1st 5 Pages November Workshop- Monson Rev 2

Christine Monson

YA Speculative Fantasy

The Promethean Effect

Pitch: 

Sixteen-year-old Kade Maddox lives a privileged yet secluded lifestyle in the Appalachian Mountains thanks to his parents’ employer, AIB Laboratories. Though he isn’t allowed to touch anybody, Kade is skilled at hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, and foreign languages. However, none of these proficiencies prevents his mother’s murder at the hands of the Collective, a rogue government organization that has remained in the shadows until now.

Despite the fact Kade knows little of the outside world, he understands the only way to protect his two younger siblings is to leave home. Injured and heartbroken, the teen reaches out to his estranged older brother for help. Together, they hitchhike to a rural town in southeast Georgia.

At first, Wisteria seems like the perfect place to hide. However, social strain at Kade’s new school brings unwanted attention. The experimental serum his mother injected him with before she died isn’t helping either. Using the skills provided by AIB, Kade works to control his flourishing power while trying to figure out who he can trust, including his own family. If he can manage these feats, he may stand a chance against the Collective. If not, Kade and his siblings will become the agency’s latest victims.

Pages:

Steel gears grind overhead along thin aluminum girders. The weighted anodized-pistol rests cradled between my palms. As I wait for the targets to line up, two questions rotate on heavy cycle: Why did my brother have to die? And, will Ms. Reddington remember I prefer chocolate over spice cake this year?

Ten computerized birds drop from the ceiling. The sensors on their tails flash red, blue, and green. Chromatic lights reflect off of the bullet-proof glass to my left and the painted-gray cinder block wall to my right.  It doesn’t matter how quick the fake birds move or in which direction, blue is always first. I adjust my stance and squeeze the trigger. One by one, the stiff automated fowl return to the rafters. According to my father, the electronic target system is the latest in gaming technology. I wouldn’t know. My siblings and I aren’t allowed to leave the compound.

The panel embedded into the wall beeps before Mother’s voice crackles through the intercom speaker. “Kade, come upstairs. Your father and I wish to speak with you.”

My gaze flicks to the red START button. Two-tenths of a second and I’ll have beaten the high score. Perhaps I can squeeze in one more–

“Now.”

I return the pistol to the charging dock. Game over.

After tucking in my shirt and fastening the buttons on my suit jacket, I sprint across the expansive atrium to the staircase leading to the main floor of the house. Spotless, translucent gray glass surrounds me from all sides. As I skid past the other training rooms and lap pools, the soles of my dress shoes squeal along glossy anti-static tiles. Like the sophisticated-gaming console, the three-story, fully-staffed house in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains is supposedly hi-tech. Again, I wouldn’t know. My brother’s unexpected death changed a lot of rules.

At the top of the stairs, the aroma of overly-peppered roast beef from the kitchen collides with the astringent, recycled air from the basement below. However, it isn’t the clash of smells that almost knocks me off my feet. It’s the ferocity in Mother’s voice as she yells at Father. After I compose myself, I lean closer to the door and listen.

“You promised this time would be different,” she exclaims.

“He has been here two years longer than–”

“Don’t say his name.”

Father sighs. “Dang it, Grace. You knew this day was coming.”

“Of course, I knew, August. I’ve always known.” Her tone softens. “But I want Kade to join us when he is ready. Not when they say he’s ready.”

I steal a peek around the corner before taking the last final step onto the main floor. Under the three-tier chandelier, in the foyer, both of my parents face off. Mother, dressed in her usual travel attire of black slacks and sweater, stands with her hands on her hips, her golden hair tied in a loose bun on the back of her head. A dazzling display of rainbows reflects off the crystals above them onto the white walls and marble floor. Father rolls his shirt sleeves to his elbows, his work pants wrinkled. He watches her as she moves to the other side of the round, mahogany-red table. When she closes the gap between them, he shifts his favorite brown journal and electronic pad behind his back.  

“Be their father for once,” she snaps.

Father’s face reddens. “I am not doing this now.”

He smacks his hand down on the table. Skinny orange petals rain down from the bouquet of chrysanthemums onto the polished surface. Mother sweeps the petals in her hand and deposits them in a small crystal bowl. Like me, the table and flowers don’t seem to belong in this icy world of crystal and snow-white furniture.

With a long, deep breath, I step into the foyer. The basement door closes behind me with a soft metallic click. “Sorry to make you wait but I had to go back down and grab my jacket.” Honestly, I despise liars but sometimes telling my parents the truth can be dangerous.

Mother reaches out to touch me, then stops. She drops her hand back to her side. “You’ve wrinkled your dinner suit.”

I run my hands over the thick black wool of my dinner jacket. Static cracks under my fingertips. Above our heads, the bulbs flicker. “I wanted to get a few more rounds in before dinner.”

Father places his free hand on Mother’s shoulder. The twins say I look like him but I don’t see it. We have the same brown hair and eyes, but while his complexion is dull and pallid from sitting under fluorescents all day, I have a ‘kissed by the skin glow’ from running outdoors every morning. “How many hours have you clocked in this week?” he asks.

“Sixteen.” The same as the age I turned today.

“Outstanding,” he says with a smile. However, his posture doesn’t match the expression. His shoulders are too rigid, his back too stiff.  “We just wanted to let you know that we cannot stay for dinner.”

“It’s important,” Mother adds, “or we wouldn’t leave.”

I bite the inside of my cheek. But, what about my birthday?

On the other side of the foyer, Father’s office door opens. Sofiya Snyderman, my parents’ forty-something colleague at AIB– the Advanced Institute of Biotechnology– steps out. The tap-tap-tap of her stiletto heels sends a chill up my back. I glance up at the top of the staircase. Thankfully, no one is there.

“Sofiya,” Father chokes out. “I thought you were in D.C.”

“Not tonight,” she purrs. “I came to oversee…Kade, my little soldat.” Soldier. Her German, Russian, and possibly Ukrainian accents blend together in a sticky dialect-pudding. Sofiya adjusts her short, asymmetrical wig. A patch of black lace peeks from under her lab coat as she treads towards us. Every week, the doctor changes the design of her pretend hair, but the color is always the same: jet-black. I take a tentative step back.

Father clears his throat. “There is an issue at the lab which needs to be rectified immediately. Would you care to join us?”

Sofiya purses her thin lips. “Of course,” she purrs once again. After my father nods, the psychiatrist shifts her concern to the person closest to me. “Grace. Where is Bishop?”

Movement at the top of the main staircase catches my interest. I shake my head in warning for my two younger siblings to stay upstairs. Behind Snyderman’s red cat glasses, her eyelids narrow. Even though I know this is going to earn me an hour-long session with the doctor tomorrow, I mumble, “Then why did I even bother getting dressed for dinner, if neither of you are going to stay for it?”

Like Snyderman, Father’s glare constricts behind rimless eyewear. “Kade Maddox. Recite the three rules.”

“Rule number one,” I say to the tiny white scuff on the tip of my left dress shoe, “obey authority. Rule two, never ask questions. Rule three…”

“We should go.” Mother’s eyes flick from Father to the chandelier. Though no one is near the light switch, the brightness has doubled. She steps away from me. “Kade, Ms. Reddington made your favorite dinner and there is cake in the sitting room. Leave everything, she will clean up in the morning. Come, August. Everyone is waiting for us.”