Selection (Book 2 of P.O.E. chronicles)

Chapter 22 the way forward

I must have looked more confident than I felt, because I saw John exchange a look with Madeline and turn back to whisper to another girl, who had similar features to him. The two of the talked for a while before John returned his attention back to me.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and resisted the urge to look back and see the reaction on the others’ faces. It must be a shock for them; it was for me too. I mean, I had little inkling of my parentage and I still couldn’t believe I had never heard of the de Silver family before! Either I missed the lesson or they weren’t planning on telling us until we graduate. I hoped Steven was okay, after all it wasn’t every day that he found out three (technically four, but he didn’t know about Tom yet) of the survivors he was protecting weren’t even loyal to the family he was serving.

Eyes fixated on my necklace, John took a step forward and in a flash Tom was beside me. John glanced at Tom, annoyed but the latter was already glaring down at him.

“Abigail, can I talk to you for a moment?” he asked, I nodded and gave Tom what I hope was a comforting expression. The two of us walked to the side until everyone was out of earshot.

“Who are you, really?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious. I gave him a flat look and raised my eyebrow.

“I think I introduced myself pretty clearly.” I replied coolly, trying to hide my nervousness. John frowned at me and scratched his head.

“I know Lynette.” He started, my interest piqued and I stared at him intently, eager to hear what he had to say about my estranged grandmother. “She never mentioned that she had any children; in fact the only thing I knew was that she married a norm.”

“Norm?” I echoed, is that what they called non-POE? He studied me for a while and I waited for him to continue.

“What’s going on?” He asked finally, looking around. “How come you are in the Ganesh family guard? And your powers?” the way he said it confirmed that Emily, I mean Madeline had somehow known about my power, at least part of it and sent the information to him. I looked at this newly discovered relative of mine and sighed. Things had definitely taken an unexpected turn and I didn’t know how much I could trust them.

As if sensing my thoughts, John gave me a genuine smile and put a hand on my shoulder. “My grandfather is Lynette’s cousin.” He said, “I think that makes us third cousins or something.”

Recalling the histories of de Silver family that Lynette had drilled into her letters, the proud, accomplished family that they, that we are, I decided to tell them the truth. Not the whole truth, but part of it.

“She doesn’t know about my power, not for sure.” I started, leaving the part about me discovering my power when I was young and skipped to the day of the Legre Invasion, the pivotal moment of my life;it is so strange to think that two years have almost passed since I was last in London Citybase. I skimmed over my months at POE Academy and told the tales of the escape and how the Ganesh family helped us and of course, the attack.

John gave out a sigh at the end of my tale and my heart sank; he must know something about the POE Academy, about the people that were captured at the test. Even though new students were not supposed to know about the families, they surely keep tabs on the Academy.

“They are moving faster than I thought.” John sighed, “The POE Academy was in lock down since the incidents, we only knew that something went terribly wrong and that it probably had something to do with the Apocalypse. But if things were the way you said it was, then they are more resourceful and powerful than we anticipated.”

“Can you help us get back?” I plucked up the courage and asked; if they could find a way in here without being detected by me, then they must have some kind of way to get back out again. John gave me a long and hard look and I held his eyes for the whole time. I hate asking for favors, but right now I didn’t have a choice.