Picture of Victoria Balikova
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The plane ride was short and uneventful. I spent the whole journey worrying about everyone and if they managed to evade the UGE and SMS people that we had momentarily dazed. Whether or not Vulture and Iris got into any trouble helping us, or if no one noticed anything after all. It was strange that I wasn't more nervous about meeting the Balikovas, the other side of my family, one that I never really thought of since the de Silver and Akram had overshadowed everything. It wasn't like Victoria knew of my impending arrival like Akram had, or that she had left e any messages or letter. In fact, my appearance is so similar to Akram that it was difficult for me to even reconcile to the fact that I had Victoria Balikova's blood running through me.
My thought drifted to my mother. She had never really mentioned her side of the family to me. I had always assumed that she was born and raised in London, despite the fact that she told us her mother, my grandmother, lived in Budapest Citybase. It was just something that I had never really dwelled on, and now I wondered how on Earth she managed to get to London Citybase. But every time I consider the possibilities of her being a POE, flashes of her and my Dad arguing over stupid mundane things and her failing to get me or Dan to do any chores appeared in my mind. She couldn't possibly be a POE, could she? But if she wasn't, could it be that my grandmother was? What about my three uncles? Not that my mother ever mentioned them much...
"What are you thinking about?" Diego asked and I looked up across at him, noticing his pale face and tortured look. He still blamed himself for the attack at the Academy and the disappearance of the younger children along with Megan and the staff. It wasn't his fault that the Apocalypse somehow had an Earth Elementalist on their side, or even several of them. They were in the dark and it was hard to anticipate their every move. I was still waiting for me to voluntarily offer up the location of their base, but time was running short and I might have to reduce into drastic measures.
"My mother." I answered, earning a look from almost everyone. You could practically see the light bulb going off in Viktor's head, remembering what the Time Guardian had announced about my lineage. I shuddered at the thought of Glenda, knowing that the machine knew exactly what was about to happen to us all.
"Is she a POE?" Viktor asked, and Diego perked up a little bit at this new topic that was as far away as the Apocalypse as we could get.
I shook my head, then stopped and shrug. At this point it was hard to know what to believe anymore. "She certainly doesn't seem like she is." I finally answered, tugging a piece of hair behind my ear and threw a surreptitious glance at Katerina and Saralisa, who were alternately chatting to each other or staring into space in their own little corner of the plane. Basically – the Originals were being the Originals.
Peering outside the plane as we began to descend, I felt my breath caught as I gaze down into Budapest Citybase. It was absolutely beautiful; I caught a glimpse of a white long structure with towers in front of a church and had an overwhelming urge to let my mind wander through every nooks and crannies of it, but it was too far away.
"We will be landing in their private airfield." Katerina said as the pilot announced the final checks before we descended; and I could feel the adrenaline shooting into my veins at the prospect of the impending meeting.
As soon as we hit the ground, Katerina was up and by the door, which slid open gracefully and I scrambled to get in place behind her. Saralisa threw me a wry smile, as though she knew exactly how I felt and we exited the plane so quickly that it felt a little surreal.
"Miss Falcon." A voice greeted us and I peeked over Katerina and Saralis's shoulders to see Francesca Balikova, wearing a grey, expensive looking suit along with an entourage. She looked no different than the last time I saw her in Katerina's castle, and from the slightly eager look on her face I could tell that the news of the Academy must have reached her.
"Andrewson?" She asked, unable to contain herself and her professional façade fell a little, showing us a worried woman. I had never considered her relationship with Mr. Andrewson, but it appeared that they knew each other very well, and might even be closely related.
"He disappeared." Katerina answered, stepping sideways so the rest of us could congregate into a better grouping. "Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private?"
Nodding, I saw Francesca put her façade back on and led us across the tarmac towards a waiting limousine. It seemed extravagant and unnecessary, but for once I was glad that we were all able to be accommodated in one vehicle.
"I hope the flight went well." Francesca made small talk, but fortunately didn't mention anything about the circumstances at which we boarded the flight. She was sitting rigidly, as were the rest of us, waiting for the limo to get us to our destination, which I had no idea where, so we could have a proper conversation.
I glanced out of the car's tinted window in an attempt to distract myself. The city of Budapest blurred past me and I couldn't help but admire the buildings and structure. It didn't seem to be divided, like London were, and the walls seemed to be done more elegantly.
"That's the Liberty Bridge." A voice recalled me back to the car and I follow the sound to see the smiling face of a white-haired man who seemed to be in his sixties. He gave me a grandfatherly smile and I smiled back, turning my head back out to get a better look at the bridge that was rapidly moving out of my view.
"It's gorgeous." I said, feeling the urge to reply. Surreptitiously glancing at Viktor and Diego out of the corner of my eyes, I could see that the former had actually fallen asleep while the latter had his eyes closed.
"The city had seen many things." The man nodded, smiling at me again and somehow I felt more relaxed. "But it's a resilient thing."
After some more polite chit-chat, we finally pull up beside a massive, grand building that seemed to ooze an elegance that even the Academy couldn't compete. With bronze dome roof and gilded façade, it was on a slightly raised hill overlooking the city.
