What Tomorrow May Bring

by Tony Bertauski

  “You remember? For how long?”

  “I never forgot. They always say you’ll never forget your first…” No way. She does have all her memories from before. I suspected, but the implications of the truth have my mind whirring with possibilities.

  “Do you remember the transition? How you came through?”

  “Every. Last. Bit.” She raises her eyebrows. “People, places, processes. The works.”

  “What’s the catch?” I ask. With Bailey, there has got to be a catch.

  “We’re partners. Very. Close. Partners. Your daddy’s not around to keep you away from me, so I think we should start over.” She runs her fingers very seductively across my lips.

  “After everything you did to me, you want a do-over?” I ask. Unbelievable.

  “Yes. Yes I do,” she says. “All that ridiculous drama seems worlds away and lifetimes ago.” Touché.

  I turn away and take a moment to contemplate whether I can make a deal with the Wicked Witch of Exile. Can I resume our relationship? Her knowledge can tip the scales in my favor. And it’s not like I’d be cheating on Kira. She’s freaking Cleaved to my brother. They’re probably rolling around naked right now. Bailey leans in and puts her head on my shoulder. My body betrays me as it does a little happy dance at her touch, apparently not having forgotten our little incident in the bathroom.

  She lifts her head back off my shoulder, and I turn to her. She has got her bedroom eyes blazing and is staring at my lips like they’re the blue ribbon winner of a decadent chocolate buffet. When she licks her lips and opens them just a fraction in anticipation, all reason goes out the canyon. I’ll likely add it to my regrets, but what’s one more on such a long list. What happens with the Exilers is going to have to stay with the Exilers.

  “Well, ok then, partner. Let’s do this.” I close the distance and crush my lips to hers.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Ethan

  A twenty year old in his third year of law school hardly needs his mom to drop him at school and help him settle, but my mother insisted. She claims to be worried about how I’m taking the separation from Kira—the separation that she forced nights ahead of schedule. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I am livid. By the time I got home from my meeting with Uncle Henry, I found a house full of armed security detail, and a mother with a mouth full of excuses. She didn’t trust that I’d return to fulfill my law school commitments if I had that “extra and unnecessary” time with Kira. The farewells would be too hard on both of us. She called me “selfish” and said, “How could you dare consider doing that to your pregnant Cleave?”

  Kira—beautiful, breathtaking, sexy Kira. I miss her already. Who cares about law school when the love of my life is pregnant with my child? She wanted to consummate our Cleave! Settling in at my desk, I start to pen my thoughts to her with plans to send my letter back with my mother. I have to be careful what I write, knowing that if there’s censor-inviting material, the whole thing will be tossed. My cell phone still has the picture of Kira that I took the night of the party and many more I took of the two of us together on our “vacation.” I stare at the pictures and consider sneaking back to find her. Unfortunately, my mother won’t tell me where on Thera she is.

  Everyone thinks they own me. Dr. Christo and the Arbiters want my assistance with their altruistic plans for restoration of original Theran ideals. The SCI wants my help with world domination, and Uncle Henry wants me to become an SCI-owned politician. None of their plans interest me. But I stay obedient to stay alive.

  My mother still believes that my non-existent heart condition mars my royal family status, much like a CEO with a few felonies on his or her record would be a problem with the board of directors. Perfectly healthy “Original” progeny means everything to the rulers of Thera. In their minds, all native Therans—those who aren’t Second Chancers—should be of pure Original blood. Anything less dilutes their potential power on Earth. Of course, my progeny will be presumed hybrids, like me. Will my ARB marker be as much of a risk to those babies as a heart defect would? Dr. Daddy wouldn’t tell me.

  My thoughts return to my letter. What I want to write—and what I know Kira wants to hear—concerns my childhood, my real parentage, and the vows I’ve made to keep her safe. But I’m forbidden to discuss my childhood because my “parents” repeatedly broke Canon edicts in my upbringing. Amongst other Exile-worthy violations, they had two prominent heart physicians killed on Earth to get them to Thera for my treatment even though Daddy Christo took over in the end. It wasn’t kosher to risk the SCI being implicated in murder charges over a “defective” Original, but my parents felt their actions were above the law. Taking steps to save my life was as close to an act of love as they’ve ever shown me. However, it wasn’t for me but to enforce the legitimacy of their seats on the Ten. An unspoken requirement for holding a seat on the Ten is pure Original-blooded posterity.

