Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Why?” I croaked.
“Your eyes,” she said quietly. Something dark flickered on her face. “They reminded me of your father. They reminded me of a past I wanted to forget. I thought I could leave it all behind, especially your father. I once loved Abel, a long time ago. He was smart and charming and kind. He was so charismatic, almost nobody could resist him. He just had something special about him, something powerful.”
I frowned. Then why had she left him?
She watched my face for a reaction before she continued. “I’m sure you don’t remember, because you were just a baby then, but it wasn’t always easy with Abel. He had his good sides, but the one thing I wanted most was the one thing he couldn’t deal with: normalcy.”
That was something I could understand. I’d often longed for a normal life, but my childhood had been far from it. Maybe my mother and I were more alike than I’d known. But maybe she and Abel were more alike than she wanted to admit. Because despite her desires, normalcy definitely wasn’t something my mother had ever accomplished.
She continued in a soft voice, “He and I wanted to live a life without the FEA’s supervision. They took away our choices, our freedom, and gave us rules that your father didn’t agree with. We made the decision to run away. He wanted to try it for me—to build a normal family, live a normal life. Well, that was my dream when we left.” She paused, her expression wistful. “And at first it looked like it might work. But I could tell that your father struggled with normal life. He didn’t know how to function in normal society. And he didn’t feel safe on his own. He thought the FEA would come after us at any moment and lock us into their prison for treason. Then his brother—your uncle—came to town. He’d been on the run from the FEA for years and he convinced your father to work alongside him, for rich businessmen. Your father knew he needed money if he wanted a chance to build a safe place for Variants away from the FEA, away from the crushing grip and the watchful eyes of the FBI. He didn’t want to be used anymore. I didn’t know much about their work. I was scared to ask. I think Abel got in over his head with his brother. It got harder for him to reconcile his ideals with his work, but he never stopped trying. I think that was what I admired most about him. And when your father’s brother started to spend all his time with us and began talking about building their own group, a group that would destroy the FEA, I tried to talk Abel out of it. I pleaded him to stop the madness. But his brother had too much influence. Abel thought he was doing the right thing. There was no reasoning with him. Your brother had already showed signs of a Variation and I knew that Abel would never let him go. But for the first few years of your life, you seemed to be normal. I can’t tell you how much I wanted that. And so I took you and I ran. I don’t think Abel ever followed us but I was always careful not to stay in the same place for too long, just in case.”
“But then my Variation began to show,” I said.
My mother nodded. “I knew I’d been stupid to think there’d ever be a normal life for us. I can’t tell you how often I regretted running away from Abel, but at the same time I knew I couldn’t return to his life. It would be too dangerous for the both of us. I wanted normalcy, safety, even just the pretense of it. If Abel had found us, I knew I’d have been too weak to resist him.”
“So that’s why we always moved?”
“Yes. That and the FEA.”
“The FEA, why? You didn’t seem to mind when they took me away.”
“You would have never been free with the FEA. I knew that. They promise a virtuous life, but they keep their agents in a golden cage. I didn’t want that for you. But once they found us, I had no choice but to let them take you. Major wouldn’t have listened even if I’d said no. Maybe I should have called Abel then, as I’m sure he would have taken you in before the FEA could, but I didn’t want to admit to him, or to myself, that my life was in shambles. I should have known that my plan was doomed. You’re either with the FEA or with Abel’s Army. At least that’s what I thought back then. I didn’t know of the many Variants living in the underground, far from the FEA’s radar. But with your eyes, we couldn’t have kept your identity a secret for long.”