Unchanged Read Online Free

themselves in the grass, red handles up. I finally emerge from behind Kaelen.
    Just as the man turns back around.
    â€œSera,” he says, staring right at me with his dead eyes.
    I freeze on the spot. Swallow. Force myself to breathe. Kaelen bumps me on the shoulder, urging me to respond.
    I clear my throat and coerce my tongue into motion. “Yes?”
    The man smiles. It’s a disconcerting facial contortion that never reaches his eyes. “It’s nice to see you.”
    I can feel Kaelen watching me. I can feel the stars watching me. Waiting for my reaction. Waiting to judge me for it.
    Dr. A wouldn’t be happy if he knew how much this upsets me. He would call my queasiness weak. He would say I still have the blood of a traitor running through my veins.
    I have to prove him wrong.
    I stand up straighter, puff out my chest, and in my most affable, detached tone, I say, “It’s nice to see you, too, Rio.”

 
    4
    REMINDERS
    They have landscaping bots on the compound. They’ve had them for years. And they’re much more efficient and productive than any human gardener. But Dr. A wanted to make an example of his former business partner, previously one of the most gifted scientists on the Diotech compound. He wanted everyone to see what happens when you cross him.
    No one is safe from punishment. Not even the cofounder of the company.
    I doubt anyone is as disturbed by the sight of him as I am though.
    Dr. Havin Rio was the lead scientist of the Genesis Project, the official launch of the Objective, and the project that brought me to life on June 27, 2114. And later Kaelen, on December 19, 2115. But Dr. Rio was long gone by the time Kaelen was created.
    He was more than just my creator, though. He lived with me in the cottage for the first months of my life. At one point, I even referred to him as my father.
    Then he committed the ultimate betrayal.
    He helped set me free.
    Just like Lyzender, the boy in my memories, he developed feelings for me. As though I were his real daughter. And he put those feelings before the Objective.
    Now he pays the price every day.
    The memory starts to billow inside of me. Like a tropical storm brewing, bending the trees until they look like they’re about to snap.
    â€œYou saved my life,” I whisper in his ear as I hold the tiny vial in my hands. The transession gene that would allow me to travel through time. The key to my escape.
    I feel his body sag. He wraps his arms tightly around me. “It was the least I could do.”
    The recollection of our mutually treasonous words makes my stomach twist. Every time I see him wandering around the compound with those trimming shears, I’m reminded of our mistakes. At least he can’t remember his part. At least he doesn’t have to marinate in the guilt every morning when he wakes up. Like a dirty, lukewarm bath.
    But I’m grateful for the mercy Dr. A took on me. I was swayed by temptation—corrupted by a boy with maple eyes and a crooked smile—and Dr. A saved me. He gave me a second chance.
    Kaelen guides me to a nearby bench and I collapse onto it, my body a trembling, shaking mess.
    I shouldn’t react to reminders of my old life this way.
    I should be able to shut that part of me down. Put the Objective before everything else.
    I should be more like Kaelen.
    And I try. I swear I try. But somehow I’m still flawed. Even after my rehabilitation. I just can’t seem to shut it off.
    â€œHey, hey, hey.” Kaelen is crouched at my feet, his hands on my knees. “Guardami.” The soft Italian returns as he commands me to look at him.
    I am shaking so hard, I can’t hold my gaze steady. Everything is convulsing. Inside I’m screaming.
    Pull yourself together!
    Stop this NOW!
    You are no longer weak!
    But it’s as though I’m screaming in an empty room and no one is listening.
    Where are these emotions coming from?
    â€œLook at me,”