  I can’t tell Kira about my ARB-fueled blood, either, or I’d put us both at risk. The SCI wouldn’t react kindly to knowing I’m a plant, and the Arbiters have taken great lengths to keep their secrets from the Council. So, all I can safely discuss, for now, is how much I love her—how I’d do anything, everything, for her. And how she’s the one thing that makes my life worth living.

  One day, when I know we aren’t being followed or listened to, I’ll tell Kira everything. Maybe I can convince my Arbiter brother, Jax, to “run interference,” so that we can freely talk. Kira deserves to know about me, despite how painful it will be to share. I’ll start with my childhood which consisted of loneliness, fear, monotony, emotional abuse, longing for human interaction, and dreams of escape from my prison. I still yearn for escape. My cell may be larger, but the shackles are heavier than ever. I’m an adult but have no control over my life. And if I can find something to hold over Daddy Christo, I’m going to get approval to tell Kira about the Arbiters and my presumed duty to them.

  Kira saved me from the brink of insanity. Despite my parentage, she accepted me. She let me live the childhood I never had. For the first time in my life, I feel hope for a happy future. I can deal with the rest with her at my side. Or perhaps I can do better than deal—perhaps together we can fight the controlling influences that plague us.

  How can I ever describe on paper how much I love Kira? Or how much I’ll miss her? How I can’t stand being away from her while she’s pregnant? How can I tell her that I would do anything in the universe to make her happy? I do my best, but nothing will make up for my not being there.

  Once my mother has stocked my apartment, and cleaned, and dusted like the maternal being she has never been, she’s finally ready to depart. I give her my letter to Kira which she promises to have delivered promptly. I know the odds are less than fifty-fifty Kira will ever see it.

  “I think you’re all set, Ethan, so I guess I’ll be on my way.” She kisses me on the cheek.

  I grit my teeth. There are so many forms of punishment I could inflict upon my mother, but I’d be killed for any of them. I need to see Kira again, so I choose life. “Thanks for the help, Mom. You really didn’t have to do any of that. I’m a big boy now,” I reply with feigned appreciation.

  “It’s the least I could do after everything you’ve done for me and for Thera,” she says. “Everything’s gone according to plan, thanks to your perfect obedience. The Cleaving is done, the babies are brewing, and, thanks to those Militant Exilers, the weeds have been extracted from the Ten and the Grand Council. The Exilers have no idea that they only took out the members we left unsecured that night. Equally important, the seed is set for your brother to make his prodigal return. I think I can speak for your Dad when I say that we’re so proud of you.” Actually, she hardly speaks for my real father. And, I don’t know what planet my mom’s from that makes her think her plan or anything is perfect. Oh wait, actually I do. The one where the insane people rule.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mom. I’ll leave the scheming to you, and I think I’ll just focus on law
school and visiting my beautiful Cleave every moment I can.” Perfect cooperation—that’s what I vowed to keep Kira safe.

  “Don’t less us down, Ethan. I expect you to focus and do well. Be top of your class. Nothing less is acceptable for what we have planned for you.”

  “I know, Mother,” I respond. “But I refuse to do that at the detriment of my Cleaving with Kira.”

  “Kira will be fine. In fact, I assigned Jax to be her personal bodyguard and instructor.” What the hell? I knew Jax would weasel his way into this somehow. I’m going to kill him. My mother smirks and adds, “She’ll be perfectly safe and attended to.”

  That statement has as much double meaning and as little credibility as my Uncle Henry’s campaign slogan: “Expect MORE from Henry King. MORE Unity. MORE Service. MORE Security. With NO MORE Taxes.” He forgot a few: MORE Lies. MORE Rules. MORE Uniformity. With NO MORE Freedom.

  Beware, fellow citizens of Earth. The SCI will soon be controlling a country or city near you. And you won’t even see it coming.

  THE END

  The story continues with clean slate complex (daynight #1.5) and arbitrate (daynight #2). Both are available now.

