Fred’s sharp intake of breath and the confused expressions on everyone else’s faces told me that Fred had known something about this all along. This would explain his strange behaviors back in the forest. Natalie gave him a concerned look whilst I narrowed my eyes at him. That guy is always hording information from us. Jerk.
“Judging from your expressions I guess most of you are not from a POE family.” Nirmal continued with a small smile, like she was expecting it. “Which is normal, since most of the students in the Academy are newly discovered POEs. Usually when the children inherit their parent’s power he or she will be trained by them, and over time the family grows.”
Hearing this felt like a missing puzzle had finally been solved in my head. I had always wondered about the future of POEs and how the numbers doesn’t seem to increase as much as it should be, since mutations are likely to be passed on. I looked at Fred again; he was from a POE family too, why did his parents sent him to the Academy?
“Usually, newly discovered POEs are kept away from the POE world.” Nirmal continued. “Mostly to give them time to horn their power, but also not to frighten them. Those who attend that know about it are asked to be discrete and not to recruit new POEs before they graduate.”
She looked meaningfully at Fred whose mouth twitched in respond. Natalie held onto his arms comfortingly and he gave her a small smile. It was still a little weird seeing the soft side of Fred when he interacts with Natalie. The image of him being the big bad guy is pretty solid in my head.
“Katarina told you that Abigail would come. Why?” Tom asked, going straight to the point. I frowned at the rude tone of his voice, however Nirmal didn’t seemed to notice, or she didn’t care. She went behind her desk and fished out a thick journal, one that looked very familiar…
“That’s mine! How come you have it?” I exclaimed; it was the notebook that Mr. Andrewson had given me on all the mental’s abilities. The one that I left behind in my room in POE Academy. So she must know Mr. Andrewson too!
“I was asked to deliver this to you.” She said, handing me the journal which I all but snatched from her and held it tightly against my chest. This will change everything – I can train myself better and able to protect myself and everyone around me. “And also a message.”
“A message?” I echoed, startle by her last sentence. She nodded and gesture for us to seat down again whilst sitting on her desk herself. This time we oblige, mainly because it’s polite and also because of the seriousness in Nirmal’s brown eyes.
“You have survived for three months in the wilderness. You were lucky you even get fifty miles.” Nirmal said bluntly, her words hitting me like a brick wall. “The world outside the walls of Citybase is a dangerous place, not only because of Legres, but of the bounty hunters and mercenaries. It was one of the main reasons you were kept close to the Academy and shield from the knowledge until you have full control of your powers. There are people out there who are aware of the value and potential a POE has and some will stop at nothing to get their hands on us; to use us and to exploit us. Three months ago the attack at the Classification test was suspect to be led by a group aiming to make profit out of new POEs. You were the only group known to have escaped the scene. About two thirds of your classmates were captured, one fifth was saved from the exercise by reinforcements and the rest are either missing or died in the battle.”
I felt like someone had just slapped me at the face in full force. I had little time to think about what happened to my fellow classmates when we were on the run; however I knew that I was just trying to avoid thinking about it. I could hear gasps from the others as the news sank in; everyone I knew who went on the test flashed through my mind. Elise! Oh my god I hope she is alright!
“The Academy had been in a lock down since then.” Nirmal said after a pause, giving us some times to recover. ”The POE world had been in an upheaval about the incident. No one had come out and claimed responsibility for the action, but the act had encouraged many others in POE trafficking.”
My mind fleet back to the group we ran into earlier in the day and their thoughts. However how would they make it work?
“Surely they can escape.” Casey said with a frown. Nirmal sighed and tapped her fingers on the desk.
“Yes, they can.” She said, and quickly spoke again before Casey could interrupt her. “But there are POEs out there with the power of compulsion who can controls them and force them to do whatever they want them to.”
My eyes bulged and the memory of such an entry in Mr. Andrewson’s notebook came back to me. It was one of the more rare powers in the Mentalist’s section. Only a handful of people have the ability to do so and the extent of this power on people varies. Unless there are a family out there with this legacy power…
The sheer evil and horror of such a thing made me shuddered. It’s such a cruel thing to stripe away someone’s freedom, and to do this to your own kind…
“You have two choices right now.” Nirmal said. “Either forgets about everything, and stays here. I can offer you a job inside the Ganesh family and you will all be well hidden with a new identity. And when everything die down you can go back to your families.”
I bit my lips. This sound safe; but god knows how long things could drag on for with this ‘war’. My family’s face flashed through my mind and I knew they would be worried sick with my lack of e-mails.
“Or…” Nirmal continued, “You can try to make your way back to the Academy. Mr. Andrewson could really use your help right now; and I am sure you still have a lot to learn in terms of your power. There will also be answers that you are looking for, regarding your friends and families, but it won’t be easy.”
“Say we take the second option, what would we have to do?” Oscar asked, surprising everyone. Who would have thought Oscar of all people actually cared about anything other than food.
“Again, you will assume a new identity, and trek west via different missions back to Pax. It’s your safest bet.”
I tried my best to conjured up a map of the world; but to be honest I had little idea of where I was right now let alone how far away we were from Pax. My friends who had more ideas than I do were still in thoughts around me; I knew in my heart which option I would choose. I wanted my friends to stay with me on our next lag of journey, but I also knew that this choice could be life-altering, for all of us.
“I choose the second option.” Oscar said, breaking the dense silence, determination laced in his voice; that was as much emotion as I had ever seen from him. The image of his little sister’s face came up in my mind. Little Olivia. He must be worried about her with the conflicts going on and his family being an ocean away.
“Me too.” I agreed quietly. The faces of my family and friends vivid in my mind; I couldn’t just sit and wait for everything to be over not knowing what was happening to them. I clutched onto Mr. Andrewson’s notes harder. I might not be strong now, but I will practice until I was strong enough to protect the ones that I care about.
