Beyond the glass: The Admiral Series, #1

By Lorena Villarreal

The citizens of Admiral had it all. Inside their literal glass bubble, they were untouchable. Cora Walton had enjoyed the perks of being a citizen of the world´s most technologically advanced province for twenty-one years. Perfect weather, year-round. Androids catering to her every need. She had everything she could ever want.
Until secrets are revealed, turning Cora´s entire world upside down. After twenty-one years of living a lie, she is introduced to the life that she could have had. One that she can´t help but feel drawn too. A life beyond the glass. Will she risk the security and stability of the place she has always called home to get a taste of the life she had never known?

***

Lorena Villarreal is a college student currently residing in Monterrey, México. Her love for reading began at age five, and she started writing stories at eight years old. She is currently working on both her business degree, and the second book of the Admiral series. She has two younger brothers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Galaxia Literaria
• Release date: Aug 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9798676982928

Book preview

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THE ADMIRAL SERIES

BOOK ONE

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Beyond the glass

Lorena Villarreal

Todos los derechos reservados conforme a la ley

D.R. © 2020

Por la obra: Lorena Villarreal

Primera Edición: 2020

Arte de portada: Tania de la Garza

Proyecto gráfico e impresión: Galaxia Literaria.

hola@ galaxialiteraria.com

[e-mail]

www.galaxialiteraria.com

www.puntoycomaeditores.com

www.imprimetulibro.com

Guadalajara, Jalisco. México.

Tel. [phone]

ISBN-13: 979-8-676-98292-8

Esta obra se terminó de imprimir en octubre de 2020.

Impreso y hecho en México.

Printed and made in Mexico.

Queda estrictamente prohibida la reproducción parcial o total de los contenidos de esta obra por cualquier medio o procedimiento, sin para ello contar con la autorización previa, expresa y por escrito de los autores e instituciones titulares de los derechos.

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To my parents and my brothers.

To everyone that helped and encouraged me.

Thank you.

Prologue

Through the forest, almost at dawn, a woman and her companion ran. They weren’t escaping anything; they weren’t in danger at all. They moved quickly through the trees, in complete silence. The woman was carrying a baby girl, no more than a couple of weeks old. The baby slept peacefully in the woman’s arms, as not even the crunching of leaves under her mother’s feet was enough to interrupt her slumber.

Ma’am, we haven’t rested since the last town over, and that was over twenty miles away. Can we stop for a minute? The hooded man complained. They both stopped running, walking instead in an attempt to catch their breath.

Samuel, how many times have I told you to call me Oceana? Ma’am makes me feel old.

I’m sorry ma’am, but I can’t call the leader of our province by her first name.

Well, that’s ultimately your decision to make, but I do believe that ma’am is too formal. Too rigid. We’re friends, aren’t we? Friends call each other by their first names. She smiled warmly, her grey eyes were sparkling. We can rest, but we have to be in Admiral by tonight. He’s getting married tomorrow, Oceana said, with a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

Ma’am, pardon my asking but, are you sure about this? You do know there’s no going back if you give her up, Samuel informed her, placing his strong hands on her shoulders. At six foot six, Samuel completely towered over Oceana. But even his large frame wasn’t enough for her to budge.

Samuel, you’re my advisor. You’re supposed to question everything I do. I appreciate your concern, but this is what’s best for her. Admiral is the most developed province in the planet. It has the best technology, the best education, and the best opportunities. You and I both know that living in Caspien’s Coast isn’t an option for her. Living in Admiral with her father will give her the best opportunities. The best life.

But, at what price? He asked her, and she remained silent. In that moment, the little girl opened her big, grey eyes. Identical to those of her mother. She stared at her mother and smiled. Tears welled up in Oceana’s eyes, and she felt a tug in her heart. She knew the price of giving up her daughter. She knew that once her daughter was in the arms of her father, one of Admiral’s most powerful men, they would never meet again. But this was something she needed to do. The life her daughter may have in Caspien’s Coast didn’t come close to the one she could have in Admiral. It was a hard decision for a mother to make.

I know the price. But she deserves to know her father. She deserves the best life she can get. She’s special. Oceana said while her voice cracked. She touched her smiling daughter’s cheek with her fingers and held her even tighter.

You know I trust you and your decisions. The people of Caspien’s Coast trust you too. Samuel said with a hint of a playful smile trailing his lips.

Okay, let’s keep moving. You have my mother’s necklace, don’t you? And the letter? Oceana asked. She wiped away the tears that escaped her eyes, embarrassed to show sadness. Samuel reached into his pocket to retrieve a purple necklace and a cream envelope. The necklace was, to say the least, extravagant. A purple tanzanite stone surrounded by a ring of diamonds. The envelope was simple. The words Ren Walton adorned it in black script. She nodded in acknowledgment; her heart was heavy. They began walking towards the province where she would give up her daughter.