  Author’s note

  If you enjoyed this book, please leave a spoiler free review on Amazon.com and/or Goodreads. Reader reviews help spread the word about indie authors and books. I appreciate your support!

  clean slate complex (daynight #1.5) is available as part of the dystopian anthology, Darkest Worlds which is available on Amazon, B&N, iTunes, and Kobo. All proceeds go to the fabulous charity, Girls Write Now www.girlswritenow.org. It is also available for free as a standalone story on Amazon. An excerpt is included.

  The second book in the daynight series, arbitrate, is available now. An excerpt is included.

  Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/megan_thomason.

  Follow the daynight series on Facebook at facebook.com/daynight.series. This is the primary place where I post dates and teasers for new releases. I also do regular giveaways.

  My personal blog (where you can sign up for notification of new releases in the series and find discussion questions for daynight) is at meganthomason.com.

  I’d love to hear from you! You can email me at megan@meganthomason.com.

  Acknowledgments

  Cue the happy dance. This day has been a long time coming. I wrote the first draft of daynight in 2009 before rewriting it many times. I still wasn’t happy with it, so I tabled it for a couple years while I worked on other things, and then alas, inspiration hit and a few changes here, there, and everywhere and I finally felt happy enough with the results to release it in November 2012—well, after enough editing to make many eyes bleed. I wrote daynight to be a little tongue-in-cheek and a lot extreme about teenage behavior—because I love how dystopian extremes cause discussion and shed light on our own society.

  My first thank you goes to all of you readers! I appreciate all of you for taking the time to read it and for all those who have written reviews, sent me notes through email, and Goodreads, participated on the daynight Facebook page, sent me tweets, and commented on my blog.

  There have been so many people who helped and encouraged me along the way. First, I’d like to thank my daughters for being with me every step of the way—providing commentary, editing, and even the not-so-occasional threats when they didn’t like how the story was going.

  I want to give a huge thank you to my professional editor, Anglelique Bodine, and to both Angelique and Sher A. Hart for their professional proofreading. I have learned a lot about the editing process in the last year. First and foremost, I have learned that professional editors and proofreaders are an absolute necessity. But eyes are fallible, and there may still be mistakes. So, if you find any errors, I give my sincerest apologies. Know that I’m cringing right along with you. I’ve done updates over a single incorrect letter, so email me at megan@meganthomason.com if you find anything.

  I am extremely grateful to all the bloggers who have provided so much support to me. Big shout-outs to Kathy from I am a Reader, Not a Writer and Laura from Prism Book Tours who both did exceptional blog tours for daynight. Little Hyuts, A Casual Readers Blog, Sab the Bookeater, Deal Sharing Aunt, A Dream Within a Dream, Lust for Stories, Martha’s Bookshelf, Sher A. Hart: Written Art, A Diary of a Book Addict, Shortie Says, Magical Manuscripts, Mythical Books, Must Read Faster, Sapphire Dragon, Lisa is a Bookworm, Ever and Ever Sight, Why Not? Because I said so!, Blood Sweat and Books, One More Chapter, Rattle the Stars, A TiffyFit’s Reading Corner, Letters to the Cosmos, Mel’s Shelves, My Passion for Books, Marked by Books, My Seryniti, Little Library Muse, Tressa’s Wishful Endings, Buckeye Girl Reads, Red Headed Bookworm, Coffee, Books & Me, Stressed Rach, All Fantasy Worlds, Bookaroo-Ju, Parnormal Opinion, The Cozy Reading Corner, Getting Your Read On, All Fantasy Worlds, Fantastical World of Wonders, A Backwards Story, Beck Valley Books, Books Mystify, Arriane Cruz, Candace’s Book Blog, Life of a YA Girl, Fuonlyknew, Lovin’ Los Libros, Paulette’s Papers, Becky Barmy’s Book Blog, Backing Books, Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks, Living a Goddess Life, Mortality Bites, Jack’s Junk Drawer, The Reading Diaries, Book Snob, Crafty Zoo, Heather’s Book Chatter, Forever Young Adult, Waiting on Sunday to Drown, Froze8’s Blog, Blkosiner’s Book Blog, WTF Are You Reading, Emi Gayle, Cuzinlogic, Reader Girls, leanne.me, Laurie’s Thoughts, Lena Sledge, Delirious About Books, Fangirlish, Read Your Writes Book Reviews, Indie Author How-To, Impressions of a Princess, Brooke Blogs, Lady Reader’s Bookstuff, Crossroads Reviews and many, many more who have publicized the daynight series through reviews, author interviews, guest posts, cover reveals, excerpts, top 10 lists, character interviews—I am grateful to each and every one of you!