“And me.” Tom’s voice rang behind me and I turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. I knew he would choose the more challenging path, the one laden with dangers and adventures. Like a wildfire, this guy can’t be contained.
I could hear Natalie and Fred in a small argument behind me. Fred wanted Natalie to stay, but she wanted to stick with everyone, which obviously is growing in numbers. I actually would rather Natalie and Evanna stay behind. That way we will know that they are safe; especially Evanna, we owe her too much already.
“Me too.” Casey said, taking a step forward. “I am not scared.” She said, making everyone chuckled. She was always the fearless one.
I stole a glance at Evanna, who was still deep in thoughts. Owen was standing next to her with a worried frown, and when I caught his eyes he gave me a meaningful look and nodded towards Evanna. I gave him a nod in reply. He wanted to see what she wants and stay with her. He is always such a gentleman.
“We want to go back too.” Natalie said quickly with one hand on Fred’s chest stopping whatever it was he wanted to say. He shot a glum look at me, as if Natalie’s behavior was entirely my fault. I stuck my tongue out at him. Serves him right for always making decisions for Natalie, she has a mind of her own. Not that he would care; he was so used to making decisions his way.
Holly and Nate seemed to reach a mutual decision too. “We want to stay together.” Nate said and Holly nodded. “So we will go back too.”
Now only Owen and Evanna had left who had yet to voice their decisions. Evanna still had her eyes closed, a look of concentration etched on her face. I was torn between wanting them to come and safety for Evanna. I could tell that Owen secretly had a crush on Evanna, let’s face it, it’s pretty obvious; I knew he would follow whatever decisions she chooses. Her words could separate us or keep us together.
Nirmal seemed to be aware of Evanna’s power too and all of us waited patiently for her to speak up. Life as a POE had just gotten a lot more dangerous and whoever had some idea of what the future hold has an advantage over others. A wrong turn can lead to death; and a right turn can lead to victory.
The weight of the situation began to dawn on me as my brain began to comprehend all kinds of scenarios and questions. Damn my hyper-active brain! There seemed to be an unknown force that wants to hoard young POEs for some unknown reason, but it’s safe to assume that it wouldn’t be a good cause. There are people out there helping them for money, but there are also resistances from
POE Academy.
To be honest, I will say things are not going too well on our side right now.
“All the Legacy families are doing what they can to help.” Nirmal said, “Including the UGE. We are trying to avoid large scale conflict especially inside Citybases.”
An image of a large scale fight in London Citybase immediately entered my head. I mentally shuddered at the amount of damage something like that could cause and the amount of people it will kill. I saw Evanna shuddered out of the corner of my eyes, she too had probably seen something like this in her vision. Three months of intensive use of her power had given her a greater degree of control over it.
“We need to go back.” Evanna said, turning to Owen. He nodded at her and we all looked back at Nirmal, who seemed proud of our decision.
“You still have time to back out.” Nirmal said, walking behind her desk and started going through piles of documents. “What I can do for you is to set you off in as separate small unites from the Ganesh family mercenary all hired under one mission. That way you will blend better; there should be one heading towards Himalayas departing next week, all we need to sort out is your new identities and mercenary group.”
My mind whirled trying to absorb all the information. We are to have a new identity, join a new mercenary group (which I assume would be like Trevor and Alistair’s groups) which will all come together as one big mission to go to Himalayas. Okay.
“I will sort out the details and meanwhile you must stay inside this building and not speak to anyone other than Mei, Trevor and me.” she added, stacking a load of documents together and putting them to one side. “Try to avoid being seen by anybody and don’t talk to them.”
We all nodded, watching as Nirmal summoned Mei on the phone. “I should have all your new identity details sorted by tomorrow and have you meant with your new group two or three days after.” She said, pausing to give us a smile just as Mei entered.
“I know life hasn’t be easy in the last few months. But the POE world really need you.” She said, giving me a meaningful look. I saw Tom gave me a bewildered look out of the corner of my eyes but I decided to ignore that. I had no idea why Nirmal had singled me out from the very beginning, nor why Katarina and Mr. Andrewson seemed to give so many attentions to me. could it be that they see potentials in me? or was it something else? Something greater? I opened my mouth to ask as Mei ushered us outside, eager to show us to our lodgings before returning to Trevor. I stole one last glance at Nirmal before closing my mouth. I didn’t need to know why, all I needed to do right now was to rest, regain my strength and train harder until I was strong enough to protect myself and everyone around me when the fight goes down.
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Yay :D update from me! Sorry for the long wait - for those of you who cares :) I am back from my exhasting fieldtrip and am now well rested! hurray!
A few of you commented on the cast change - I had decided to change Abigail's actress to Saorise Ronan, who will fight the part better, I admitt I wouldn't mind a cross over between her and Shaileen, but she does posses more gail quality than Shaileen does.
On another note - I know that there has been minimum power scenes lately, I felt kind of weird about it too, but the story seemed to progress that way :S don't worry I have the story planned till the end (which mighttt just be a cliff hanger ;D)
A lot of you asked me about how long POE chronicles is - Abigail's story is suppose to be a trilogy! And I don't plan to change it unless the plot gets too complicated :) but most of the 'secrets' should be out by the end of Selection. Which should be a much longer book compare to Evolution.
Will the POE chronicles ends there? I don't know. I am interested in writing a story on the Originals - which would be a much, much darker times with more adult-themed issues and violence. It will be centered on the rise of Originals, sort of a prequel to Abigail's story. If you are interested let me know! But this will probably come after the Fantasy story and all the others that I am planning for right now x