Drew, p.21
Drew, page 21
After a beat she lets go, begins walking quickly toward the car, then freezes and turns around.
“I love you just the way you are!” she shouts over the noise. “Don’t ever change, Drew!”
She doesn’t hear me, but I answer: “I couldn’t if I tried.”
And oddly enough, in that precise moment, nothing feels truer.
(NOT) THE END
COMING SOON:
BOOK TWO: ORION
wearechangers.org
Abridged Glossary of terms
(Excerpted from the Changers Bible)
Abider. A non-Changer (see Static, below) belonging to an underground syndicate of anti-Changers, whose ultimate goal is the extermination of the Changer race. The Abider philosophy is characterized by a steadfast desire for genetic purity, for human blood to remain unmingled with Changer blood. Abider leaders operate by instilling fear in humans, for when people fear one another, they are easier to control. Abiders sometimes have an identifying tattoo depicting an ancient symbol of a Roman numeral I (Figure 1), the emblem symbolizing homogeneity and the single identity Abiders desire each human to inhabit.
Fig. 1. ABIDERS EMBLEM
Changer. A member of an ancient race of humans imbued with the gift of changing into a different person four times between the ages of approximately fourteen and eighteen. (In more modern times, one change occurs at the commencement of each of the four years of high school; see Cycle, below.) Changers may not reveal themselves to non-Changers (see Static, below). After living as all four versions of themselves (see V, below), Changers must choose one version in which to live out the rest of their lives (see Mono, below). Changer doctrine holds that the Changer race is the last hope for the human race on the whole to reverse the moral devolution that has overcome it. Changers believe more Changers equals more empathy on planet Earth. And that only through empathy will the human race survive. After their Cycles (see Cycle,below), Changers eventually partner with Statics. When approved by the Council (see Changers Council, below), Changer-Static unions produce a single Changer offspring.
Changers Council. The official Changer authority. The Changers Council is divided into regional units spread out across the globe. Each Council is responsible for all basic decisions regarding the population of Changers in its specific region.
Changers Emblem. A variation on Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man drawing, dating to approximately 1490 CE (Figure 2). The Changers Emblem contains four bodies superimposed in motion, instead of two (as portrayed in da Vinci’s composition), and appears to the eye as both four bodies and one body at the same time—though all sharing one head and heart. An emblem of the Changer mantra: In the many we are one.
Fig. 2. CHANGERS EMBLEM
Changers Mixer. Required events for all Changers to attend, during each of the four years of high school (a minimum of two mixers are required for each year). Council rules and regulations are emphasized at mixers (see Changers Council, above). Mixers sometimes require classwork and formal discussions, but Mixers are primarily designed to offer more informal camaraderie and problem-solving techniques, both of which help Changers address some of the difficulties that frequently arise during their Cycles (see Cycle, below).
Cycle. The four-year period of different iterations, or versions (see V, below) that a Changer goes through between the approximate ages of fourteen and eighteen. One V per each of the four years of high school.
Feints. The story a Changer family tells the non-Changers (see Static, below) in their lives, to explain each V’s (see V, below) absence during the following year of school. The specific details for Feints are provided by the Council (see Changers Council, above), unless a Changer and her/his parents submit a formal request for an alternative Feint, which is necessary under certain circumstances (i.e., when Statics are especially integrated into a particular V’s life, or when a particular Feint will better protect the identity of the Changer and her/his family).
Forever Ceremony. Regional “graduation” events held on the day after high school graduation for every Changer within a designated region. A joyous though private (from Statics—except parental Statics; see Static, below) occasion, as each year of ceremonies initiates more and more Changers to filter out into the world and eventually find a Static mate, with whom they will start a family and raise Changer offspring of their own. At the Forever Ceremony, Changers are introduced one by one, and each speaks a little about each of her/his V’s (see V, below) before declaring in front of both the Council (see Changers Council, above) and their community whom they will live as for the rest of their lives (see Mono, below).
Mono. A Changer’s “forever identity,” a.k.a. the V (see V, below) a Changer ultimately selects for her/himself after living as each of the four different assigned V’s. A Mono cannot be the individual a Changer lived as during the approximately fourteen years before her/his Cycle (see Cycle, above) began.
