Elevated (Book 1): Elevated (25 page)
Read Elevated (Book 1): Elevated Online
Authors: Daniel Solomon Kaplan
Tags: #sci-fi, #superhero, #dystopia, #YA, #adventure, #comic book
“It’s a deal. And it worked.”
“For now,” he says.
It’s like a raincloud over my head. I fooled myself the entire drive home that everything would be different. That we could start fresh, pick up the pieces and build a new life.
“How could you do that?” he asks.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” I say.
“You could have let me handle it,” Dad says.
“All you two have done to handle it is keep secrets. I don’t want to live in the shadows. Waiting for some one to rat us out one day.”
“But what has changed, Rose?” asks Dad. “They aren’t going to let me tell the world about my ability, are they?”
“You can’t.”
Dad sighs. “So we lay low. We can’t afford to make any slip-ups. We hide our powers.”
I nod.
Mom steps in between us. “What’s done is done. We have to take it one step at a time now. What matters is that we are a family, and for the meantime, we can be safe.”
She hugs us all together.
For the meantime. As much as I try to run, or deal, or change things, there’s nothing I can do. A normal life is impossible. It’s been impossible my entire life. It’s like Elliott told me on Elevation Day. We can't control which system we are born in. We can only control how we cope with it.
Anything else is an illusion.
***
I soak in the warm breeze as Elliott and I stroll through Fowler’s Grove. The air smells of freshly cut grass. As we stroll, I think about the crazy fact that school begins tomorrow.
Considering the weekend I’ve had, going back feels bizarre. I’ll step into class and everyone will look at me as if I’m the same kid who left. If only they had a clue of what I’ve been through the past few days.
“It was a brave thing you did,” Elliott says. “Going to face the Shelly’s dad alone.”
“Thanks, my parents seem to think it was stupid.”
He smiles at me. “Oh, it was stupid. But brave.”
I laugh. “And I thought that somehow I could put things right.”
We sit down on a park bench and I gaze out over the field. The glowdaises illuminate the night air with a radiant sparkle.
“You have,” he says. “You can go back to school, your dad can get a job, things can return to normal.”
“Don’t you understand, Elliott, we’re can’t be normal.”
His blue eyes shimmer in the light from the glowdaises. “Maybe not, but normal people don’t change the world, do they?”
“I don’t want to change the world, I just want to have a family.”
He puts his hand on mine. “You can have that too.”
I lean into his shoulder, gazing out at the glowdaisies, drifting peacefully. He strokes my hair gently. Somehow, I feel safe. He kisses my head and I grip his legs tighter.
“I don’t want to live in fear, Rose,” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s say that people found out about me. What would happen?”
I jolt up. “You’d be killed.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t see how people could adapt.”
“People adapt all the time. Isn’t that what your father believes?”
“Yes but—”
“And doesn’t he believe that Catalysts are going to keep coming?”
“Yes.”
“So how many will it take before people accept them? Five, twenty, three hundred?”
“That’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
Elliott snaps a grass blade. “I’ve been thinking. Do you think me and your dad are the only Catalysts out there?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I think there are more. And I think if we search for them, we’ll find them. If others don’t find them first.”
I hold him close. “I don’t know if I want anyone finding out anything.”
“It’s only a matter of time. The truth always gets out.”
As he strokes my hair again, I whisper to myself, “And the truth is power.”
***
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Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank my parents and family for putting up with all of my ridiculous stories I threw at them over the years. Thankfully, most of those stories are in Word Perfect DOS format and will never see the light of day again.
I need to give special thanks to my wife, who convinced me to go on this quest to write a novel in the first place. It took much arm twisting, hair pulling, and coddling to get me finally to believe in myself. For those who have never lived with a writer, consider yourself lucky. We’re not easy to get along with.
The story of Elevated would have not been possible if not for the support I received from the Playwrights Round Table. When they read my original script for the play that inspired this story, we ended up having a lengthy discussion about the implications of the world and technology. What I thought was a cute nugget of a ten minute play (then titled, “Gamma Day), became a huge world that I had to explore. It also gave me the first excuse to depart from playwriting, as I knew my vision could never materialize on stage. Although, if anyone out there has the proper rig to do a Zach flying sequence, I’m more than happy to work on a stage version. So thank you Chuck Dent, Al Pergande, David Strauss and the original cast of Gamma Day: Rob Del Medico and Lyndsey Elizabeth.
Thanks to my original readers of Elevated: Bethany Janovec, Marcus D’Amelio, Anna Zumbro, Marcia Kuma, Suzanna Linton, Kim Beck, Geoff Ring, Jennifer Orth, Beca Johnson, and J. Anthony D'Aguiar, you all provided great comments and support.
Thanks to my wonderful editor and proofreader Ashley Clarke, who has become a wonderful cheerleader and moral support. Thanks for saving me from some of my unfortunate word choices.
And finally, thanks to the hosts of Writing Excuses: Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Dan Wells. If it wasn’t for your terrific show I would have never been the writer I am today. Hopefully I made you proud.
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Roger Wesson wiped his glasses off, still dusty from the archaeological dig site. The long hours digging made him weary, and he now looked forward to a quiet evening at home.
Taking a seat on his couch, he turned on the TV with a wave of his hand. The theme song for Elevated Love blared through the speakers, and he groaned.
“More reality TV trash,” he says, flipping through the channels with a wave from his wrist.
He finally settled on a documentary about the Naturals. While most of the TV shows about them were complete bunk, it was fun to see the crazy theories from the wacky investigators. Usually, they saved the best stories for their book, which they advertised at every commercial break.
Just as the researcher was about to uncover a Natural in the woods, Roger heard a thump from his bedroom. He brushed it off as his imagination.
But then he heard the sound again.
Roger stood up and turned towards his bedroom. He jumped back in shock as the door flung open toward him. A tall shadowy figure stood in the doorway, a blue light radiating from his hand.
Then Roger fell to the ground. Dead.
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