Ultraviolet Catastrophe Read Online Free Page A

becoming a viable option in this conversation, next to running from the room. Or melting into a puddle of freak-out tears. “One of you start talking. Now.”
    Mom picked up a kitchen towel and began pleating its edge. It was never a good sign when she wouldn’t even look at me. I sank onto one of the hard kitchen chairs before my knees gave out.
    Finally, she looked up, her eyes glistening, and my stomach clenched. “Do you remember playing school with your dad when you were little? He’d have you pretend to do homework while he worked through problems of his own?”
    I nodded. I’d loved feeling like Dad and I were working on the same equations, like I was helping him, even if it had only been pretend.
    “They were actually tests. IQ tests to be exact. And you scored very well.”
    Oh god. This was insane. I clutched my hands together in my lap so they couldn’t see them shaking. “How well?”
    “Your results were off the charts, Lex,” said Dad. “You were solving math equations most of our scientists can’t finish.”
    I shook my head, my muscles tensing. “Not possible. You guys are crazy.” But even as I protested, my skin began to crawl. Was that why I’d had the weird flashes of knowledge all my life?
    I pushed away the ache in my stomach and tried to focus on Dad again.
    He tugged at the collar of his shirt, his eyes shifting away. “When we saw how smart you were, we also realized what that would mean for you. We wanted you to have a normal childhood, to fit in and experience life as an ordinary kid instead of as a guinea pig. And that required some drastic measures. We needed to protect you. That’s why we did it.”
    I stared at him. “Did what?”
    “We had to make you average.”
    “Average?” I barely had to work at school and was still near the top of my class. If this was me at average, what exactly was I?
    Mom grabbed her purse off the table and pulled out my bottle of ADHD meds. They rattled as she set them on the counter, and something clicked in my brain. Something that sucked the air from my lungs.
    “Oh my god. Those aren’t ADHD drugs, are they?” It felt like I was trying to inhale razor blades as the panic attack started to take hold. “What did you do to me?”
    Dad put his hand on mine and tried to squeeze, but I jerked out of his grasp. The last thing I wanted was that lying asshole to touch me.
    He frowned and slid his hands to his lap. “We had to mask some of your intelligence. These drugs altered the neuron chains in your brain so not all of them fired. It was enough to slow down some of your thinking, to help you fit in more.”
    The room spun, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Everything went fuzzy around me until I could only feel my jagged breathing, hear the blood pounding in my ears.
    This was not happening.
    My own parents have been drugging me to make me stupid.
    Nausea roiled in my stomach, and I tried not to puke as I shoved my chair away from the table. The legs screamed against the ceramic tile of the floor as I jumped to my feet. It was almost as loud as the scream that came out of my mouth. “Drugging me? You drugged me to keep me normal ? I’ve been on those meds since I was five!”
    I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to hold myself together. Trying to stop my heart from clawing through my chest.
    “Honey, I’m so sorry.” Mom’s voice broke, and she swallowed. “There was no other way.”
    Mom took a step toward me, looking like she wanted to hug me, but I threw up a hand to stop her.
    “Don’t you lay a finger on me,” I snarled. If she touched me right now, I’d break. “You’re going to stand there and tell me there was no other way besides messing with my brain? That’s bullshit!” I slammed my hand down on the table, too furious to even feel the fire that shot through my palm.
    “Watch your language!”
    I glared at her. “Don’t ‘language’ me! You’ve lied to me my entire life! I don’t even know what to say to you