Samuel followed closely behind. With each step, Oceana’s heart grew heavier. Her grey eyes didn’t want to leave her daughter’s identical ones.

Ma’am, there it is. Samuel said, pointing towards a giant iron door. The door was surrounded by an iron wall. Above the wall was a giant glass structure, covering the entire province. Next to the door, was a golden plaque. Province of Admiral, it read. We’re here.

Twenty-one

years later

Chapter 1

Cora

The gentle sun rays of morning caressed Cora Walton’s cheeks in a way that only an idyllic winter sun could. Opening her eyelids at a leisurely pace, Cora welcomed the sun with a sigh. It was the perfect morning. She rubbed her weary eyes and ran her hands through her rosé satin sheets.

Her entire room followed the same color scheme. Rosé curtains, walls, and carpet. The entire room felt like it belonged to a six-year-old with a pink infatuation. When she was younger, Cora adored the sizable room, even with its rosy finishes. Having turned twenty-one this year, she no longer cared for it, she now much prefers the color purple, but Flora Walton had arranged the decorations for the room herself, and Cora was in no mood to bicker with her mother over such a simple thing as a room’s color.

Reaching over to her bedside table, she grabbed the Cuff that daily adorned her wrist. It was silver, sleek, and cold to the touch. Some of the citizens of Admiral were unhappy with the way the Cuff looked in their wrists, but Cora didn’t mind. She was amazed by the amount of technology packed in a tiny bracelet. It even had a tiny compartment where Cora kept a little note handwritten by her father many years back. She turned the Cuff on, and displayed on her forearm, was a hologram that she could control by touching her skin. She was always amazed by technology, especially given the fact that it was always her father’s mind who was in charge of creating such devices.

The hologram on her forearm gleamed. It displayed the time, date, weather, and daily news of Admiral, the province which the Waltons, and other lucky families, called home.

News in Admiral were of a positive origin, as no crimes ever occurred there. This province was a utopia, of sorts. Cora had always deemed it a little dull, a little too picture perfect for her taste.

The flowers were always bright, the weather was always perfect, and the smiles that the citizens exchanged daily were always fake. Well, for the most part. After all, everything in Admiral was designed and engineered to be the way that it was. Cora wondered why she insisted on checking the news every morning. After all, she knew almost exactly what headlines would flash before her eyes.

Another healthy Admiral baby born today built in the Office of Medicine!

Another Admiral building’s inauguration!

Another Admiral citizen creates a piece of technology that will improve our lives!

Cora longed for the days interesting news would be the first thing her hologram would display in the morning. A theft, or a murder. Or even better, news from around the globe, or as Admiral citizens referred to it; the Outside. But it seemed like no one inside the glass bubble was too interested in what was happening outside it.

… so, we can thank the Office of Climate for our nice winter weather, a perfect weather for tomorrow’s Aniball! We can’t wait to see what the twenty-one-year olds will be wearing! Rumor has it, Ivy Rennox had a dress hand made by over twenty androids! Our sources claim it took twenty months to finish, and that it includes actual gold and jewels, making it the most extravagant Aniball dress to date. We can’t confirm this for certain, but what we can confirm is that she’ll look spectacular! Felix Kremer, Admiral’s Chief of Information, babbled on the screen of Cora’s hologram. Cora couldn’t help but smile at the mention of her best friend’s name. If she knew Ivy at all, and she did, she knew that Ivy had called the Office of Information and told them all about her dress herself. An easy way to make sure that all eyes were on her during the Aniball.

Felix Kremer’s handsome features were sharp thanks to the many procedures he had undergone. His smile was almost blinding, and his dark hair was quiffed to perfection. He was young, about thirty-five, and he annoyed the hell out of Cora. Wasn’t he supposed to be Chief of Information? Where was the real information? His phony smile and stupid news segments got on her nerves.

Cora had always had a keen interest in what was happening outside Admiral’s literal translucent glass bubble. The Outside seemed like a mystical, mysterious place. Sadly, her hologram, and everyone else’s, displayed news only about the province contained inside the giant structure. No one, except Harlow Rennox, and a few other high-ranked officials, knew what happened outside Admiral. Cora wondered if she was the only Admiral citizen who cared about the Outside. After all, why would anyone else care? They lived the perfect life in their perfect province inside their bubble. Cora envied Callista Drane, a rebel who had hit the headlines when she escaped the province seven years ago. Cora had been just fourteen when she saw Callista’s parents crying in the news, begging her daughter to come back. She had always been a hero to Cora because, after all, she had been the first citizen to leave Admiral by her own free will.