"Please go right in." Francesca gave us a tight lipped smile and gestured for us to enter through the massive double door, and I was immediately enveloped by the scent of a historical building. However, what really startled me was the huge full length painting of Victoria Balikova on the left side of the entrance, right in front of a long flight of marble stair case.
"We have it painted it using one of the earliest photos of her." The grandfatherly man informed us as he followed our line of vision. "It was taken just after she fended off a Legre attack in the city."
"Please go straight on and take the first door to the right." Francesca instructed, stepping into the hallway herself after the last of us had entered. Stepping into a meeting room not unlike many others that I had found myself in over the past few weeks, I settled down into a leather chair on Saralisa's right.
"Andrewson?" Francesca repeated her question, staring intently at Katerina despite the fact that the Original wasn't even present at the Academy.
"He disappeared." Katerina replied, her face rigid as always. "We suspect the Apocalypse had kidnapped them."
Suddenly looking like she had gained ten years of age, Francesca deflated back into her seat and another old man patted her hand.
"This letter was found on his table." Katerina said, passing the folded piece of paper that looked incredibly crumbled. Francesca unfolded it and a look of recognition flickered across her face. "Is the issue resolved?"
The atmosphere around us tense as the Balikova exchange glances at each other, no doubt having some kind of a secret conversation with each other as to whether they should tell us or not. It seemed incredibly silly because this wasn't exactly a probing question into their business, but rather a question to an important matter that could, potentially, change the dynamic of the world.
"No." Francesca sighed, deflating even more. "The last Balikova to possess the Legre-communication gene, Louisa, had died thirty years ago and we had only been managing for the last two pact renewal. The Legres are getting restless because of it, and I could sense that something had changed. But without the ability to communicate with them, there was nothing we could do."
My heart skipped a beat, realizing that my ability to communicate with the Legres came directly from Victoria. I wasn't completely unlike her after all. I hadn't told anyone about the fact that I could talk to the Legres, although they had seen me with the Lupas a few times already.
"We are set to meet again in two days, actually." Francesca said, her voice a cry for help. My heart did a weird flip and I knew that I should speak up but couldn't find my voice in front of all these strangers.
"I can communicate with the Legres." I finally managed to coax out the sentence, and shocked faces snapped towards me at lightning speed, so fast that I could practically hear crackling sound. "I found out a while ago and I had talked to some Lupas."
"Who are you?" The man next to Francesca asked, and the latter threw him a glance and a silent (or mental) conversation seemed to have took place. When they all turn back to look at me again, it was with a new determination that send shivers down my spine.
"Are you related to the Balikova line?" The man continued to ask, and I nodded.
"I am distantly related, I believe." I answered, trying to recall what the Time Guardian had told me. "From my mother's side."
"What's her name?" Francesca asked, looking acutely more interested and awake.
"Florence, Florence Story." I answered, looking from one face to another, resting on the kind grandfatherly man's face.
"Florence?" He echoed and I nodded. Slowly, he reached into the inner chest pocket of his pale striped gray suite and pulled out a wallet, flicking it open and sliding the photo across to me.
"Is that her?" He asked and I glanced down at the photo. There were six people in there, two women and four men. As I squinted at the younger girl smiling at the front, I could start to see the resemblance.
"That's her." my voice came out as a whisper, as I studied the photo more carefully. It was clear that the older man inside was the guy who had just handed me this photo, and there was only one explanation...
"You are my granddaughter." The man exclaimed, as though he couldn't quite believe it himself. "Someone gets Josie."
My head was reeling and I couldn't help but wonder just how much did I really knew about my mother. And how did my uncles and her ended up in London Citybase. It wasn't any easier to accept the second time around, especially since I had never met my grandparents on my mother's side before. In fact, I never knew what they looked like.
I could feel the weight of everyone's glance on me and couldn't help but wonder what a twist of fate this all had been. For my father's side to come from de Silvers family and for my mother's to come from Balikova, and for them to meet and have me. I pondered briefly if it could have been Dan instead of me or not, but the idea on its own was enough to send me into a laughing fit.
"How is she, your mother?" My grandfather asked, his look slightly pained.
"I haven't seen her in two years." I admitted, thinking back to the day that I left. "But she was fine. With my father and brother."
"You have a brother?" He smiled, and I couldn't help but feel curious as to why he was so far removed from my mother's life.
"I know you have a lot of questions." He started, then paused. "You don't even know my name, do you?"
I shook my head, a wry smile making its way onto my face. "I am Hugo, Hugo Dimitri Balikova." He extended his hand to me and I shook it, while briefly noting that his name didn't have Story in.
"Your mother and her brothers." He started, looking pained and slightly awkward. "They never liked being part of a Legacy family. When her powers failed to show up, we decided to take the whole family on a trip to see other Citybases, just to see if a change of sceneries would do her some good.
