Unplugged: The New World (#1, Unplugged Trilogy)

Chapter Eight

"It's a nice place," I say, swallowing my last bite of food. My mother snorts.

"Oh yeah. I've really got a good thing going here."

"No, really! I think it's cool. You have your own space where you're not being watched. It's not like anyone had that where I came from." I wish I could grab my last comment and stuff it back into my mouth. I can tell it bothered her. Dropping the pretense, I lean forward on the bed and whisper, "Mom... What do you mean it's your fault: about Mark? It can't possibly be!"

"Enna, what did your grandmother say was the reason we couldn't be together?" I rack my memories until I think I remember.

"She said that something bad happened to you and she was forced to take care of us... But that's not true, is it? You told her to keep us safe." My mother nods.

"Here at the Depot, everyone has a job- a responsibility- to the Resistance. Whatever that job may be, it must be fulfilled by that person. If it isn't, then what use is that person in the whole scheme of things? Both you and Mark have very important roles here, and that's why I had to find a way to communicate with you. You think some random person thrust that note under Jessica Price's doorstep? Trust me: you did nothing wrong in trying to drag him along with you at the ceremony. That was what you were meant to do." My breaths quicken while she speaks and I stare at the quilted blanket covering the bed, losing myself in the patterned design.

"Mom... I didn't say anything to you about dragging Mark along with me at the graduation ceremony." She makes a motion with her hand like she's batting away a small fly.

"I was watching you through the cameras in the lobby."

"What?"

"That's another one of the Depot's accomplishments. We've managed to tap into the 'security' network that the government set up. Basically, we see whatever they see with those cameras." Again, the world is spinning. I grip the bed sheets so I don't fall. My mother has watched me grow up from a camera screen? More alarming than that is the fact that it makes me feel closer to her. Maybe, through the years, I wasn't so alone after all...

"This is crazy," I say, pressing fingertips to my temples. She nods in agreement.

"And the craziest part is... I didn't have to leave you with your grandmother. I could have kept you and Mark down here with me the day you were born, if I wanted. But I knew that the Resistance could use you both in important ways if you were to remain in the city with my mom." I hold a palm to my forehead. Stop the spinning, stop the spinning...

"Let me get this straight. You held us, your kids, in misery for eighteen years just to help a group of underground conspiracy theorists? You purposefully risked our lives?" My mom's eyes start to fill with tears and she quickly wipes them away with her hand. She looks more tired than she should, but at the moment I feel no pity.

"Enna-"

"What is my 'purpose', then? What am I being 'used' for?" Anger and indignation boil in my blood. Is my entire life just an experiment? Just a tool to mold someone else's world, to carry out someone else's agenda? How do these people have the nerve think they are any better than the government they swear against?

"You and Mark lived in the city so you could become spies." My mom smiles a little. "No one was using you! Think about it. You grew up normally like everyone else; you were taught the same principles and faced the same separation. This way, you both completely understand the way that the government thinks and the way they want you to act. We can train, using your acquired knowledge to our benefit, so we will be that much closer to overthrowing them." What she says starts to make sense to me, but I'm still not satisfied.