Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)(64)

I don’t care that Daddy said my friends just didn’t know what to say or do. Mother always said that ignorance is no excuse for bad manners. But he’s inviting his friends and I suppose I don’t want to be around people older than me all the time, so I’ll make the stupid list.



The next eight years of entries talk about how much she idolized her “perfect” father, how he could never do any wrong, and reminiscing about her “perfect” mother. How she’s surprised about what Father allows to happen, and how her mother would never have tolerated some of the goings-on. And more and more rants about the Surface and the Surface Dwellers as she’s started calling them. Nothing all that important or surprising, just the incoherent ramblings of someone becoming increasingly hostile to the happenings on the Surface, so I just scroll through them, scanning for important information until I find what I was looking for: the day Mother took control of Elysium.



JUNE 6



Father has gone out of his mind. He actually wants to return to the Surface. He says they’ve changed. The people who live up there. The ones who started the War.



Even after it ended, they still tore apart the land with their manipulations, greed, and hostilities. Worst yet, he seems to have forgotten that they are the ones who took Mother from us.



He says he misses the sky and fresh air. That he wants to look at more than just the walls of this complex. How utterly ridiculous. What’s prettier than the sea and its inhabitants? I asked him, but he just says it’s because I don’t remember the Surface. I remember the Surface, all right. It was filthy and disgusting and lawless.



How a civilized person is expected to live, let alone thrive up there, I have no idea, but I know that it’s my responsibility to talk sense into Father.





JUNE 7



Father refused to listen to reason and insists that all his guests—and that includes me—must return to the Surface. I consider this nothing short of betrayal of Mother and myself and have rectified the situation in the only way befitting a betrayer.





JULY 1



I have taken official control of the city. There is much to be done to cleanse the taint of the Surface Dweller from my fair city. Elysium has remained mostly disconnected from the Surface and we have the capability to become fully self-sufficient with minimal effort and changes. All we need is the addition of a fully equipped medical center, agricultural sector, and a separate residential area. I refuse to live in the same space as those that Father deemed acceptable.



The taint from the Surface has infiltrated farther than I thought. However, the situation should be easily rectified with stricter rules and harsher punishments. I will rule with an “iron fist,” as they say. This will no longer be a relaxing resort, but a thriving city. No matter the cost.



I’m certain there will be those who resist, but any further betrayals will not be tolerated. Dissenters will meet the same punishment as Father.



I must remain forward-thinking. And the first step into making this city perfect is to “purify” the city, by removing all carriers of unwanted genetics and preserving those that fit the model of perfection I’m striving for.





CHAPTER TWENTY



Subject 121, Evelyn Winters: It appears she is resistant to normal Conditioning techniques. All methods have failed, seemingly at an increased rate each treatment. I believe a full medical evaluation will be needed to determine the cause.





—DR. FRIAR, PROGRESS NOTE TO MOTHER





My gaze moves over to Gavin, shock rendering me mute. He was right. Mother lied about who founded the city, and why the city was founded. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he was right. The real question is, when has he been wrong?

He must sense me staring at him, because he turns and smiles at me. It slips when he sees my face.

“What’s wrong?” He jumps up from his seat.

Macie turns and frowns at me. “Sweetie? What’s wrong?”

I only gesture back to the screen. I can’t make myself say the words. I’m not sure why this surprises me so much. It only makes sense. Her hatred for the Surface. Her obsession with everyone being perfect. Her words in her room. Gavin and Macie crowd behind me, and I know the minute they realize what they’re seeing as their mouths drop open. It would be comical if not for the foreboding feeling I’ve got in the pit of my stomach.

“No way!” Macie says. “The city isn’t that old. Our history teachers said so. We are the first children.”

“Think about it,” I say quietly. “You said it yourself. She’s the one in charge of the curriculum. If I said the water was purple, she’d change it. She changed the lessons to state her truth.”

“But why?” Macie asks.

I exchange a look with Gavin. “Because she didn’t want anyone to challenge her authority.”

“I don’t understand.” She tugs on her hair in a way I’ve seen dozens of times before whenever she’s frustrated. I can’t say I don’t know how she feels. I want to pull my own hair out, but I know it won’t do any good.

“Haven’t you ever wondered why there isn’t a Sector One?” I ask.