RaChas. Common term for “Radical Changers,” a small but growing splinter group of Changers tired of living in secret, as the Council (see Changers Council, above) dictates. RaChas are freegans, anarchist free spirits, often living in the margins, surviving on what human society at large throws away. RaChas philosophy calls for living openly and demanding liberation and acceptance for all, Changers and Statics alike. RaChas have adopted the ancient Roman numeral IV, rotated on its side (Figure 3), as an emblem, symbolizing their desire to shake up traditional Changers philosophy and call attention to the limitations of the four-V Cycle (See V, below; see Cycle, above) each Changer must go through. RaChas have been known to recruit Changers with the intention of indoctrinating them into RaChas activities. RaChas have also been known to battle Abiders (see Abider, above) and even stage secret missions to rescue Changers who have been abducted by Abiders and held in Abider deprogramming camps. [Nota bene: While the Changers Council is at odds with the RaChas movement, it can also no longer deny its existence.]
Fig. 3. RACHAS EMBLEM
Static. A non-Changer (i.e., the vast majority of the world’s population). Particularly sympathetic Statics are ideal mates for Changers later in life. Once a Changer has completed his or her Cycle (see Cycle, above), s/he will be fully prepared to assess various Statics’ openness and acceptance of difference. When a Changer feels certain that s/he has found an ideal potential Static mate, s/he may, with permission of the Council (see Changers Council, above), reveal her/himself to the Static. [Nota bene: This revelation can occur only after a Changer’s full Cycle is complete, and s/he has declared his or her Mono (see Mono, above).]
Touchstone. A Changer’s official mentor, assigned immediately upon a Changer’s transformation into her/his first V (see V, below). The same Touchstone is assigned for a Changer’s entire Cycle (see Cycle, above).
V. Any one of a Changer’s four versions of her/himself into which s/he changes during each of the four years of high school. Changers walk in the shoes of one V for each year of school (between the approximate ages of fourteen and eighteen).
Acknowledgments
Deserved thanks are due to a great many folks, all of whom helped Changers evolve from a lightning-bolt idea in the park to an actual book series we are proud to have our children (and others) read. The love and kindness of the following friends and family can be felt on every page:
Johnny Temple, Johanna Ingalls, Aaron Petrovich, Ibrahim Ahmad, and everybody at Akashic Books; Clay Aiken; Shannon Burke; Sarah Chalfant and Rebecca Nagel at the Wylie Agency; the families Cooper and Glock; Gabriel Crowell; Daniel Ehrenhaft; Elaine, Jane, Miss Kristy, and all at the Museum of Appalachia; Jeff Gordinier; John Green; Peggy Hambright and Magpies Cakes; Christina Jokanovich; Stephen Kay; Tom Léger; Téa Leoni and family; Langley Perer and Dawn Saltzman at Mosaic; Alex Petrowsky; Spencer Presler; Danny Rose; Adam Schroeder; Doug Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic; and Scott Silver.
And, of course, our daughters Dixie and Matilda, whose empathy and wit continue to inspire and astound us every day.
About the Authors
T COOPER and ALLISON GLOCK-COOPER are best-selling and award-winning authors and journalists. Between them, they have published seven books, raised two children, and rescued six dogs. The CHANGERS series is their first collaboration in print. The two also write for television and film, and they can be reached at their websites: www.t-cooper.com and www.allisonglock.com.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published by Akashic Books
©2014 by T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper
ISBN-13: 978-1-61775-195-0
eISBN: 9781617752070
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013938807
Changers illustration by Alex Petrowsky
All Rights Reserved.
c/o Akashic Books
PO Box 1456
New York, NY 10009
info@akashicbooks.com
www.akashicbooks.com
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Akashic Books is an award-winning independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers. Black Sheep is Akashic Books' imprint for young readers. Changers Book One: Drew, is the debut title in the imprint. Game World, an adventure story for middle graders, is also available now, and the imprint will continue in 2014 with Pills & Starships by Pulitzer Prize-Nominee Lydia Millet.
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T Cooper, Drew
