromas of the dirt and grass; even in Elore I associated them with the smell of freedom. I'm not sure if Ben is leading or following, but we wind up on a stone bench after about a five-minute walk.

  "What happened back there?" I whisper, sitting next to Ben.

  He takes in a deep breath. "You felt it in Elore, too? When you grazed my arm in the bunker?"

  I nod.

  "When I saw you, I knew who you were," he says. "But there was nothing I could do. Then when you passed and we touched …" He pauses and shakes his head. "The flood of memories … I still couldn't let on."

  "Why?"

  "Well, a family reunion wasn't exactly in order." He chuckles. "But, also, Affinity and Philly are not aware of my abilities. To their knowledge, there's no other connection between us."

  "Then how are you assigned to be my guard? That would be way too big of a coincidence."

  Ben smirks. "And you'd be right about that. I hacked into the system and had myself assigned."

  "Regular hacking, right?"

  Ben raises his eyebrows. "No, Avlyn."

  I pull back from him, frowning. "You can immerse?"

  "Is that what you call it? I don't remember, of course, but Dad said one day I was completing pre-primer school exercises and manipulated the program in ways that seemed impossible. He removed me from the system and ran additional tests in secret."

  "When was this?"

  "A few months before our fourth birthday," he says, sadness in his eyes.

  Memories of the experiments performed on us, especially those on him, reverberate through my mind. Everything in me craves to hug him, to make up for the lost years, but this is not the time, not private enough. Instead, the question that's been reeling in my head for days finally bursts out. "How are you alive?"

  Ben looks to the grass below, clasping his hands together on his knees. "When Virus 3005B spread through Elore, Dad took it as an opportunity to contact Affinity. They altered the records to say I'd died, and that my body had been immediately cremated to avoid the spread of the disease. The whole thing was perfectly logical. Affinity smuggled me out and Father followed soon after."

  It makes sense. No one cares about the dead in Elore, and it would be unlikely that Ben would be missed. And as for Devan's disappearance, in Direction's eyes it was good riddance. The more Level Ones who lost themselves in the Outerbounds, the better.

  "Dad always feared someone would search after us. Find me. But they didn't. He even gave me MedTech that slightly altered my DNA, even changed our last name from Winterly to Porter. So, if I was found, there'd be no connection between you and me. I was not to mention you in public. Bess didn't even know. My dad kept it hidden from her to protect me."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You know, in case she was questioned. He never said it but I think he believed I might try to contact her somehow when I was younger. Bess not being in on it made that more difficult."

  "And would you have?"

  Ben leans back on his hands. "At this point, I don't know, but … maybe. I've worked so hard all these years to hide what I can do. The only risk I've taken was contacting you over the last month."

  Of course. It all makes sense now.

  "You caused my visions?"

  His eyes illuminate. "Yeah, that was me. The day it started, I woke up from a dream of you and me running through the grass when we were little. I tried to reach out for you, but you vanished. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. It felt so real."

  Excitement wells in my chest as I sort the recent events. "That must have been the day I received the VacTech update a month ago in Elore. Afterward, I swear you were racing toward me in the stairwell of the university. I thought I was going crazy."

  Ben's breathing speeds up. "Me too. At first, I thought it couldn't be real either, but I focused and I connected to you with my mind again, and it was successful. This time you were sitting in a chair by your parents. I couldn't understand what was happening, but I knew you were upset. I wanted to help so badly. The vision couldn't have lasted longer than a few seconds, but I knew it was real. But, as the weeks went by, the ability modified. I couldn't see you anymore, but I could sense what you were doing. Your emotions."

  "Do you think that connection caused my ability to develop further? It all started at the same time."

  "That could be."

  I'm unsure what to ask next, and not for a lack of questions. "Did you tell Devan? Maybe you can take me to visit him."

  The color drains from Ben's face. "Um, no. Not now. Dad doesn't live near New Philadelphia."

  Disappointment washes over me. "Another time, then. But I should see him."

  "Okay," he says, fidgeting his hand on his knee. "What about Bess? What is she like?"

  Bess? Possibly delusional? And convinced the identity of her own birth family somehow puts us at risk and decided to disappear. Seems farfetched, but whatever. I had a letter she hid for me in her ransacked apartment, but I lost it somewhere between running for my life from Direction and arriving here. Bess never was a strong person, so it's likely for the best she left with the upheaval in Elore. Probably another reason Devan didn't inform her he was moving Ben into the Outerbounds.

