Chosen (9781742844657)

by Morgansen, Shayla

  Sterling sighed, and flopped backwards on her bed to smile at the ceiling.

  Pathetic was really the only word applicable.

  Now, whenever I entered the office, my chair was already in place.

  ‘Is Qasim talking to you yet?’ Renatus asked, without looking up from his work. I sat down and began addressing the envelopes piled before me.

  ‘No. He acts like I’m not there.’ I tapped the pen against the desk as I scanned the first letter for a return address. ‘Is he the same with everyone he hates, or is it just me?’

  ‘He doesn’t hate you,’ Renatus insisted, sparing me a miniscule glance. ‘Qasim just doesn’t like you. He’s testing you. Don’t worry too much. He doesn’t like me, either.’

  Qasim, I knew, wasn’t the only one.

  A question burned at the back of my mind – I longed to know why the White Elm council disliked Renatus so – yet I couldn’t exactly just say that, could I? Renatus paused in the middle of writing a word, and although I hadn’t made a sound, I strongly suspected he knew what I was thinking. I quickly searched my brain for something else to think about.

  ‘How long have you lived here?’ I asked before he could say anything.

  ‘My whole life,’ Renatus answered. ‘This house has belonged to my family for centuries.’

  ‘But now you live here alone?’ I asked and immediately wished I hadn’t. It was hardly my business, and of all people, I should be more sensitive towards people whose families were notably absent.

  ‘Yes, except for Fionnuala and her family.’ Renatus looked up and gazed out of his darkened window. I’d hardly said a word but already I’d screwed up this conversation. I really regretted my stupid question, and looked around for topic-changing inspiration. A cracked shard of ceramic floating in a bubble several centimetres above the tabletop – how had I not noticed that sooner? – served my purpose perfectly.

  ‘What’s that?’ I asked. He turned back and regarded the object with me.

  ‘I’m hoping to use the energy traces left on it to track someone. We recovered it from Emmanuelle’s place after her house was broken into the other week.’

  ‘What?’ I said, shocked that even White Elm councillors fell prey to life’s many inconveniences, like burglaries.

  ‘Jackson – another of our former council members, I’m sure you know – was there, looking for something he suspects she has. She wasn’t there; she wasn’t hurt,’ he added, noticing my worried expression and responding to my unspoken, burning question. ‘It was a bold move on his part but I know it was Lisandro’s plan because Jackson just isn’t that bright.’

  ‘What are…’ I stopped myself before I could ask another inappropriate question. I rephrased. ‘Did he find what he was looking for?’

  ‘No. I don’t even know how he knew to target her. But somehow he did, so that’s why she’s been here almost a hundred percent of her time lately.’

  I had noticed that. I hadn’t put much thought into it. I reached for a new envelope and, in my usual state of vagueness, bumped a neat pile of papers. The top half fluttered to the floor.

  ‘I’m sorry!’ I exclaimed, horrified with myself. I jumped to my feet, wondering how angry Renatus would be – he had so much work to do and everything was so well-organised…had I just ruined his system? ‘I’m really sorry. Here, I’ll just…’

  I stooped to collect the papers, praying I hadn’t angered him. We had been getting on reasonably well, and he had the power to expel me if I stepped out of line. But he simply tore his gaze from the ceramic shard and its creepy little bubble and glanced disinterestedly down at the mess I had made of his paperwork.

  ‘Don’t bother,’ he said, and went back to answering letters. I stood with all the papers in my hands, undoubtedly disordered. I felt really stupid, and opened my mouth to apologise once again. Renatus raised a hand to quiet me. ‘Don’t apologise to me until you’ve done something to wrong me. Let’s both hope you never have reason to apologise.’

  I did hope that, because I really didn’t want to get on the wrong side of him, of all people.

  Now, I didn’t mean to just go reading through Renatus’s personal documents and files. I only glanced down at the sheets of paper in my hands to work out where to put them (to dump this messy collection of paper on top of the neat and tidy pile it had come from, or find somewhere else to put it?) and happened to notice the name Aristea Byrne in a short, handwritten list.

  ‘This list has my name on it,’ I commented, carefully dropping the rest of the paperwork onto my empty chair and beginning to read the list. There were seven other names.