When we were at the Edinburg Citybase, your mother fell in love with it and refused to leave, saying that she might as well live away from the family and start a new life away from all the politics and the stress. Your uncles, well, they didn't want to leave their sisters behind. After some debates, we decided that we will leave them there for the while being and made our way back.
We kept in contact for the first two years, but then, somehow we lost touch to them all. We tried to find them, but we couldn't, it isn't that easy trying to get UGE to search the record for you, particularly since they had changed their surname to their mother's to blend in better."
As he was finishing the sentence, a frail looking woman burst through the doors and looked around the room wilding. Setting her eyes on me, she promptly erupted in tears and raced to engulf me into a hug.
"My poor granddaughter!" She exclaimed, and an embarrassed look flickered across my grandfather. "Florence! That wretched girl just has no concerns to her poor mother's nerves."
It was strange, but the only thought that popped into my mind at that exact moment was how I wouldn't want to be there if this grandmother was to meet Lynette.
After explaining my story, basically recounting my every step since I first got discovered in London Citybase up until what led me to sit in this very chair, I was finally able to get out of the meeting room. It was strange, I felt less close to them than I did with the de Silvers, who had not exactly embrace me with open arms had somehow been easier to accept. With the Balikova, I felt like there was a barrier that I couldn't describe. And the fact that my mother had hid the fact that she was from a Legacy family from me, from everyone had been a huge shock.
"We need to arrange for the trip immediately." Francesca said, shoving a bunch of documents into a neat pile while furiously tapping away on her phone. "Abigail, you are to come with us."
Katerina narrowed her eyes as soon as the words left Francesca's mouth, and her small movement didn't escape anyone's notice. She closed her eyes and looked like she was concentrating very hard.
"Bring him." She gestured towards Viktor, her eyes flickering across at him in a puzzled manner. "It wasn't a vision, but whatever bad feelings I had towards this meeting, it disappears around him."
Frowning, everyone started to assess Viktor making him very uncomfortable. Diego had grown extremely quiet and I cast him a worried glance. It was no longer my choice as to who could go with me, and I was sure that here, he would be safe.
"You are full of surprises." Katerina gave me a wry smile, a smile that was hiding some many other emotions underneath. Saralisa rests her hand on Katerina's forearm, her face becoming more concerned.
"We should rest." She finally said, supporting Katerina with one arm and moving her upstairs. I looked around and decided to follow them, it wasn't like anyone had told us where to go.
But before I could go any further up the stairs, a voice called out my name. I turned around and saw my grandfather, whose name turned out to be Hugo, standing with my other grandmother Josie (it's so strange to use that word on someone other than Lynette).
"You guys go." I nodded at Diego and Viktor, who smiled at me with understanding before running to catch up with the two Originals. Moving towards my estranged grandparents tentatively, I couldn't help but felt a sense of trepidation. One Original family was bad enough, now I am in two.
"Let's go talk somewhere." Josie beamed at me, her face still a little tear stained. It was weird watching her get emotional about hearing the news of her children while furiously badmouthing them. I could see the resemblance between Grandma Josie and my mother, who also had a habit of being particularly mean spirited and drone on about Dan or I when we had done something wrong.
Grandpa Hugo hadn't said much yet, but whenever he did, he would make a sarcastic joke; it was something that I often do as well and I couldn't help but smile at these little things.
"I hope that you would forgive us for not knowing you when you grow up." Josie reached for my hands and said, her face brimming with a maternal love that was quite alarming under any other circumstances. I almost choke on my laugh at the thought of a grandparent saying these words to me; and secretly told her that she was good since Lynette had been doing a banging job of ignoring us by choice for years.
"You need to be careful when you meet the Legres." Hugo instructed me, throwing a cautious glance to Josie, who was busy trying to find a portrait of our ancestor, who was the second daughter of Victoria Balikova. "Not all of them want the Peace Treaty to renew."
Taken aback by this information, I stared at him in surprise. The Lupas I met in the Himalayas were friendly enough. And despite a few hostile situations I had encountered, I had always just assumed the higher ups, the more intelligent ones wouldn't be like that. But I quickly reprimanded myself for theses naïve thoughts; there will always be the good and the bad guys in a community, human or Legres.
"I found her!" Josie exclaimed, waving enthusiastically at us to go and have a look at a painting of a girl who had the exact same eyes as Victoria. Walking over, I couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding tickling through me. And I started to wonder exactly why Katerina had insisted on us bring Viktor, and just how was he supposed to help.
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Hey guy s- sorry in he delay of posting the chapter, but hey - this is like 3.2 k words, so you got a good deal!
For those of you who thought the Lupas referred to Lynette when they said they felt something familiar about Gail, it had always been Victoria. I had skirted around the Balikova secret long enough - and now the bomb is dropped! Who would have thought her mum had been in the POE world? Strange, huh? Some of you might remember Gail mentioning her other grandmother in a chapter previously (I forgot which now) hehe, I had this all planned.
Some of you had been asking me about the Legres, and I know that they really haven't got the screen time they deserve - but fear not, they will be the center of attention next chapter!
On a side note - @scikick is about to reach 1k followers! And we will be doing another competition!