  I’m grateful to fellow authors Katie French, SK Falls, AG Henley, Zoe Cannon, Kate Avery Ellison, Nicole Grotepas, and Gretchen Powell for your encouragement, support, and the occasional beta read.

  My husband, Jon, has supported me through thick and thin. He did the original and updated book covers for daynight, which I love. When I’m fully entrenched in writing, he puts up with a messy house, less-than-fabulous meals, and a very distracted wife. My kids have patiently endured hearing “Just let me finish this” and “Not now”s. Is it a bonus that they’ve all learned to be quite self-sufficient? The honest truth? If I’m not writing, I’m doing another project. My kids tease me incessantly about my projects (sure, the world-class weapons collection might have been a little unnecessary, but at the time it seemed cool. And it will be rather useful come the zombie apocalypse.)

  My kids also make the most excellent muses. I feel like I live in a comedy show. Yes, they have been known to have raging debates at the dinner table about the best weapons to use during the zombie apocalypse with guests present (those guests never returned).

  A huge shout-out to my friends who graciously agreed to read my books early on…Kelli J., LeAnn R., Marci B., Darlene I., Liz S….you guys are awesome. My sister…Tara C. And thanks to my kids’ friends who also logged some major hours…Rachel P., Jonci R., and Jennifer T.

  I find music inspiring and some of the artists who help get me typing include Muse, My Chemical Romance, Imagine Dragons, Owl City, blink-182, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, Ludo, and Neon Trees.

  Thanks to the folks who designed and developed Scrivener. They make outlining, organizing notes and research, and writing easy. I’m also grateful to those who created Dropbox, which allows you to open files in Kindle and see your book before it goes live. And a huge thank you to the folks at Amazon and CreateSpace who have helped transform the publishing industry.

  About the author

  Bestselling, award-winning author, Megan Thomason, lives in paradise aka San Diego, CA with her husband and five children. A former software manager, Megan vastly prefers writing twisted tales to business, product, and marketing plans. When she isn’t typing away on her laptop, she’s reading books on her phone—over 600 in the last year—or attending to the needs of her family. Megan’s fluent in
sarcasm, could potentially benefit from a 12-step program for road rage, struggles with a Hot Tamales addiction, loves world travel & fast cars, and hates paperwork & being an insomniac.

  * * *

  STITCH, Samantha Durante

  Dystopia, by Samantha Durante

  I’ve always been drawn to dystopian settings. Not surprisingly, The Giver, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 were some of my favorite books as a kid. But there’s one thing about my beloved dystopian books which has always driven me nuts, and it’s this: no one ever explains how the world came about.

  You know what I’m talking about. There’s always some vague backstory about a war or a catastrophe a hundred-plus years ago that brought our current world to its knees, and then out of the ashes rose this wonderful new society where everything was neat and tidy and everyone accepted these crazy new rules just as they were.

  But how does that really work? At what point in history have we ever seen one civilization transition into the next without some sort of fight? For the sake of enjoying the story, I always swallow this jagged little pill and accept that the society stands, but there’s forever a tiny voice in the back of my head saying, “Wait – how does any of this make sense? Why would these people allow this to happen? Why would they submit themselves to this kind of control when they knew freedom before? And who put these crazy leaders in charge, anyway?”

  When I decided to write Stitch, I wanted to do things differently. I wanted to explore a society in transition – not one where the rules were in place, but one where the people in charge were still trying to figure them out. I wanted to try to understand how we could go from the world we live in today to something totally different, and who could have made that happen and, most importantly, why they would go to the trouble. (And I freely admit that it was impossible to address all of these questions in the first book – but this is what a trilogy is for, right?)