Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

of our conversation. "VR might hold citizens' attention for a while, but they'll eventually want to leave their residences and places of business, returning to their daily lives in the absence of further terrorist activity. And the enforcers keeping our streets safe will want to know what their orders are."

Hawthorne laughs mildly. "They are expected to keep the peace. What other orders are there, really?" She reaches for me again, this time patting my arm. "The Governors take care of day-to-day business between the Domes, and they have matters well in hand. Trust me."

For some reason, I don't. "What's out there?" I point behind her at the seamless wall. No evidence that a door ever opened.

"Hmm?" She's rubbing my arm now instead of patting it. Attempting to soothe me, but having the opposite effect.

"What's outside this room, where you came from?"

She shrugs with another noncommittal laugh. "Just more rooms. What does it matter? You are together here, all in one place, safe from harm, provided with anything you could possibly need. Dr. Wong has seen to everything. Isn't it wonderful?"

"They call him the creator." I watch her for a response, but again, there's nothing to read. The consummate politician. "Why?"

She squeezes my arm. "Because he creates life. Every clone in my security force, every baby born in the Ten Domes—they are alive, thanks to him."

"And thanks to us." I point at the Seventeen behind me. "Our sex cells harvested monthly. He combines them, edits in a little DNA from the adoptive parents, and a few months later, we have another fresh batch of newborn citizens."

"It is far more complicated than that, Sera."

"I'm sure. And when Dr. Wong isn't busy creating life, he's ensuring that every citizen who can afford it doesn't look a day over thirty. Including yourself. What are you now, eighty-something? You don't look much older than me, Chancellor."

Her grip tightens, her fingernails digging into my arm. I don't flinch. No need to give her the satisfaction.

"You will show me the proper respect, Enforcer Chen." Her smile has been replaced by flashing teeth and the whites of her eyes. "I am your Chancellor!"

I shake off her hold on me and back away, raising my voice. "Hey, everybody—wake up! Look who's here: our illustrious Chancellor Persephone Hawthorne in the flesh!"

I make my way along the rows of chairs, nudging shoulders, rousting them from their VR-induced stupor. They blink and frown curiously, then stare in awe as they notice Hawthorne. One by one, they jump to their feet and bow their heads respectfully.

She nods, her smile firmly ensconced again. "It is so good to see each of you. Dr. Wong sends his regards—"

"Gather around, everybody." I gesture for them to encircle me as I stand beside the Chancellor. "Story time."

They glance at each other, confused, but it's the best strategy I can think of. You want people to know the truth? Tell them a story—a true story. And don't leave anything out.

"It's all about where we came from." I wink at their intrigued expressions and then glance at Hawthorne. "Would you rather tell this one? You were there, after all."

The Chancellor's cheerful expression is unassailable. "Why dwell on the past? The present is all that matters, moving ever forward—"

"Right. So here's the deal." I face my siblings and Erik's. "Your parents aren't your biological parents. The truth is, we're not from around here. There's a quarantined continent across the ocean where we were conceived. It took our parents a lot of years, but they've managed to get inside Eurasia. And now they're looking for us."

I pause, holding their attention while doing my best to ignore Hawthorne scoffing behind me.

"Which is why we've been taken to this secret facility on the other side of the Mediterranean. Underground, where our biological parents will never find us. There's no banquet, no ascension, whatever the hell that is. We're just being kept here until our government can find a way to banish or execute the people who gave us our DNA." I pause to let that sink in. "Once that's done, we'll be allowed to return to our lives as if none of this ever happened."

They murmur among themselves, but only Lyria speaks up. "How do you know all of this, Sera?"

Honestly? I—

"She doesn't." Hawthorne gives me a steely-eyed glare and crosses her arms. "Sera may think of herself as an investigator, but she is merely a curfew enforcer. The least of all law enforcement assignments. Apparently, she has grown bored with her duties, so now she is creating fiction and finding conspiracies where none exist." She laughs, and a few of the Seventeen join in.

But most don't. They stare at me with unguarded curiosity. Then they start speaking over each other:

"Why can't we link with you, Sera?"

"What's wrong with your augments?"

"Are you...offline?" Eyes aghast.

That gets the rest of them talking, turning toward one another and glancing at me over their shoulders. Chancellor Hawthorne leans uncomfortably close to whisper into my ear.

"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, Sera, but it will never work."

"I just want them to know the truth. Someone explained it to me today, and it changed my life." I pivot to face her. And I'm only telling them half of it.

She stumbles away from me, slapping her hand against the wall to steady herself. "What devilry is this?"

Guess I'm getting better at this telepathy thing. Now I'm able to send my thoughts into the minds of others who aren't gifted the same way I am. Good to know. But it didn't work on the Seventeen earlier, so this must have something to do with Hawthorne's augments being off.

Why are you offline, Chancellor? I step toward her just as the door reappears, sliding open behind her. She backpedals into the dark corridor beyond. I follow.

"Don't go out there, Sera!" Lyria calls after me.

The others crowd around, staring wide-eyed and echoing her concern.

"We're not allowed to leave this room!"

"Come back!"

"You'll get us all in trouble!"

Too late to turn back. I've