  No, I can't let him know that. Not yet. But the woman always made me feel uncomfortable.

  "I don't know," I sigh. "I only visited her annually and it was awkward to say the least." Memories of her trying to hug me come to the forefront of my brain, confining me once again.

  "What does she look like?"

  "She looks … like us, brown hair, freckles." I avoid telling him about the letter; he'd probably be disappointed I lost it.

  Bess is everything I fought, overly emotional and trying so hard to connect with me during the few times we met with each other. Even giving me the name Joy when I was born. Imagine that in a place that values duty. It was against everything Direction stood for. With all I've gone through and want now, I should feel a bond with her, but I don't.

  Without thinking, I touch my hand to Ben's shoulder and a jolt of energy consumes me. Scenes blaze through my mind. Infant Ben screams as a series of horrific experiments are performed to increase our Intelligence Potential. The scene shifts and the two of us play during one of our yearly meetings.

  Then, the visions slow and something strange emerges. It's not a memory … at least not one of mine. A young boy weeps in front of a slumped man with dark brown hair. A wave of sorrow consumes my being, and I squint to see who it is, but part of me already knows.

  Devan, our biological father, is dead.

  Chapter

  Two

  I rip my hand from Ben's shoulder and the vision degenerates. "Devan's dead? Why didn't you tell me?"

  Ben rises from the bench and angles his back to me. I stand and move in front of him.

  "Tell me," I insist. "I deserve to know."

  Ben straightens his back, but continues to avoid my eyes. "I figured you had enough to deal with. And it's not as if you knew our dad much," he says in a hushed tone.

  Ben's right. I didn't know him. To be honest, I'm not even sure I have strong feelings for him. But I can't get the vision of seeing Devan slumped over, dead, out of my head. This is a man, who for most of my life, I believed to be selfish and weak. One who left Bess because he couldn't handle living. In reality, this was a father who fought for his son. Protected him. Maybe died for him. I'm beginning to see Devan was a totally different person than I thought him to be.

  "Look at me," I say.

  Ben breathes out deeply and directs his attention my way, conflict in his hazel irises. "My dad … your dad … Devan became sick and died. End of story."

  No, it's not the end of the story. "I don't understand, Ben."

  "Listen, Avlyn. It's that simple. For a long time, Dad and
I lived in the Outerbounds. Like … the real Outerbounds. It was low tech, and his nanos from Elore malfunctioned. No one was there to fix them."

  "You were scared."

  "Of course I was scared. I was a little kid living out in the middle of nowhere. But I made it. I'm here, right?" Ben crosses his arms over his torso, separating himself from me. "Just like Dad told me, I hid my ability and I survived. I didn't want to bring this up now, but you know as well as I do that what we can do will be exploited."

  "No one is trying to exploit me. Not anymore. Ruiz got us out of Elore to protect us. Now, Manning, yes, but not Ruiz."

  "I've seen your file, Avlyn. I went in and retrieved it so I understood what's going on. Think about it. No matter if it was for a good cause or not, she had you go into GenTech to destroy information. You were unprepared, and she put you in a dangerous position to get an outcome she wanted. Manning could have killed you, or even worse. The single reason you're even here is Manning didn't comprehend your ability and thought locating Affinity was a bigger priority. If he would have, he'd have never let you slip through his fingers. Waters and Ruiz do know what they have."

  "Who's Waters?"

  "President Eric Waters," Ben says. "He's the leader of New Philadelphia."

  This whole time I hadn't even considered any leaders but Ruiz. But if she brought me here, she must trust him.

  "But if they were looking to use me, why would they even let me out of my room to wander the grounds? Yeah, I'm with you, but you're only one guard."

  Ben shakes his head. "I don't know, but I pay attention to the way the world works. I've had to. I make certain to play it safe. The entire reason I'm taking this risk now is for you. There's no way I'd take it otherwise. You know what Direction did to us. It was a side effect, but they made this happen. And if it gets out that the experimentation had anything to do with causing our abilities, they can create a cyber warfare weapon like no one has ever seen, and we won't be able to stop it."

  The experiments.

  "Do you know exactly what they did to us?"