University of Wonderland

Chapter Twenty

I had expected the mission to take place in a damaged part of the city. Warehouses with broken windows, and stink seeping into the air. Some dead place we could bring it to life. It had never occured to me this mission might be the opposite. Some newborn place we would destory.

We parked in front of a set brand-new houses, each construction stickers pasted on the windows. "Sold" signs stand in the manicured lawns. This particular dead-end was a replica of several others we'd driven by. A new development, not yet broken in by the living.

What's wrong with this place?" Even my feet hitting the pavement couldn't disguise the panic in my voice. "I mean, I was happy when thye built it."

Three sets of eyes narrowed at me.

"Because of the solar panels on the roof?" My head moved back and forth between them. "It's environmentally friendly!"

This was Wonderland's (I'm loving this name XD) answer to the energy problem. Citizens are like vampires in their houses were snatching up the new properties in less time than it took to build them. Since houses' prices in the rest of Wonderland had dropped super low, I'd heard rumors that a lot of young, fresh-out-of-college families were bidding as soon as they went on the market. The social class was always greener on the other side.

"Not even six months ago, this place," Sulli stabbed her finger toward the houses, "used to be a farm."

"It's a great farm with a lot of land that provided crops to several cities int he area." Minho unloaded a plant from the back of the truck and set it on the ground.

"The last farm in a hundred-mile radius, actaully," Sehun added.

"But now it's a housing complex," I mumbled, understanding.

"It's a devastating loss." Sulli tossed a metal shovel onto the ground with a tiny thud. "You know how much land the farm has left?"

I closed my eyes shut, afraid of the answer.

"None," Sehun said. "The city confiscated it all, kept changing laws and permit regulations and raising taxes until the farm owners couldn't fight anymore."

"What happened to the farmers?"

Sehun lifted a leafy plant from the truck that covered his face. They fled the area. Couldn't afford to live here anymore." He paused. "We think," he added as an afterthought.

"So what are we going to do?"

"Not what I want to do. Which is destroy this place. That would really get the message across." Minho grabbed a pair of gardening shears like a weapon.

"We're making a statement. Showing the city what they lost, what this used to be," Sehun added.

"What it still could be if they tear down the houses and turn it back into a farm." With her golves on, Sulli picked up one of the potted plants and a bag of soil and carried them over to the front of the house.

I chose a tray of white azaleas and headed after her. "You're just like your mother," I teased.

Sulli rolled her eyes.

"You're revising, aren't you?"

She set the plant down on the front steps and pulled a screwdriver from her pocket. She jimmied the front locked it popped open. "Chaining yourself to a tree is cliché and you'll get arrested. This will get noticed. It has to. There's a family moving in tomorrow." Keeping the door open with her foot, she reached for the potted plant.

I shuffled my foot to foot. Maybe I'd been wrong to want to be involved. This family would probably be super excited to coem to their new home tomorrow, only to find it vandalized when they got here? That wasn't doing good for the environment; that was breaking and entering.