Chosen

Chapter 28

"Grandmother, what are you doing here?!" I exclaim, rushing over to release her from the restraints.

"Now now, don't bother with that, they'll just truss me up again anyway. Let's not waste what little time we have together." She waves her hand at the wrist, beckoning me to stop. I take her hand and kneel next to her.

"Oh, grandmother, what did he do to you?" I despair. "I didn't know you were stuck in solitary. I thought he would draw the line with his own mother—"

"Have you not learned anything these past weeks?" Juniper interrupts me sharply. "My son draws the line for no one. The only thing that matters to him is power and control. This, my dear girl, is why his system won't last. It can't last. If it does, we're all going down with it." She grips my hand harder.

"B-But what can we do? Crane has everyone under his thumb, we can't do anything," I stutter helplessly. She shakes my hand with as much range of motion her bound wrist will give her.

"You can, Elia. What's more important, you must. I haven't told you everything I should have, dear, something I regret now. I thought I had time. I thought that, in time, you would have become chief and this would have been a moot point." She shakes her head. "But, things being as they are now, I wish I'd told you more."

"More about what?" I ask her desperately, scooting closer. Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming down the hallway outside, accompanied by angry shouts. We're almost out of time.

My grandmother speaks quickly, knowing we have only seconds. "We're being watched, child." She drops her voice to the barest whisper. "You need to find them, Elia."

"Find what? I ask anxiously.

Juniper lowers her voice even more. "Not what. Who."

"Who am I supposed to find?" I whisper, casting a fearful glance at the door. The voices are louder now, angry men and what sounds like a scared Bernice.

 She tugs hard on my arm and I lean in closer. "Ask Norman. He'll give you the answers you need," she says, so quietly I'm not sure I heard correctly. 

"Norman?" I gasp aloud, looking at her in shock.

"Yes, he's a good boss. Now, let's talk about that handsome new beau of yours," my grandmother's voice turns from urgent whispers to loud gossiping tones. Paul bangs the door open, joined by Lennox, another of Crane's security team, Bernice cowering behind them.

"Wha—oh, things are going well. I think he likes me a lot," I start babbling as the men stride over.

"Elia, come with me," Paul grabs my arm roughly, and I can tell he's pissed that I fooled him into letting me enter the ward.

"Hey, what're you doing? I'm just visiting with my grandmother," I wrench my arm away, putting on a show. I have to make it look like I only came here because I missed her and was checking up on her. "You'll upset her with your violence. Can't you see she's in recovery? There's no need to manhandle me," I rub my arm for good measure. "I'll come quietly, I promise. Just let me say goodbye." I glare are Paul an Lennox. Their faces are murderous, but they take half a step back.

"Goodbye, grandmother, I hope you feel better. I'm going to do my best, like you told me," I tell her, hoping she'll know what I mean.

"Of course child, I know you'll be great, I believe in you," my grandmother reaches for my hand one last time and I clasp it like my life depends on it. Before I know it, I'm being towed away between Paul and Lennox, leaving my grandmother and a worried Bernice behind me.

- - - - -

"How dare you undermine my authority!" Crane spits at me.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I reply cooly. Crane's bullies hauled me up to his office from the elderly ward, where I've been listening to Crane rail away at me for the last three minutes. It's quite the departure from his usual irritatingly cold and calm routing. It's crazy, if he'd done this to me a month or two ago, I'd be cowering. Now, in the wake of everything that's happened and what I just learned from my grandmother, I find it almost funny. His control is ebbing. Even of me. And I'm done walking on eggshells around him.