Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 15 - The Heart of a Leader - III

  "Don't you talk to them?" she asked, tilting her head outside.

  Cinza shook her head, and there was an undercurrent of loneliness in her voice as she spoke. Her voice had lost its affectation, but she had not lost her dramatic flair. "I'm their leader, after all. I didn't intend to be, but the position was forced upon me. So I've never really had the opportunity to speak with any of them as equals. They look to me for guidance, not for vulnerability. I have Ruby, of course, but our relationship is a bit different."

  "That sounds awful."

  "It was, at first. If Ruby hadn't found me, I probably would have gone insane." She looked over at the curtain and smiled again. "I owe her so much."

  "...Who are you, Cinza?"

  She hesitated. "I said I wanted to talk openly, and I meant it. So if you ask again, I'll answer, but I will tell you this now: I abandoned my old identity. Not a soul knows my real name for a hundred miles or more. I created myself anew from nothing, because to include even an inkling of who I had been would be to grant the opportunity for that poison, that venom to slither its way back into my life. That girl died the day I awakened."

  She looked so intense that Rachel couldn't imagine asking her to unveil that portion of her life, no matter how curiosity might tug at her brain otherwise.

  "I won't ask."

  "I will, though. Who are you, Rachel DuValle?"

  "How do you want me to answer that? You could be asking anything."

  Cinza leaned forward, putting her chin on folded hands propped up by the arms of the chair. "I did a bit of digging with Morton's help. He's learned quite a bit as the apprentice to the only journalist in town. How does the daughter of a single mother and struggling actress in B.C. end up in a backwater town like Rallsburg, and become the leader of the new world?"

  "You found my mother?" Rachel asked, surprised. While she wasn't exactly unknown, her mother had never managed anything more than bit parts or character work. Rachel was the only person to ever add her information on internet databases, as far as she could tell. "I didn't think anyone cared enough to search for her."

  "I wanted to know more about you," Cinza replied. "Like I said, you're completely unlike what I'd expected to find when I first arrived. You do remember, don't you?"

  "You tried to overthrow the council. How could I forget?"

  Cinza grinned. "And we'd all be in a far worse place if I had succeeded. I'm glad they taught me a lesson."

  "Would we?"

  "Come on. Don't beat yourself up over current events. This would have happened no matter who lead the council. Omega was a time-bomb waiting to happen."

  Rachel sighed. "It doesn't change what we had to do to keep the peace."

  "You mean the dramatics around your friend Rika?"

  She nodded. "I wouldn't take it back, but I would have done it differently somehow. She had to leave, but it didn't have to be so harsh."

  "What did you do to get her away?"

  "Threatened to get her deported," Rachel said, glancing away to hide her embarrassment.

  Cinza smiled. "You're already taking up the traditions of government."

  "It would have been a big deal. If she'd lit up the system like that, her father might have gotten involved, or worse. She'd lose a lot."

  "But she didn't, and she survived, and now she's back." Cinza said. Rachel looked back, and Cinza was giving her a comforting look. "You've punished yourself enough for that, Rachel. Rika could be brought back into the fold, if we give her a chance."