Our eyes both focus back on the television screen as the recruiters drag M back to the door he came through.
‘Anyone with any information on this group’s activities should report to a recruiter immediately,’ Joseph continues. ‘We will not stop until this threat to our future is eradicated. There is no sanctuary for them in Hope City. There is no place for them to rest and no place for them to hide. We will find them.’ The way his last words are hammered down through the screen, it feels like they’ve been targeted directly at me—like he’s talking to me and me alone.
One of the guys sitting at a computer switches the screen off and turns to April. ‘He’s made us into terrorists. What do we do?’ he asks her.
April glances our way, acknowledging us for the first time since we arrived in the room, before turning back to the others. ‘We need to send in a rescue team for M.’
‘But you saw the way Joseph was taunting us. It’s clearly a trap,’ the other man says.
Her eyes flick to him, cold and calculating as she stares him down. The man swallows tightly, sheepishly looking away from her.
‘That’s probably true, but he would do the same for any of us,’ she responds. ‘We need to rescue him. I won’t let him die a terrorist. We have some time to come up with a good plan and get him out of there before it’s too late.’
‘How do we convince the others? We can’t send a rescue team without their approval and they’re all downstairs waiting for the meeting to begin,’ Sebastian says.
‘Let me talk with them,’ April replies. ‘We need M back and they will understand that. Joseph is more cunning that we thought. With that pretty little speech he’s turned us into the bad guys. Without M’s help we’ll never gain the support of Hope’s citizens now.’
She moves past us to head down to the platform for the meeting. As I go to follow her I can’t fight the dread I feel in my gut. What if M isn’t as important to these people as she thinks? What if they see what Joseph has planned for M and decide that maybe rebelling against him isn’t such a good idea? We all know the risk of being a part of The Movement now, and it’s not just a slap across the wrists.
Sebastian catches up with April in the corridor. ‘You knew he was Joseph’s brother, didn’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she replies. ‘I think that’s part of the reason he’s so opposed to what Joseph has been doing. M knows the truth behind Joseph’s motives. He knows what he will sacrifice to get what he wants.’
Her words cause me to involuntarily shudder. I already know exactly what Joseph wants—more power. I experienced his thirst for it first hand in the hospital, with his experiments to develop a way to force talents upon people, like he did with me. Like he tried to do with Will and Jane.
I’ve seen the way he commands this city with the brutal force of his recruiters. And Sebastian was practically a recruit in the talented army he’s building in the north. He has divided Hope and manipulated the people with lies to keep them powerless to oppose him.
He wants the ability to choose who has the power in this city and who doesn’t. If he’s able to select which people receive talents, he’ll have a following of highly powerful talented individuals.
But his actions today show he’s scared things aren’t going to plan. He’s getting desperate, which only makes him more dangerous.
‘Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’ Sebastian asks.
‘Would it have made a difference?’ April replies. ‘Besides, it’s not like it matters now. The whole of Hope knows the truth about M. Joseph may have shown that he’s willing to punish anyone who steps out of line, including his own family, but he also exposed the fact that even his own brother is against him. It might make people question his authority. This could be the turning point we need to gain traction with the people of Hope.’
‘Maybe,’ Sebastian says. ‘But his speech about our supposed terrorist acts was pretty convincing. I mean, he told people we’re murders! How do we get them to see the truth after that?’
‘I’m working on it,’ she mutters in response.
As we pass the turnstiles and walk down the steps towards the platform, I can clearly hear disgruntled rumblings from the crowd waiting below. They’ve been waiting 20 minutes for April and there’s an air of restlessness on the platform as we arrive.
The crowd falls silent when April comes into view. The room becomes so quiet that you wouldn’t need talented hearing to catch the sound of a penny dropping against the concrete floor. The atmosphere has completely changed since we left and I can almost feel people’s anger and suspicion buzzing through the air. Some have their eyes focused down on their cuffs. Others are watching April with distrusting eyes, like she’s let them down.
‘You’ve heard,’ she says simply, as the crowd erupts in a series of angry outbursts.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘Did you know?’ one man shouts.
‘How can we trust him?’ comes another woman.
‘He betrayed us!’
Shouts of hurt and anger fill the station and I glance between the fired up rebels and April, who appears completely calm even though most of the people’s rage is aimed at her.
She walks to the front of the crowd and waits for their shouts of dismay to slowly quieten. It takes over five minutes, but only when no one speaks at all, does she respond to the group.
‘I realise you are surprised to learn that M is, in fact, Joseph’s brother. But you should not allow this to cloud your judgement of him. M is both brave and smart for realising how dangerous Joseph is and for wanting to do something about it.
‘I have known about their relationship for a while and never once has it caused me to doubt M. Everything he has ever told me turned out to be the truth, and we would be stupid if we threw away everything we have worked so hard to achieve simply because he shared the same parents as Joseph.’
I look around the room at the people gathered. Some are slowly beginning to nod their heads in agreement as they listen to April’s words.
‘You all have friends who have been affected by Joseph’s division of the city,’ she continues. ‘You know about the experiments he undertakes on innocent people in his hospital. Some of you have seen first hand that he is creating a talented army in North Hope to do his bidding. And I know you all want to see your loved ones who still remain in the ARC brought safely to the surface.