  Renatus’s reaction was sudden – the energy in the air around and between us immediately became cold and crackly with his emotions…concern, nervousness, confusion. He stood abruptly, shoving back his own chair, and leaned across the desk to grab my wrist and jerk it closer so as to see what I was reading. His expression was tense as his eyes scanned the words, but as quickly as the change had come on, his expression cleared and he visibly and energetically relaxed.

  ‘Ah. That list,’ he said calmly. He released my wrist and leaned back. ‘I thought you’d found something else.’

  ‘Where else do you have my name written?’ I asked, shaken. His reaction to my simple statement, and the quickness of his return to calm, had really taken me by surprise.

  ‘I don’t,’ he said. ‘I just-’

  He stopped suddenly and looked at the door.

  ‘Qasim’s coming,’ Renatus said. ‘You should go. Take an early mark.’

  I nodded and headed for the door as he flicked his hand towards it. I was glad for his warning but still a little unnerved by his sudden weirdness. The door opened and I slipped through, almost walking straight into Qasim. Before I could speak, he snatched from my hand the list I hadn’t even realised I was still holding.

  ‘What’s this?’ he asked suspiciously, scanning the sheet quickly. ‘Oh. Your scrying class. Off you go.’

  He handed the list back to me and entered the office, shutting the door in my face.

  Entering the dining hall on Saturday morning for breakfast, I was immediately taken back to my childhood, and not in a good way. People were upset and confused and I was tapping into their negativity. I worked to armour myself with wards before I could get too agitated and overwhelmed. I’d always been like this. I was always sensitive to the extreme emotions of others, and as a child I had been prone to taking on whatever I felt others feeling. I wasn’t so bad for it now thanks to my uncle’s tutelage but sometimes it would just wash over me, taking me by surprise, if I wasn’t vigilant.

  The source of the upset was quickly obvious. Hiroko and I stopped and stood with the twins near the buffet table as a male student argued loudly with Lord Gawain.

  ‘Are you calling my mom a liar?’ the student demanded. ‘‘Cause, that’s how it sounded.’

  ‘I’m not calling your mother anything, Egan,’ the old man said. ‘It’s Lisandro I’m calling a liar. He’s tricked her-’

  ‘Respectfully, Sir, you’re talking shit,’ Egan responded, earning a buzz of murmured discussion from the gathering crowd of students. ‘Who was the girl?’

  ‘I’ve told you. I don’t know what or who Lisandro was talking about.’

  ‘He was talking about the girl whose life you wouldn’t save,’ Egan said. He folded his arms, standing his ground. ‘Who was she? Or have you conveniently forgotten?’

  ‘It’s not that convenient,’ Lord Gawain answered, clearly losing patience. ‘I’m quite sure that she never existed. Neither I, nor the White Elm, as long as I’ve been on it, has ever refused to save a life when asked. Lisandro is a masterful liar and your mother is not the first to fall for his act.’

  The angry student shook his head and turned away. Lord Gawain and the councillors standing around him did nothing to stop him as he stormed out of the dining hall.

  Excited conversation broke out immediately, whi
le Emmanuelle and Teresa came to Lord Gawain and led him quietly from the hall. He looked like the argument had taken a bit out of him. The only two councillors left, Jadon and Aubrey took up guard positions either side of the door, keeping an ominous watch over us. We tried to ignore them and went about getting breakfast.

  ‘What was this?’ Hiroko asked me as we grabbed some toast for our plates. ‘I am not sure I can understand. He said Lord Gawain would save a girl’s life?’

  ‘No, he said Lord Gawain chose not to save some girl’s life,’ I corrected.

  ‘Probably just rubbish spouted by Lisandro,’ Kendra wrote off, shrugging. ‘That guy’s such an ass.’

  ‘Yeah, why would the White Elm refuse to save a life? Sounds like a massive misinterpretation to me,’ Sophia agreed. ‘Psychos misinterpret normality for a living.’

  We sat down in our usual spot, where Sterling and Xanthe were already waiting for us. Sterling almost threw herself across the table in excitement.

  ‘Did you see that?’ she asked, perhaps rhetorically, because the spectacle had been somewhat obvious. ‘What do you reckon that was about?’

  ‘Garbage,’ Kendra said flatly.

