Glitches (Book 1)

Chapter 37: Justin

As the elevator rose higher and higher for what seemed like an eternity, I waited in silent anticipation of my fate. The floors sped by quickly, yet there still seemed to be a million more. 

48...49...50...

The elevator slowed and then stopped before the doors opened with a ding. I stepped out and began to walk down a long, air conditioned hallway, I would have to take the stairs from here. The 51st floor was so small and unimportant that the elevator didn't even go up to it. 

"Wait!" Called a short Government reg who sat on a stool by the stairs. "Only Amanda and Jade have access to the 51st floor." 

"Amanda summoned me," I told her. "Oh..." she gave me a horrified look. She knew too. "Name and Division please," she asked, pulling out a Code hacked iPhone. 

"Justin King, I'm a Codie reg," I stated. 

"Okay," the reg nodded, entering my information in her phone. "Keep this on at all times so they know you've been approved," she pulled something out of a compartment in her stool. 

I stared at the orange paper wristband in disbelief. What was this, an amusement park?  I grudgingly took it, peeled off the tape, and wrapped it around my wrist. 

"Good luck..." the reg whispered tersely as I walked up the stairs. 

The further up I went, the narrower the staircase got. The light began to take on a bluish tinge, and the air became still and a bit creepy. 

The 51st floor was larger than I expected it to be, with no walls. It was a large, circular, extremely symmetrical room that was completely filled with eerie blue light. In the center was a single desk and a chair, facing away from me. In front of the desk, hung on a wall, was a massive screen. Amanda sat at the desk, her back turned to me, and appeared to be having a conversation with someone on the screen.

I quickly ducked out of sight and watched curiously. On the screen was a room almost identical to the 51st floor, except a different person sat at the desk. It was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties with long, wavy black hair. She wore a long, glittery blue dress with a wide slit in the side and white stilettos. Judging from her set jaw and cold eyes, she wasn't a very nice person. 

"Have you found her?" She demanded. "You've had seven years! I'm sick of your delays!" 

"I suspect I have, Your Majesty," Amanda pursed her lips. "But I have yet to prove it." 

"Use the bracelet!" The woman yelled. "The bracelet always reveals the truth." 

"I'm so sorry Queen Saralee," Amanda's face turned red with shame. "I kind of...misplaced it." 

"You lost the Bracelet of Arystenn!?" The woman rose abruptly with rage. "Do you have any idea how valuable that thing is? Or how historically significant to the royal family?" 

Wait...what was going on? A Queen who could make Amanda nervous? A magical bracelet? This whole thing seemed like an elaborate prank, but both of them were just being so serious...

"I don't know what happened, I must've left it on the ship. I couldn't find it when I got to Earth," Amanda explained. 

When she got to Earth? Where did she come from? 

"Well, then, observe her Aura. Is it as powerful as mine?" The Queen asked. 

"She doesn't have an Aura," Amanda replied. "She possesses no Lessaenite traits, and is, as of now, very human." 

"Then how could she be my daughter?" Queen Saralee rolled her eyes. 

"You have surely heard of Fenorel's Theory of Juxtaposition?" Amanda began to explain. When the Queen nodded, she continued. "Our Auras are simply visible electromagnetic fields that our bodies have adapted to use as modes of communication and weapons of destruction. They are structured to activate and begin to grow once they come in contact with other Auras. For a typical Lessaenite child, that's usually a parent or a sibling. It is true that, while on Lessaenes, the young Princess had a very strong Aura. However, after years of being separate from any other Aural activity, her Aura has most probably become dormant and invisible to me."