‘All these things are worth fighting for, and M was the man who banded us together. We can’t leave him to die.’
The place stays silent and I glance around to see if anyone will object. April’s impassioned words have most people speechless. Being reminded of what they’re here for seems to have done the trick. I catch sight of Luke and see one of his friends nudge him hard in the ribs as he goes to open his mouth. He quickly closes it and glares at his friend who subtly shakes his head. I’m not surprised he wants to object. He was probably the one who got everyone here all worked up to begin with. That guy is bad news.
When no one responds, April continues. ‘We need to send a team to retrieve M.’
‘But it’s too risky, isn’t it? We already agreed on this,’ a woman in the crowd says, gaining several mutters of agreement.
‘It would be volunteers only. I won’t ask people to risk their lives if they’re not willing to,’ April responds.
Sebastian immediately steps forward and so does Soren. ‘I volunteer,’ Sebastian says. ‘Me too,’ adds Soren.
I place my hand in the air. ‘Count me in,’ I say.
‘Well, if she’s in then you may as well just kill the other volunteers now,’ Luke interrupts. I can practically hear the smirk on his lips. I refuse to turn around and acknowledge what he’s said, but I hear some voices agreeing with him. They think I’m a danger.
‘She’s the reason M was captured in the first place,’ Luke continues. ‘What will they do to us if she loses control again? I for one am not prepared to pay the price of recruiter retribution a second time around.’ The mutte
rs of agreement become louder.
April’s eyes look to me, pleadingly. ‘I’ll stay behind,’ I say to her, my voice low and dejected. ‘I don’t want to put anyone in danger.’
She nods with authority. ‘I appreciate the offer Elle, but it would be best if we had more experienced talents go in.’
The room seems to breathe a communal sigh of relief that I won’t be going. I don’t want to put people in danger and I don’t want people to be scared, but it hurts that the people here have so little trust in me.
Several others put their names forward to volunteer. No surprises that Luke doesn’t put himself forward. I don’t know why he’s even here. It’s pretty clear he’s not interested in anyone but himself.
I am a little shocked to see Lara raise her hand for the mission. April happily accepts her offer of help, which I don’t anticipate. She’s still wearing an inhibitor band and has been struggling with her talent after what happened in the hospital. The look of determination on Lara’s face says it all though. She’s clearly ready to fight back after what Joseph put her through.
April continues the meeting, gaining support from people for her rescue mission. It’s incredible how much she’s matured and stepped up since M was taken. I know she’s young, but I truly believe she’d be a great leader for this group if they would only let her.
When the meeting ends, most people move to the edge of the platform and make their way into the tunnel. I follow them but hesitate before I swing myself down onto the tracks. Instead, I sit and dangle my legs over the edge of the platform, watching as people are swallowed by the darkness of the tunnel.
I hear the tread of footsteps approaching and look up as April crouches down to sit next to me.
‘Please don’t look at me that way,’ I say, when I see how her eyes fall on me. There’s pity in her stare and she’s watching me like I’ve just been dumped and am broken hearted.
‘I’m sorry you can’t go Elle,’ she says. ‘Look, it’s not because of what Luke said. You’re too easily recognised, and you could be playing right into Joseph’s hands. Your talents are too important to him and we can’t risk you being captured again. I don’t know what I’d do if you ended up in that hospital again.’
Her face is filled with total dismay at the thought. She’s right. If Joseph has the chance he’ll return me straight to the hospital to continue his experiments. If he wants to be able to dictate who has talents and who doesn’t, he needs to figure out why it’s worked on me. I reach out and touch her hand. ‘I understand why I can’t come. It’s fine.’
She shakes her head. ‘No, it’s not fine. Everything’s a mess, and the way those people misjudged you? It makes me so angry. I want to lead this group and I want their trust, but I don’t want to lose my own principles to make them happy.’
She sighs and places her head down in her hands. ‘I just want them to see me as the leader I know I can be to them. They need someone to guide them and I’ve tried to do that, but ever since M was taken our whole group has been flailing. I’ve been with these people since the beginning and it hurts that they won’t listen to me.’
I gently rub her back. ‘You’ve been doing an amazing job. I just think everyone here is still in shock after what happened to the camp. Just keep doing what you’re doing and give them the time to come to terms with what has happened.’
‘We don’t have time,’ she responds, her fingers gently rubbing the ridge of her nose. ‘Joseph already has his recruiters combing the city for us, and now every person in Hope is going to be looking for us too. We need to do something and we need to do it fast. Our peaceful attempts at gaining support in Hope aren’t working, and every day we waste is another day that he’s getting away with the terrible things he’s doing.’
‘If we get M back, it will make all the difference,’ I say.
April nods, but I can see she’s not convinced. There are doubts clearly lurking behind her eyes, but she won’t share what they are. Leadership weighs heavily on April and the sleepy bags under her eyes have only gotten darker since the fire. I guess we both have that in common.
I look away from her and glance back down the tunnel. It’s quiet on the platform, but I can still hear the shuffles of people moving along the train tracks.