Cora’s hologram also contained intel about every citizen of Admiral, a society with no secrets. Thank god for privacy. According to her hologram, it was December thirtieth, and a few hours before her final Aniball rehearsal.

Cora paused Kremer’s segment with her finger. She began scrolling, eyeing the rest of the news. They all seemed to display something about the Annual Winter Ball, or the Aniball, as it had been baptized by the citizens of Admiral. She grimaced, remembering that tomorrow night she would be part of this annual tradition. A light knock on her door interrupted her weary thoughts on the Aniball. With the knock came the electronic voice of one of Walton’s many androids.

Miss Walton, your mother is expecting you for breakfast downstairs. The electronic voice was sweet as the android tentatively opened the door to Cora’s bedroom with its metal arms, as if afraid to wake Cora up.

Is Silas going to be there? Cora replied wearily, still waking up completely.

I’m afraid not miss, your brother left for Coaching already. To this announcement, Cora groaned, stuffing her face into her powder pink pillow. There was nothing she despised more than having breakfast with her mother, alone. Who would ever enjoy sitting in the same table with a woman whose favorite pastime is to tell Cora that everything she ever does is always wrong?

Cora’s father, Ren, spent most days at the Office of Technology. Cora couldn’t help but sometimes envy her friends whose fathers didn’t have to work so much. Ren Walton’s high rank as the Chief of Technology made it important for him to be in the Technology Center for hours at a time. Still, she had hoped that at least her brother would still be home.

She adored having breakfast with Silas, even if it meant having to deal with her mother. Her eighteen-year-old brother was a rebel with a cause. It being the need to show their parents that their money and status wasn’t everything. Silas and Cora had a great relationship. Joking with each other, using sarcasm as a way to mask inside jokes that even their parents couldn’t understand.

Not to mention, Silas was incredibly intelligent. He almost always found a way to get whatever he wanted, even if it meant going against his parent’s wishes, which was often.

Cora had accepted the fact that she would be seeing less of her brother as he got older. Him being eighteen meant that he still had to attend Coaching. Every Admiral teenager had to attend from age nine until the year he or she turned nineteen. Before Cora graduated Coaching, she and Silas had breakfast together every day. They even rode to Coaching together in the family hovercar. But ever since her graduation two years prior, she could count on one hand the number of times they had shared breakfast. After ten years of Coaching, Admiral teenagers were granted two years of sweet freedom. That is, until their Aniball, where they were presented as functioning members of society.

Give me a few minutes to take a shower and get changed and I’ll be right there

I’ll tell your mother, the android replied, and closed the door to Cora’s bedroom. She turned her hologram off. All Cora could hear was the gentle sound of their android gardener arranging the garden for her Aniball photoshoot.

She left her bed’s warm embrace and made her way towards her bathroom. Her bathroom, like her bedroom, contained rosy and gold touches. Although a grand marble shower, as well as a marble vanity desk complemented the spacious room. She turned on her shower to scorching heat, just like she liked it. In a few seconds, her entire bathroom was enclosed in steamy vapor. She removed her satin pajamas and placed them in the hamper. A relaxing shower, and a hastily thrown together outfit later, Cora Walton was ready for breakfast.

Chapter 2

Nero

The sound of a vase smashing against one of the walls of the Azare household awoke Nero with a jolt.

Here we go again, he said to himself, running his hands through his black hair. Nero stripped from the sheets assiduously and put on his Cuff at record speed. First thing’s first, he had to check in on his sister. At just eight years old, Maia was in no way as mentally prepared as to deal with an abusive drunk for a father.

Lazarus may have been Admiral’s Chief of Discipline, but he sure as hell could use some discipline himself. The Azare’s house was big enough, yet Nero was still forced to sleep in the dingy basement. Sleeping down here had begun as a punishment for when he had been bad, but he slept down here so often that all his room upstairs still contained was his bed frame. Nero had tried to make the dark space as inviting as possible, but there was still a stale smell of something rotten that wouldn’t go away, no matter what he tried. He had his father to thank for coming up with creative punishments such as this one. Nero went up the stairs two at a time, trying to get to his kid sister’s room as fast as possible.

Sophia, I swear to god this house is in ruin! Look at this mess of a floor! It’s Nero’s fault! Everything is his fault! His Aniball is tomorrow, why are we even allowing him to go?! Worthless piece of shit! His father slurred his words as he smashed yet another vase against the wall. He was talking to Nero’s mother. Way to go dad, Nero told himself. It’s not even ten in the morning and