Read The Change (Unbounded) for Free Online

1999.”
    “President Kennedy?” My jaw was hanging, but I didn’t care.
    “No. His son, but yeah, the father was Unbounded, too. Back in sixty-three, we had to get President Kennedy out of the public eye before it was too obvious. Makeup just wasn’t working to age him anymore, and a few aides became suspicious.”
    “You faked his death?”
    “Technically he did meet the mortal criteria of being dead long enough to fool the doctors, but yes, that was our doing. However, the son’s plane accident was real enough, a little gift from some enemies. Fortunately, we were able to get to him in time. But besides the Kennedys there were only three other American Unbounded born to our side in the past century. During those same hundred years, we lost more than a dozen to the fight against the Emporium—including the older Kennedy. We need you.”
    “Need me for what?” The survival and re-death of an American icon was more than I could assimilate at the moment, much less the idea that I could actually be of value to these assured people. “For my genes?”
    “Well, that too, I suppose.” Cort’s eyes focused briefly on my lips, and I found myself wondering how many women he’d kissed during his half millennium of life. Talk about practice. “But it’s more of what you can become after we train you. Your potential.”
    Ava had hinted at something similar, but I had trouble believing either of them. I didn’t have too much confidence in my potential—law school was only one example of my failures.
    “Saturday morning we’re flying to New York to deliver software to a company in exchange for something they’ve developed,” Stella said. “You’ll be coming with us. We need an Unbounded they don’t recognize.”
    “But I don’t know anything about it.”
    “By Saturday you’ll know enough.”
    “Why don’t you just e-mail or Fed-Ex the program to them?”
    They shared an amused glance that irritated me. “Too risky,” Stella said. “We must be sure they fulfill their part of the bargain. I can’t give you details now, but suffice to say, it’s to our good fortune that you’ve joined us at this time.”
    I hadn’t actually “joined” anything. Not of my own will. But already I could tell that these people excelled at using whatever—or whoever—was at their disposal.
    Standing, I paced a few steps under the pretense of stretching. They didn’t move to stop me, and my gaze shifted to the automatic doors. If I made it outside before they stopped me, I could get away and call my family. I could be safe in Tom’s arms, this nightmare behind me.
    Yet what if everything they’d told me was real? What if I was different? Special. Not the ordinary middle child in a family of overachievers. I’d seen the video. I’d watched my burned body heal, felt my body absorbing that sticky gelatin and the clear substance in the IV bags. My two most notable scars—on my thumb and my eyebrow—were gone, and more miraculous, my arm regrown.
    I ran a hand over the stubble on my head, abruptly feeling naked and exposed. Vulnerable. I didn’t know how much more strangeness I could take without losing it.
    Stella made a sympathetic noise in her throat. “Your hair should grow back pretty fast now. All the curequick will affect that, too.”
    “Only as a side effect of your entire body speeding up to make repairs,” Cort clarified. “Give it another few days, and it’ll look like any short haircut.”
    “Meantime, I have something you could wear.” Rising to her feet, Stella motioned me to one of the large metal lockers against the wall. Numerous pieces of clothing hung inside, some obviously period pieces. She laughed when she saw my wonder. “I’m a bit of a packrat. I keep them here so my husband doesn’t—” She broke off, the smile vanishing, and I knew I’d learned something about her. Stella was married, and not to an Unbounded. Did he know her true nature?
    That made me wonder how it would be