“Get up, you filthy Betrayer."
"Nico, leave her alone. You know she was like ten when they left. She didn't have a choice."
"Shut up, Olympia."
I open my eyes and see Nico and Olympia standing outside my cell. "What are you doing there?" I ask.
"We decided we couldn't keep you there anymore. You don't deserve to be locked in a cell," Olympia says.
I get up, fast as lightning. "Really?" I look at Nico in disbelief.
"I didn't decide anything, she did. Don't get your hopes up, Betrayer."
That makes more sense. I look at Olympia again. “Why exactly did you put me here in the first place?”
She sighs. “We’re sorry, Chrix. Nico, tell her we’re sorry.”
“You can’t make me.”
Olympia takes a gun from her belt and Nico smirks. “You won’t shoot me. You’re too nice.”
“You’re right.” Olympia says, playing with the gun in her hand. “But if I give this to Chrix, I think she’ll have no problem pulling the trigger… Won’t you, Chrix?”
“She doesn’t know how to shoot a gun,” Nico says.
“Do you really want to test that?” I ask, a smile threatening to form on my lips. “I’m a filthy Betrayer, right? Who knows what I can do.”
“Fine, sorry,” he says, and rolls his eyes so I can tell he doesn’t mean it.
“Chrix, just come out already,” Olympia says while opening the door of the cell.
I hesitate. I don’t know how many days I’ve been here. It feels like I’ve been here for months. “It’s my first time going out of the cell in months.”
Olympia frowns. “You entered the cell last week.”
Nico tries to hold back a laugh.
“Seriously?” I ask.
“Um, yeah,” Olympia says. “Do you feel alright?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I feel grand after being alone in a depressing cell with only the bugs and a girl with amnesia for company.”
“What girl with amnesia? Chrix, are you sure you’re okay?” Olympia says.
I tilt my head. “Trinity, the girl with amnesia that came to visit once in a while. You, the Head Citizens, put her in here; you have to know who she is better than anyone.”
Olympia looks confused, and Nico isn’t laughing anymore.
“Who are the Head Citizens?” Olympia says. “I’ve never heard of them or a girl named Trinity.”
Now I’m confused. If they don’t know Trinity, maybe… Maybe she didn’t even remember her name and made it up, and she was actually crazy and made up the Head Citizens too.
“Maybe she was so crazy she made her own name up,” I suggest.
Wait, that makes no sense, why would they let her free if she is crazy?
I don’t know what is going on here.
“Chrix, the only person in the prison besides you is James, a man that went crazy and tried to burn down the Headquarters. And we would never let him talk to you.”
“Then why did I saw Trinity?” I ask. “Better yet, if Trinity doesn’t exist, how do I know a guy named Shane tried to kill her with his hands to get revenge for the lost of his family?”
I smile triumphantly while Nico and Olympia exchange confused looks. I look at them, expecting them to say I'm right, but that never happens.
“That never happened,” Nico says.
The smile leaves my face instantly.
“Chrix, I’m going to need you to come with me,” Olympia says, worried. She extends her hand for me to take it and helps me out of the cell.
Nico looks worried too. He takes my arm and they both walk next to me until we are at the door of a small grey building.
Olympia knocks on the door. "Ava? It's Olympia."
The door opens. "Ava's not here, sorry," a girl says. She looks at me. "Hi. I'm Ella, Ava's sister."
"I'm Chrix."
Ella turns to Olympia again. "Why're you here? Is there a patient to be treated?"
"She's the patient. Cure her," Nico says.
Ella opens her blue eyes widely for a second, then goes back to normal. "Nico," she says, casually leaning on the door frame. "I didn't thought I'd be seeing you after... you know..."
"I'm not here for you, Ella," Nico states. "Christine needs to be treated, and you're the best psychologist we've got."
"Which is sad because you're crazy," he mutters to himself, but I can still hear him. I'm not sure Ella can.
"Right." She flips her red hair and opens the door a little more. "Come in, Chrix."
Olympia and I enter and Nico follows, but Ella pushes him out. "Huh uh. I said Chrix could come in. You can't." She slams the door in his face.
Olympia and Ella start laughing. "That was great Els."
"What?" I ask.
"Ella and Nico kind of dated, but he cheated on her with Ava, her sister." Olympia explains.
"It was an accident!" Nico shouts from the other side of the door.
"Shut up!" Ella and Olympia both shout. Ella pushes a switch on the wall. "He can no longer hear us," she says.
"Great, because we need you to check Chrix," Olympia says.
Ella turns to me in concern. "Sit here, please." She points to a chair.
I do as she says, and Olympia sits on another chair.
"Okay. Chrix, tell me all you know about the Explosion."
"I have amnesia," I lie.
"Chrix, tell the truth to Ella," Olympia commands.
"Fine," I say. "I left on the ship when I was nine. I lived there for seven years, thinking you were all dead. Few weeks ago, I discovered that a fifth of the population of the ship was coming back to the Earth, and I was not in it.
"Of course, I found a way to get in the ship and come anyway, because I didn't want to die. I fell asleep in the ship and woke up in the middle of a desert. Then I fell asleep again and when I woke up, Olympia, Ségolène and Marta were there.
"And well, then I came here. And I still don't know how you people managed to survive to the Explosion," I finish.
Ella nods, trying to process all the information. "First things first," she says. "You have to know what happened to the Earth. You need to know everything."
"Ella, I don't think that's a good idea," Olympia says. "We think she might be a spy."
"I don't care, she needs to know. You doubt her mental health. If you want me to cure her, I have to tell her," Ella says.
I decide I like Ella. "Thanks so much," I say.
"No prob. Look, Chrix, the Earth didn't actually explode, as you probably know. Yes, there were earthquakes. Yes, there were volcano eruptions. But we found a safe place, here in what used to be Germany. And we built Stolen HQ in it." Ella smiles at me.
Things start to come together. Just a few sentences, and now I understand practically everything.
I still don't get why they call me a Betrayer though, so I ask.
"Yeah, that's a bit harder to understand," Olympia says.
And the story of the Stolen Betrayers begins being told.
A/N: I did it! 1200 words! That was my goal for this chapter.
I didn't want to go over the top, so the story of the Stolen Betrayers will be revealed in Chapter 21! I'll go get started right now. It's been like eight days since my last update. I'm planning on publishing the next chapter next Thursday! (I don't think I'll manage to write it by then though).
Also did you check out thestolenbook.tumblr.com yet? If you haven't, go now, and join The Stolen community (wow that sounds so professional)!
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