Graceful Deception

14. Your Face...I Want To Punch It

What did the letter say that got him all riled up?  I guess I would never know…unless he decided to tell me.  But no, he didn’t.  Not even the next day, which was when we were going to break into the Bundeskanzleramt, which was the executive office of the Chancellery.  Sure, he always acted serious on the days when we were doing a break-in.  But then…yeah, not so much. 

“So do you know what’s going on with John?” I asked Ren as we were getting all of the equipment together.  John and Stella had gone out to scope out the Bundeskanzleramt building, leaving me and Ren.  He’d completely refused to let me come to help when I asked him.  It seemed to piss him off even more.

“You mean he hasn’t told you yet?” Ren asked, seeming surprised as he looked over at me.  “That’s weird…since it is about you.”

I looked at him, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “What do you mean?”

He was quiet for a moment, like he was trying to decide if it was best if he told me the truth or not.  “That letter he got yesterday…it wasn’t just a random letter.  It was from Juliet.  It had said that he’d better watch you because…well, maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this.  John should be the one…”

“No,” I cut in, shaking my head.  “He hasn’t said a word to me about it.  And if it concerns me and the Knights, he probably won’t even mention it.”

“He’s certainly overprotective of you, that’s for sure.”

“You can say that again.”

He laughed.  “Well, the letter was from Juliet, saying that he’d better watch out for you.  That’s pretty much all it said, but we know something’s going to happen with them.  We don’t know what, but you know John.  He always fears the worst.  He’s even considering making you stay behind tonight…”

“And he knows that’s never going to happen.”

Ren laughed again, shaking his head.  “Yeah, that’s exactly what he said.  He knows that you’re too stubborn to let him get his way, but that just means that he gets to be even more overprotective of you over the next few weeks that we’re traveling.”

“It’s not like he hasn’t always been.”

“But seriously, Emmy,” he said, shaking his head and trying to stop himself from laughing.  He continued when he finally sobered up.  “John’s not told you a lot about what’s been going on and why he’s so overprotective of you, even though he’s always been.  And that’s definitely something that I’m not going to tell you.  It’s his place to tell you that and I’m not going to be the one that he gets pissed at next.”

What exactly did he mean, John wasn’t telling me everything.  “You mean, he’s keeping secrets from me.”

This time, Ren winced and tried avoiding eye contact.  “It’s for the best right now.  He really just doesn’t want to freak you out and have you worry…”

“Worry?  I’ve got enough to worry about right now as it is!”

I bit my lip right after that last statement left my lips.  Ren’s eyes snapped up to mine, narrowing slightly, as if he were trying to figure out what I was talking about.  I tried to keep my expression blank, but, just like Stella, he could practically see right through it. 

I just didn’t know what exactly he thought I was worried about.

“He knows.”

My breath caught in my throat and I refused to look at him or even say anything. 

“Emmy, how could you be so stupid and not tell him that Juliet was here in Berlin, that she talked to you the other night?”

My lips pursed and I refused to acknowledge what he said.  He definitely wasn’t having that.