The Immortals by Mary Hallberg (chrysanthemum read aloud txt) 📗

back in Rochester, but they didn’t have nearly this amount of traffic or tables. And most of the customers were kids coming in to grab white mochas after school, not businessmen or old ladies. “Are all of these people Immortal?”

“Some of them. A lot are in the Underground.”

We took a table near the couch ladies, across from a man with his gaze glued to his laptop screen. “How do you even use those little computers? They can’t possibly hold that much information, can they?”

“You’d be surprised. Even in the four years I’ve been here, the advances in technology have been amazing.”

I took a sip of coffee; it burned my tongue, but I ignored it. “So, tell me about your family. Matt because Immortal first, right?”

He nodded. “Matt was first. We all moved here together and the rest of us got in later.”

“How did he get in?” I had only heard vague versions of the story, and never bothered to learn it from Matt. Somehow I got the feeling that he would try to downplay it out of modesty.

“A few years ago, we lived in Atlantic City, but Matt really wanted to go to New York City to see a Broadway play. So we scraped together enough money for us to all make a big trip here. My dad and Matt both really love theatre.” He smiled, and I thought he might want to include himself in that, but he continued. “Anyway, we saw some musical, I don’t even remember which one, and during intermission my dad and Matt got into a conversation with some audience member. Apparently Matt said he was a writer, and even though he was only eleven, he said the play was stupid and gave all these suggestions for how it could be improved. And this guy was really impressed. He said Matt had more creativity in his pinky finger than most writers had in their entire bodies. And of course he turned out to be a panel member and submitted Matt’s name right there. A week later were were packing our bags and moving here. But doctors and social workers aren’t really in demand here, you know, so my parents weren’t doing much work. So we all started doing tons of charity work just to pass the time. About a year after we got here, that same panel member submitted our names and we got in. They told us we were one of the only families that managed to get in intact.”

Even though I already knew a lot of the story, I smiled wide. “That’s amazing. My family would never join. Well, my mom wouldn’t.”

“I didn’t think my family would either. My mom’s always going on about how corrupt this place is.”

“My mom too!” I said.

“What a coincidence. They like it, but…well, Matt’s not that much younger than me, but I still feel like he’s just a kid, you know? I don’t see how he’s done it.”

“Done what? Become a child prodigy?”

I mean it as a joke, but Gage didn’t respond right away. He seemed lost in his thoughts. “I don’t know how he’s managed to stay here and not get a big head. Everyone here takes it for granted and they act sort of entitled. Sometimes I wonder if we could have all this taken away and still be happy.” He sighed. “Well, that was a depressing topic. So Jacey told me you went to The Lab a couple of weeks ago. How did you like it?”

I tried to forget about what he said. But for days, even weeks, I couldn’t help but think about it every time I saw a luxury or electronics store. The rest of the world wasn’t exactly scraping together pennies just to eat, but nobody was as well off as Immortals. And all of us had pre-Immortal lives. Could this really be taken away from us so easily? And, if it was, could we ever be okay with that?

chapter five

Gage dropped me off at the door to my apartment complex just before noon. “I’m sorry I can’t walk you up,” he said. "I promised I’d meet my parents for lunch in…” he looked at his watch, “Ten minutes ago.” But I had a great time.”

“So did I. Thanks for the coffee.”

“No problem. We’ll have to do this again sometime.”

I nodded and headed for the door, but he took my arm and turned me back around. “Bye Kenzie.” He bent slightly forward and kissed my forehead. “I’ll call you later.”

“Bye,” I whispered. As I opened the door, I turned away from the glass panel inside so he wouldn’t see the reflection of me smiling.

Not only was Luke in the apartment’s lobby when I walked in, but he had brought friends. Several guys and a few girls about his age stood around the kitchenette. One or two of them were holding beers. I saw unwrapped seaweed on the counter and rows of prepared sushi. I sure had been eating a lot of sushi lately.

I had no idea that Luke had company or that they had decided to hang out in the lobby. From the smirk on his face and the fold in the window curtain, I knew they had been spying on me.

“I’m so happy right now, I’m not even going to get mad at you guys.” I headed for the sushi and was bombarded with questions.

“Who is he?”

“What’s his name?”

“Why did he leave so fast?”

“When was the last time he cut his hair?” That one, I knew, came from Luke.

“Guys, I’m not even going to talk about it right now. I don’t want to jinx it.”

“I think you already have,” one of the girls insisted. “The moron didn’t even kiss you.”

“Sure he did,” one guy said. “Just not on the mouth!” They roared with laughter and slapped hands as if they’d come up with some genius one liner.

I opened the refrigerator and took out a water bottle. “I just met the guy a week ago, okay? We went for coffee.