  ‘Parroted by a mindless loser,’ Sophia finished, but paused before eating the spoonful of cereal she’d raised to her lips. ‘Not that questioning authority necessarily makes you a mindless loser, but doing so on the advice of a known killer and con artist does.’

  ‘Hey,’ Addison said, placing a hand each on the backs of Kendra and Sophia’s chairs and leaning between them. Behind him, a friend quietly trailed over. ‘How’re you enjoying trying to fill in the blanks? Any good theories down this end of the table?’

  ‘I’ll have you know that our theories are quite convincing,’ Kendra informed him. ‘We’re an elite group of thinkers, we are.’

  ‘We’ll have all of the universe’s greatest questions answered by lunchtime if nobody stops us, and there’ll be nothing left for experts to wonder,’ Sophia said once she’d swallowed her cereal.

  Kendra quickly added, ‘We’ve already worked out the meaning of life, what women want and whether there’s a god.’

  ‘But now we’re stuck.’

  ‘The purpose of men,’ Kendra said, shaking her head. ‘There’s just no logical explanation.’

  I burst into a fit of giggles along with everyone else in our group, including Addison and his friend. They pretended to be mildly offended, but couldn’t help laughing. We were soon distracted by the re-arrival of the outspoken student from before.

  ‘That’s Egan Lake,’ Addison told us quietly. ‘He’s in my dorm. Telepath. Woke up this morning claiming the White Elm is the enemy and his mother’s coming to get him.’

  ‘What a loser,’ Kendra commented as Egan spoke briefly with a small group of excited students and then left again with them. When he passed the two councillors at the door, he said, in a loud and triumphant voice, ‘We’ll all see, then, won’t we?’

  Jadon and Aubrey, standing on opposite sides of the door, shared a patronising glance that told me they weren’t concerned by the student’s tone. I turned back to the conversation at hand.

  ‘So you knew all along what this was about and didn’t mention it until now?’ Kendra realised suddenly, frowning up at Addison. ‘Pretending to ask about our theories when really you already knew? I feel so cheated.’

  ‘Luckily we’d already worked it all out,’ Sophia reminded her sister, ‘because we’re geniuses like that.’

  ‘It just further proves our other conclusion – no point to men at all.’

  ‘Well, I can’t speak for my entire useless species,’ Addison said when the fresh laughter had subsided, ‘but my current purpose is to take a morning walk around the grounds with six beautiful girls, as there’s nowhere for me to sit down this end.’

  Addison was, I decided, much too charming to be allowed. With words, he had totally disarmed the lot of us, and had us blushing and grinning like preteens. All six of us stood, left our unfinished breakfasts and followed him and his friend from the hall, and it occurred to me that if Addison wasn’t careful, he was going to do more than win over just Kendra.

  Addison’s friend, Garrett, didn’t say much unless spoken to, and even then, averted his eyes when he answered. He had thick russet hair, milky pale skin dotted with several freckles, and a strange accent I couldn’t place. Apparently the two boys knew each other from their Displacement class, which, as it happened, was also Hiroko’s class.

  ‘So you’re a Displacer, are you? Both of you?’ Kendra asked of Addison, glancing back at Garrett as well to include him in the conversation. Garrett nodded once and angled his gaze away from her. Addison grinned and, mid step, disappeared. He reappeared several steps ahead of Kendra, and turned to walk backwards.

  ‘That’s right. Keeps things interesting.’

  Kendra smiled slyly.

  ‘I could do interesting,’ she responded, flicking her hair from her shoulder and stepping ahead of Addison to walk through the front doors. Sophia shot me a look of mock-disgust while Hiroko suppressed a laugh by staring at her feet and covering her mouth with her hand.

  The group of us had barely stepped outside of the house when Sterling noticed a commotion near the gate. The small group of students who had left the hall earlier were standing in a tight bunch, crowded around the Telepath who had said, ‘We’ll all see, then, won’t we?’

  ‘That’s Egan,’ Addison commented, squinting in the sharp morning sunlight and rubbing his arms as though suddenly cold. ‘And I guess that must be his mum. What the hell do you call this temperature, by the way? I thought it was springtime.’

