Nefarious

C182 - Competition against Xylan's spies

"I reckon you can keep a secret, am I right?" Xylan said after a while of silence. "Of course," Rain answered briefly. "You better, because if you so much as breathe a word about it close to anyone, I'll make sure it'll be the last thing you do. I can't discuss it in any meeting room as spies might bug them. Spies haven't bugged this room yet, I've made sure of it, so this is the only safe place. You'll say nothing, understood?" Xylan continued. I heard no answer from Rain, so I reckoned she nodded as her frightened response. Now it was crucial that I kept shut, and preferably I should've stopped my heart from beating for a while. Rain's life now depended on my ability to erase my presence for a certain amount of time.

After some minutes passed, the door swung open, and someone entered, though I had no clue how many. "Lock the door and check your clothing for recording devices," Xylan commanded and paused, "if the spies haven't already tried to dig up dirt, then Vera sure will try." What sounded like heavy jackets fell to the floor as the search for recording devices begun. I heard Xylan explaining that Rain was there solely for the child, saying he refuses to deal with a person that young of an age. That didn't come as a shocker for me. However, it confused me that Xylan didn't send both Rain and the baby out of the room. As though sensing my thoughts, Xylan specified that he didn't trust Rain with raising the child as she could make him overly sensitive and unfit to be a teacher or an assistant in the future. So Xylan had already decided Jace's son's future, and Jace had no say in it at all...

As time went, no one in the room seemed to find anything suspicious, and so Xylan proceeded to check the room. Leaning as far back as possible, I held my hand over my heart as Xylan made his way around the room. "Perhaps you should check the closet just to be sure," a dark male voice suggested. My eyes widened as I desperately tried coming up with a plan to cover myself. Rain coughed loudly, allowing me to move slightly and pull some jackets further over me. "Don't draw attention to us, Carradine. Damn it," Xylan snapped. She apologized right when Xylan opened the closet door. I could see the light through some small holes here and there, though I couldn't see him. "Really?" Xylan said, clicking his tongue. Holding my breath, I prepared for Xylan to drag the jackets right off of me and rage. "I can explain, Xylan!" Rain said, panic beaming from her voice. "I don't need you for jobs like this. You're a bit higher on the ranking list than a cleaner, Carradine. Just get someone to fix that before people start hiding stuff amongst all this clutter," he answered. "Right, I'll make sure that gets done," she said, her voice fading more for each word. Obviously, she was just as bewildered as me.

Xylan didn't exchange small talk with whoever was in the room. Instead, he got right to the point. "I need you to make sure that no spies caught onto what I did before the election. I know they journaled a lot of events, particularly the ones considered as morally wrong. Unfortunately, I know that the spies all have an eye on me now that I'm the leader, and so I cannot enter certain parts of the library. With your experience, though I believe you can," Xylan said. "As flattering as that is, you do remember that the spies of the castle are as professional as they can get, right? I mean, you're the leader, can't you change the rules? Surely there must be some way you can terminate the rule that forbids you to read the journals," the stranger answered. "There are certain rules that are fixed regardless of who's the leader. I have to step carefully, especially now that contestants are still alive. I won't risk losing my position as a leader," Xylan said frustratedly. "Still alive? They're immortal, so the only way they could die is if someone kills them," the other person blurted out in confusion. "Perhaps that luck lies within my hands. After all, I did become the leader despite the hard competition against Alex."

A brief pause almost allowed me time to process the information. As I understood it, Xylan was asking his personal spy to conceal the journaling from the spies working for the castle. "Certain measures caused you to win. It wasn't luck, and I don't think you should depend on-" the stranger started. "You're crossing the line, Cohen. I brought you here to offer you a job. Are you willing to take it, or not?" Xylan asked coldly. By the sound of his voice, I could tell this was a rhetorical question. If this Cohen guy would've said no, he would've lost his privileges in the castle, and thereby he agreed to go through with the plan.

It was getting ridiculously exhausting sitting in the closet since I couldn't move nor breathe properly. The slow conversation between Xylan and Cohen irked me, testing my patience for each second that passed. That being said, I knew I ought to keep it together and wait for Rain's sake. I'd never been a fan of her, but I wished no harm for her either. After all, her son only has one parent to raise him, and I wouldn't want Xylan to reduce that to zero.

"I have a concern regarding this plan," Cohen said. "You're excessively concerned, I swear," Xylan groaned. "You threatened countless of people to vote for you as the leader. I know you scared the life out of most, but what if you threatened someone rebellious? What if one person decides to work against you," Cohen blurted out. I closed my mouth, my teeth gritting against each other as I realized just how Xylan won the entire election...

"I've been the leader for months, Cohen. If someone were brave enough, they would've said something already. Besides, they would have an empty accusation as the only proof would be the spies' journals. This is exactly why you have to get rid of any form for evidence," Xylan clarified. Followed by Xylan's response, I heard footsteps before the door got opened. "Remember, the evidence could be a tiny piece of paper. A simple note could start a whole investigation set to strip me of my throne, you could say." A simple piece of paper? Xavier has a note!