‘Sebastian was talking about you last night,’ April says, drawing my attention back to her.
‘Oh?’ I respond. I glance over my shoulder to see him standing over by the steps with Kelsey, chatting to Mia.
‘Have you been leading my brother on?’
My cheeks warm in response and I tear my gaze from him. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ I try not to look her in the eyes.
‘Uh huh.’ She smiles.
‘I just remembered, I’m meant to be helping out in the clinic today,’ I respond, trying to sound as casual as possible, though she can probably tell I’m desperate to flee her questions.
Her smile broadens as I stand, and I try to keep my face passive as I make a beeline for the steps leading up to the surface. I wonder what Sebastian has said to her. She didn’t sound upset or angry about it, so whatever he said can’t have been too bad. Still…
I have tried to create distance between us, but it doesn’t seem to be working. The truth is, I want him in a way a friend shouldn’t, but I’m scared of allowing myself to become too close to him. I’ve lost him once and I’m not sure I’ll survive if that happens again.
The rain has stopped when I reach the surface, and the air is crisp and fresh. I’m only wearing a light cardigan, but I’m surprisingly not cold. Whilst I can feel the temperature is cool against my skin, I don’t find it uncomfortable. In fact, I don’t think I’ve felt the cold properly in a long while.
‘I’m going to the clinic,’ I tell the lookout, who stands just inside the subway entrance. He pulls a radio from his belt and checks with the other lookouts that the street is clear.
He gives me a small nod when he gets the fuzzy reply. ‘It’s clear, but keep an eye out for recruiters just in case,’ he says, his gaze looking past me to the street beyond. ‘There were some a few streets over last week.’
I follow his gaze to the street beyond. The black clouds that gather overhead shadow the road in darkness. In the day’s gloom, the colour is almost leeched from our surrounds and everything feels like it’s a varied shade of grey. Even the leaves on the bushes that grow untamed and wild along the sidewalk seem to lack any colour.
I smile and thank the lookout for giving me the heads up before leaving. I move away from the safety of the subway entrance and along the road, keeping close to the walls of the buildings that line it. It’s unnervingly quiet up here, and my feet move quickly beneath me as I walk. I feel so exposed on the street by myself and I can’t wait to get to the clinic.
A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have been so eager to get there. It had been hectic when we first arrived. With so many injuries from the fire, it was both physically and emotionally draining helping with patients every day. I found it difficult to stay strong, especially when the place brought up painful memories of Will.
Most people have recovered now though. So my days at the clinic are spent assisting Aiden and Henry, Lara’s father, with the cure—not that I’m a great help other than running errands and cleaning up after them.
Any help I can give though is important. If they find a cure, it will mean they can stop the mutations that happen when people are brought up from the ARC too soon and exposed to Lysartium. If this happens, everyone will be able to return to a life above ground. No more secrets; no more broken families. And, I will finally be able to see Quinn again.
Henry’s wife, Jess, has a unique talent that means she doesn’t age and he’s convinced it will help them find the cure, but they still haven’t figured it out. They’ve still been taking samples of my blood for their attempts too, but I don’t think my talent for absorbing other talents is helping as much as they’d like.
The clinic is oddly quiet when I arriv
e. The entrance foyer is dark and there’s not so much as a murmur from the rooms down the hallway. A gust of wind comes in through the open door, flapping at some of the old veterinary flyers that sit on one of the tables. I ease the door shut behind me and take a step into the clinic.
‘Hello?’ I call out, expecting to hear movement down the hallway or a shout of greeting in reply, but no response comes. I continue past the foyer and further into the clinic, only pausing when I reach the door that leads to the room Aiden and Henry have been conducting their research in. The door is slightly ajar and as I move to push it open I catch the sound of voices inside causing me to pause.
‘It didn’t work, did it?’ comes Aiden’s voice. I can practically hear the sorrow in his words. I wonder which experiment he’s talking about. When Aiden isn’t working on the cure, he’s looking for a way to fix what the hospital did to his girlfriend, Jane. Either way, if what they’ve been working on hasn’t been a success, it won’t be good.
‘I’m sorry Aiden. I really thought I had it this time,’ Henry says, softly.
A hand slams down on one of the tables. ‘We’re running out of time,’ Aiden responds hotly. ‘She can’t last much longer like this and she’s only getting worse.’
‘I know, Aiden, I know. What’s been done to her; having all those talents forced on her. Her body has rejected them. I’m just concerned there’s no way back from it.’
‘Of course there is,’ Aiden growls.
My heart tugs in my chest as I listen to his despair, and there’s something about Henry’s words that worry me. The way he’s talking, it sounds like he’s preparing Aiden for the worst.
I step away from the door, not certain I feel comfortable listening to any more. Instead, I move on down the corridor to the room Jane’s in.
She’s alone in there, but next to her bed is a bright bunch of wildflowers. Considering winter is nearly upon us, I have no idea how Aiden could have found them.
I pull a chair up next to Jane’s bed and take her hand in mine. Her skin is so fair and her bright red hair is soft next to her full lips. It looks like she’s merely resting, but I know that’s not the reality.
Destined (The ARC Book 4) Page 5