Revolution (Book 3 of POE Chronicles)

Chapter 1 Grandmother(s)

“Has Nirmal come down yet?” I asked everyone and Caleb gestured towards the conference room connected to the hall.

“She grabbed some toasts and headed to the conference room, something about an important call.” He answered and I relaxed into my chair. This meant I had more time to eat.

“How’s the preparation for the meeting going?” Gerald asked without looking up from the papers. I grimaced as I thought about all the super political emails waiting for me. I found that people can be very touchy about word choices, like if you type can you come, instead of would you come they might think you are challenging their ability to come. I felt like I needed to go back to school for English lessons.

This was why I was ever so glad when Nirmal had agreed to come and help me set things up. I reached out to her about a week after arriving at the Falcon Manor (though they really should call it a castle) and she replied to me very quickly. At first I was afraid that she might be resentful about what happened with the ambush, but she was happy that I was okay and flew out to meet me after hearing my new mission. We had been preparing for this meeting between the Originals families for a while now and tomorrow the descendent of the people on the painting downstairs would be gathered in one place. At least, that was the plan.

“How are you feeling?” Nirmal asked as I entered the conference room, which happened to have a floor to ceiling window looking out to the lake, offering a gorgeous view and ample lighting. At first we were shocked because large water bodies tended to attract Legres, but Katerina assured us that this area is free of any Legre above Class E. She didn’t really elaborate on that, as with many things connected to the Originals. If I wasn’t so caught up with work I would have pestered her until she tells.

Well, there’s no rest for the wicked. I propped down at the plush leather seat next to her and spin myself around, tapping on the power button on my three month old laptop to fire it up. “As good as it can get.” I answered and peeped at the notifications tab. Fifty five emails. Argh. It could be worst.

I scrolled through the list and realised most of emails were asking to confirm the itinerary of the approaching meeting, with a dozen internal chain mails attached below. They obviously had no concept of time zone if they expect me to reply at three a.m. in the morning.

“I need a team of secretaries.” I complained, but keeping my tone light so Nirmal wouldn’t take it seriously. This whole thing was supposed to be a temporary solution, and I planned to keep it this way. I might not have any idea about what kind of life I wanted to lead but one in this corporate, political world certainly isn’t on the list.

“And I need Latte.” Nirmal replied and dashed off to the coffee machine on the side. I gave the strong smelling brown liquid a glance and shook my head. Nirmal gave out a sigh of contentment as she sipped the coffee and I rolled my eyes.

“Come on Gail, coffee is amazing.” Nirmal laughed and I raised an eyebrow at her. “Just because you went to the bathroom thirteen times in an hour after drinking one doesn’t mean it’s not good.”

I huffed with indignation at the mention of the bladder fiasco; Nirmal had convinced me to try that evil crap one day when I complained about being tired, which effectively resulted in me dashing to the use the toilet at an ungodly frequency. Safe to say that I was not a huge fan of coffee after that; it didn’t even make me felt more awake.

“Have you got any replies from Alverez-Carillo, Wong, Bugatti or Smith family?” I asked Nirmal who shook her head. Disappointment bubbled up inside me but I pushed it back down. These are only temporary setbacks; at least half the family would be here tomorrow and that’s more than what we hoped for. You can’t have everything in the world; and hopefully once we find out what the Apocalypse were cooking up they would be dashing to our side to help.