"So you found it," Stella said. "The cure for young age."
"That cure? I received it, witch, on the day you made me kill for my mom's food—you gave it to me. Even though it wasn't the cure I wanted. I was still a girl, but on that day I became a hag without even becoming a woman first."
"I only wanted to help you survive—to give you the chance for it."
The girl stepped inside and threw something on the rough wooden table.
"You owe me, witch. You stole my youth. So I am taking your old age."
"So you found that one, too. The pill for age-reversal. I didn't know. They were searching for it vehemently in my time. Indeed, they've been searching for it for millennia."
"Oh, Stella." Meliora smiled sadly. "You know we haven't found it. Never will. We finally discovered how to repair an old body—but we can't—shouldn't—discover how to repair an old mind. Not for you, and not for Jerome. It will still be you. Your bodies will be sound and hale and new, but your minds will be old. They will still be weighed down by everything that is weighing them down now. Always. You will live on and on, even though once you chose differently and thought it was irreversible. And, Stella—now the choice will be irreversible. Such bodies can't be killed. They will repair themselves—forever."
"The Watchers of Forever," Stella whispered. "The ones who will watch everything, always."
"They are just a legend, Stella. A fairytale. Besides, the City of Death is doing fine enough with watching. No. These will be watchers—just two, Stella, Nic and I only have pills for two people and I guarantee you that no other pill will be made soon—who watch everything, but not just that. And, Stella, guess who they will be. No, not Nic and me. We know two who are more suitable. These two—you two—won't only watch everything, won't only think and analyze, but will remember it all, feel it all. You will listen to every tiny, little, insignificant prayer and, like a thoughtmotion interface or a hiver, pick up every little emotion and make it your own—at least people's emotions, at least whenever there are computers near the people to enable this. But I guarantee you there will be computers. Even in the villages. You will feel everyone's pain, and everyone's happiness—so that in the end perhaps you will know. You will know what to do, so that new rebellions don't have to happen, and new Cities of Death don't have to arise from the ashes of the old.
"Oh, don't look at me like this, Stella. You played gods with so many of us for so long—well, the time for playing is over, my friend. It is time to grow up and take the work seriously."
"And you? How about you?"
"Her?" a new voice said. "Don't worry about her. Worry about me." The old witch watched an old man enter her place, a handsome young man at his side. The old one had been handsome, too, once upon a time.
Jerome winked. "My hag, she expects us to know what to do even when they don't, even though they are such know-it-alls already. They want us to help them."
"Boy Nic here says," he continued as the young man and the young woman joined their hands, "that I was a bit too serious in trying to break him and Mel apart. That, as punishment, I will have to spend an eternity with you. A real eternity." The old man grinned. "Not that one day with you, my dear old hag, wouldn't be plenty—but who is to argue with the rulers of the City of Death?"
About the Author
Lynna Merrill was accused at an early age that she lived in a world of her own. Since then she has changed the country, continent, and language—but she still lives in worlds of her own. As a result she is the author of the young adult dystopian novel Unnaturals and the fantasy series The Masters That Be (The Seekers of Fire, The Makers of Light, The Weavers of Paths).
In the real world Lynna has a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the Ohio State University and works in the software industry. She has participated in various open source software projects and writes her books using VIM and LaTeX. She also makes her own cover and interior art.
Lynna is interested in books (of course), computers, and "what if" questions. She lives on the southern shore of lake Ontario with her husband and soulmate, Alex. Her website is http://www.lynnamerrill.com.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to my great beta readers: Derrick Smith, James Wilde, Cindy Tovar, Cornel C., N.R. Wick, Keli Arendt. Thanks to my wonderful family and wonderful family-in-law, and, of course, to Alex. To Alex most of all.
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by Lynna Merrill
All Rights Reserved.
Cover artwork © 2013 by Lynna Merrill
Also available as a trade paperback.
http://www.lynnamerrill.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, concepts, and events are either products of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author, except for short excerpts used in reviews.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Part I: City of Happiness
Silence
Annabella
Nicolas
Doctors
Academy
Computers
Old
Gods
Jerome
Choice
Part II: City of Life
Nature
Witch
The Way
Village
Real World
Waves
Fire
Mounds
Fight
Lizzy
Chief
Door
Part III: City of Death
Train
Wonderful Experiences
Snow
Airtrain
Place
Network
Epilogue
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Unnaturals Page 29
