Genius (CENTURIES series: Book #2)

13

She was halfway to the door when he suddenly spoke; "You didn't ask me anything."

Mia paused up. "I asked you plenty of things."

"You asked me one real thing, and that was about why I didn't apply for the Alexandrettia. The rest was about Caleb and Elana. You didn't ask about me."

Mia closed her eyes for one long moment. That was true; She had deliberately not asked him about his past, because she felt like every time she did, he closed down on her. Also, she had the feeling that there was a certain reason as to why he wasn't volunteering his past in his explanation. She was dying to ask, dying to know, but for the sake of Eli and whatever his story was, she didn't. And maybe also because... she was scared of losing him. Which was silly, considering they were nothing to each other. You couldn't really call them friends, nor lovers.

"I don't care why you are the way you are," She finally replied, still with her back to him. "I don't need an explanation, it's not really any of my business as you've said. I just want to help you find Caleb so Elana can have her brother back and so you can..."

"Can what?"

She almost said 'so you can go back to hiding from whatever you're hiding from' but she stopped herself. Instead she took in a breath and said, "So you can go back to doing what you normally do."

With that, she walked out of his apartment and drove home. The whole ride home, she couldn't stop shaking from simply thinking about what Caleb had been through. Eli spoke so calmly about it and it made her wonder horridly... what the hell had he been through himself?

~~~

"Zoe?"

"Hm?"

"I have a hypothetical question." Mia carefully said. They were at her apartment, having a girls night with movies and their two favorite boys; Ben & Jerry. "If whoever fixed the glitch in the servers didn't do it directly from inside the server room, but from afar... couldn't a skilled hacker like you maybe... trace an IP address? Hypothetically."

Zoe raised her head from the couch and frowned suspiciously at her. "Maybe. Hypothetically. Do you know something Mia? Hypothetically, of course."

She had kept her promise to Eli and not spoken a word about his secret to anyone. It wasn't hers to share after all. Whatever reason he chose to keep it, it had to be really good. She trusted him and she wanted him to trust her, too. That's why she replied; "No, I've just been thinking, you know. I mean, how did anyone manage to do it? They couldn't have gotten into the school, could they? After that... Eli guy broke in, security has been upped quite a bit."

"Sure, I mean..." Zoe sat up and turned her head away from the TV. "I guess it's possible someone could've fixed the servers from afar. They would've have to have hacked into the systems though, and yeah, that would maybe leave an IP address to trace if you're good, but the easiest way would definitely be to break into the school and fix it manually."

"Right. Okay." Mia doubted that Caleb was the type of guy who cared about what was easiest. From what Eli had said, he sounded more like the carefree, mirthful type who loved causing trouble – a textbook bad boy. Unlike Eli who... well, he was neither bad nor a boy. He was different, and deep down he had the mentality of someone who was three times his age.