  The elegant wrought iron gates were open, I saw, and an unfamiliar adult stood with the students. The woman pointed up at the house, and the group began moving towards us quickly.

  ‘They left the gate open,’ I commented uneasily as we meandered down the path. Very shortly, our two groups would meet. The student leading the other group, the telepath that was Egan Lake, waved once to Addison, flagging us down.

  ‘What did I tell you, man?’ he called, waving a small, spherical object in the air. ‘Check this out.’

  ‘What now?’ Addison asked, though good-naturedly. He covered the remaining distance with a few long strides, and the rest of us hurried to keep up.

  ‘This is what I was telling you about this morning,’ Egan said, showing us the glassy sphere. ‘Those murderous bastards can’t keep the truth hidden.’

  ‘It’s atrocious,’ the woman said darkly, shaking her head and radiating an unchecked fury. ‘I can’t believe I entrusted you to these people – what was I thinking? Murderers and liars, the lot of them. The rest of you should just pack your things and contact your parents to come get you. These councillors are not fit to be educating and protecting children.’ We said nothing in response, so she turned to her son and said, ‘Well, show them! Everyone deserves to know.’

  I realised with a shock that I recognised this lady. I’d seen her the other night, the night of my confrontation with Qasim, when Renatus had touched my arm and I’d seen that bar and this woman sitting in it with some guy…

  ‘Know what?’ I heard myself ask in a haughty, grown-up tone I wasn’t used to using.

  ‘Don’t talk to my mom like that, girl,’ Egan snapped, raising a finger to point warningly in my face. I shoved his hand away.

  ‘It’s Aristea, and I’ll talk how I like,’ I answered. I couldn’t believe that this was me. I indicated the crystal ball. ‘What is that thing, anyway?’

  ‘It’s a recording, of everything Lisandro told me. The truth.’ The woman smiled at her son.

  Kendra scoffed audibly, and her clear disbelief gave me the clout to say, ‘You mean lies.’

  ‘Lisandro found me first but he didn’t pursue me. I went to him,’ Egan’s mother told us, ignoring me completely now, ‘and he told me everything. He’s not at all like he’s portrayed – the White Elm betrayed him
and painted him as a criminal and a liar, when in fact it’s them who are the dangerous ones.’

  I glanced up at the house behind me, thinking of Renatus. He certainly seemed dangerous, and I was willing to take a stab in the dark and say that he was dangerous if crossed, but I felt that he was a good person, like the rest of the council. My eyes sought out the large window of his office, and at that moment I saw him, standing at his window and surveying the scene. Noticing the unfamiliar woman, he turned away abruptly. I imagined that he was not far away.

  ‘It’s all in here, everything he told me,’ Egan’s mother said, gesturing encouragingly at the sphere her son held. At first, I thought it was just a little glass ball, or maybe a ball of clear quartz, but then I noticed the flickers of colour within it. ‘How Lord Gawain ignored Lisandro’s moment of greatest need and let him suffer for years, and then how he turned him out and poisoned the council and the public against him. It’s the greatest cover-up of our time. You won’t believe it until you hear the proof.’

  ‘One man’s word isn’t proof,’ I disagreed, ‘and Lisandro murdered his friend and follower, Peter, which makes his word rather less trustworthy.’

  ‘I was devoutly faithful to the White Elm only a month ago – I sent my son to them for teaching. What Lisandro told me was convincing enough to turn me around completely.’

  There was that. Hiroko gave me an uneasy glance, and I knew she was wondering whether there was truth to Egan’s mother’s story. I could feel Sterling, Addison and Garrett felt similarly uncomfortable. From Xanthe I felt a growing sense of curiosity, but the twins’ emotions remained firm and staunch.

  ‘You only have to touch the crystal to access the information inside,’ Egan’s mother said. ‘I’m here to help you see what’s been hidden from you; your parents would want you to be informed, to know the truth. You know it in your hearts, like I realised I did. You’ve never really trusted these people.’

  Her words felt so immediately wrong that I took an unconscious step back in disgust. In the corner of my eye I saw Renatus stride through his front doors, not thirty seconds since I’d seen him standing in his office four storeys above. I felt relief. He’d scared me on occasions but, I realised now, I felt totally and completely comfortable and safe around him. He would fix this situation.