Entanglement (YA Dystopian Romance) - By Dan Rix Page 0,43

you hated the guy.”

“I’m not against halves; it’s what we chose to do with it that scares me.”

“Like juvengamy?”

Amber propped herself up on her elbow, then leaned in and kissed him. Her hair shimmered against the stars, translucent. “Can we not talk about that?” she said.

Aaron spotted a light moving against the stars—an orbiting satellite—and waited until it winked out before he responded. “Tell me about your dad.”

“He thinks I’m with Clive,” she said.

“Wow, I bet Clive’s got it easy,” said Aaron.

“I already told you, he’s a family friend,” she said.

“Since when?” he said. “Since he joined the Juvengamy Brotherhood?”

She sighed and rolled onto her back. “Are we really getting into this?”

“When did your dad join?” said Aaron, taking his attention off the sky to look at her. “Or was he born into it? Were you ever going to tell me?”

***

His accusation didn’t surprise her, but it still stung. He didn’t trust her. Amber closed her eyes, wishing they could just rewind. “Would you have told me?” she said. “If it was your parents?”

“But it’s not my parents,” he said.

“So why do you care?” she said.

He propped himself up, and moonlight revealed the concern in his eyes. “Is your mom like the rest of them?” he said. “Is she hollow like—?”

“It’s not like that for my parents,” Amber said quickly, not wanting to hear the rest of his description. “It hurt their channel, but at least they both got the same amount of clairvoyance. They’re normal, they just can’t stand each other.”

“Why would anyone think juvengamy is a good idea?” said Aaron.

“I don’t know,” she said, “why would anyone think meeting at eighteen is a good idea?”

“Because it doesn’t permanently damage you.”

Amber felt her body tense up. “They don’t think of it as damage,” she said.

“Then what is it?”

“The natural form of halves,” she said, and after a pause, added, “and a sacrifice for the potentate.”

“That’s sick,” said Aaron.

Amber glared at him. “Can we drop this?”

“How do they get away with it?” he said. “It’s illegal.”

“There’s more of us than you think,” she said. “The United States Ambassador to the Chamber of Halves was a juvengamy baby, so are some of the Ambassadors from other countries.”

“Jesus, how long has this been going on?”

“As long as everything else,” she said. “The Brotherhood was founded the same year Schrödinger discovered halves.”

“By who?”

“I don’t know, Aaron. He was the Chancellor of Germany at the time . . . someone named Adolph Hitler.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Because he disappeared.”

“And what about you?” said Aaron. “How do you fit into all this?”

Amber sighed. “Do I have to tell you everything about my life?” she said.

“Do you tell me anything?”

“Why should I?” she said, holding his gaze. “You hardly know me.”

For a long time, he stared back at her, his eyes dark and cryptic. “Well it might have occurred to you,” he said, “sometime after you kissed me and before you started wishing I was your half.”

His words hurt more than she expected. She swiveled away from him and let her hair fall between them, hiding her face. “Actually, Aaron, you kissed me.”

“Want to know what else?” he said, “I wish you were my half, too.”

Her heart fluttered, suddenly in free-fall, and she forgot she was even irritated with him. If he wanted her to be his half—and she definitely wanted him to be hers—then nothing else mattered. “That’s kind of nice to know,” she said, catching his eye again.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry I said that.”

“I’m not,” she said.

After a silence, he lifted his gaze to hers. “I meant to ask you, what’s the deal with Clive? I heard last night there’s something screwed up with his half. Like he doesn’t have one.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I wasn’t there . . . obviously.”

“You still think he’s your half?”

“I only thought that because my parents and their friends said he was,” she said. “They’ve been saying it for years. They’re wrong, though.”

“What changed your mind?” he said.

“They have to be wrong,” she said, “because I think . . . ” she lowered her eyes, and her heartbeat climbed to a blur when she realized what she was about to say. “because I think I’m falling for you.”

There, she had said it. She peeked at his face, her pulse refusing to slow as she waited for him to drag her down and kiss her passionately. For a moment, the night retreated from his eyes and left them unguarded, he was hers—before darkness rushed back in and