Mia took a moment to swallow that piece of information. "C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S? I don't think I've ever heard of them."
Eli scoffed. "They're not a company you hear about, Mia. They take discretion and secrecy as important as their pulse."
"So who are they?"
Eli was just about to open his mouth when her computer suddenly plinked. His head snapped to the screen whereafter he begun typing hurriedly. "I'm in."
"You got through Zoe's security protocol?" Mia gasped.
"Took a few hours, but with Caleb having hacked her computer, it was easier to get through."
"Because you know him?"
He didn't reply. He just opened a black screen that popped up with some text. The username said Ceynius, but the rest was complete nonsense. It didn't make any sense. The letters were custom designed and were absolutely gibberish.
"What is that?" Mia questioned and frowned when Eli paused and looked at the screen with a deep frown as well.
"He's testing me. Making sure it's me. It's code, I have to crack it."
"How do you—"
"There's a deciphering code somewhere, I just have to find it. Be quiet for a moment."
Mia's heart started beating fast. Was he... yes, yes he was. He was using that brain of his. She had never seen him do that before, not quite so literally, nor so intensely. She had seen what he could do with the Einstein Enigma, but never really seen him in action.
She watched him closely as the crease between his brows deepened when he studied the screen with a stone cold concentration. He didn't blink, just stared it down. And then...
"Got it." He begun typing away at the keys again, pasting the code Caleb sent him into some sort of program Mia was certain wasn't on her laptop before he hacked it. "It's an encrypted text. Once I've decrypted that, it'll give me something – a sentence or a word, maybe some numbers. From that, I'll have to make a connection to something and then I have to reply back with whatever that is."
All that had taken him thirty seconds to brain. Jesus. "And then he'll know it's you?"
"Mm."
A few minutes passed where Eli worked and where Mia thought.
She was happy he was finally getting in touch with Caleb, but she just couldn't let go of what he had told her just a few minutes ago.
C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S. What was that? It sounded dangerous and it definitely sounded serious. Governmental. Whatever it was, they were the reason that Eli was running and that Caleb was hiding.
"There," He said as the long gibberish line converted itself into five simple numbers; 11718.
"What does that mean?"
Eli frowned again and thought for a long while. "Give me a moment."
And that she did. She watched him again as he closed his eyes in concentration and pressed his lips tightly together. What was going inside that head of his? She would've given priceless treasures to know.
His eyes snapped open. "I have received the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened."
Now it was Mia's turn to frown. "What was that?"
"Ephesians 1;17,18."
"Oh," Mia said, chewing her lip. She then carefully asked; "I thought you were... Jewish."
"Caleb's Christian. I remember him saying those exact words to me around the first time we met. Something he said he learned from a bible verse."
Eli started typing in his reply into the black box while Mia just sat there, feeling somewhat useless. Besides learning that Caleb was Christian and that Eli was Jewish (she kinda knew already from all the stars of David he had tattooed), she felt as if she wasn't keeping much up. Carefully, she fished out her phone and typed in 'Centuries' into the search bar, hoping it would land her with something. All she got was Fall Out Boy's song, Centuries.
Sighing, she put her phone down again. She shifted her attention back to the screen where she saw the text had converted into normal letters. Ceynius was typing.
'Took you long enough, Genius.'
Eli typed back. 'Next time quote the Torah. Where are you?'
'Safe. Best I don't tell you where exactly. Whataya think of my black hole btw? Pretty sweet, huh?'
Eli let out a scoff. 'Cut the shit, Caleb. Tell me what happened. How are they monitoring you?'
Caleb wrote for a long time. When the reply came, it was practically a novel. 'It was insane, man. After the cops took you that night and I went to swipe your records, they were at my hideout within an hour. It was seriously crazy. They started asking me questions, told me if I didn't speak, I'd wind up in prison. They'd done their research on me, too; They knew about my parents, about Elana – told me they would turn her into the authorities if I didn't rat you out. Fucking shitheads. I told them they could forget it. I knew they didn't know where Elana were, what with us squatting and shit, so they were clearly bluffing to try and get me to rat on you. After some time, they just let me go. That's when I figured out they were going to monitor me instead in hopes I might lead them to you that way. So I bailed, man.'
Eli rubbed his face and sighed exhaustedly before hesitantly typing a short reply. 'Thanks, man. Appreciate it.'
'I'll always have your back, you know that. So how's Elana? Is she healthy? Happy?'
'She's fine. She's sleeping right now.'
'Good, it's late. She needs her sleep.'
Eli's fingers hovered above the keyboard, but after a moment he drew back. He unconsciously leaned into Mia, sighing heavily as he did. Blinking his tired eyes, he then just stared at the screen. Caleb didn't text anything either.
Mia automatically resumed massaging his shoulders again, feeling him grow tense. She kneaded them slowly, noticing how he tilted his head a little to the side, allowed her to work further up his neck; A small gesture, but significant to her.
After a moment passed, Caleb finally wrote again. 'What do we do from here?'
Eli shook his head. He seemed exhausted and like he didn't know what to reply. Two geniuses, yet both were in over their smart heads.
Mia cleared her throat carefully. "The way I see it... you guys have two options."
He closed his eyes. "And they are?"
"Well, there's A; you can keep doing what you're doing now – staying hidden and hope that... maybe they'll give up one day."
"And the second?"
She didn't want to suggest it, but she felt obligated to. "You both go off the grid completely. Travel away. Hide in some hillbilly town where they won't find you, and... I guess do as the first; Hope they give up."
She looked at Eli and knew he was considering all the factors of the options; The first one wouldn't change life very much, except it would be very risky, and it would be hell for Caleb. He couldn't stay away from Elana forever and he also couldn't keep running. It wasn't fair.
The second one would change everything; They'd have to travel far away, and Caleb would have to lose those C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S people somehow. Then they'd have to uproot Elana who needed special care because of her condition and age, but who knew where they'd wind up?
And then, of course, that option also meant Eli wouldn't be here anymore. Mia didn't like that idea, nor did she like the fact that she wouldn't be able to contact him, but that selfish and she knew it. But what if C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S managed to catch him? How would she ever know? He could spend his days rotting in a hellhole while she could be living oblivious to that.
That thought was unbearable to her. Both ideas were shit awful, but what else could they do? Mia immediately forced herself to focus on something else, deciding to ask Eli on his thoughts to get herself out of her own. "What are you thinking?"
"That I'd like a beer." Came his exhausted reply.
"We're all out."
"I know." Eli silently rubbed his face and then leaned forward to type something to Caleb. Mia read along.
'We don't have a plan yet. So far all we have are two shitty choices; Stay as it is or disappear together. You do the math behind it all. I'll contact you if we figure out something new.'
Caleb replied instantly. 'Alright... Feel free to stay linked to my black hole. I've opened up a gateway to your friend Mia's laptop. That way you won't have to go through Zoe's again."
'Appreciate it. Talk to you soon.' And just like that, Eli disconnected, closing the screen of the laptop down. He then abruptly stood up and rolled his shoulders. "I'm going to bed."
Mia nodded. "Sure. So, uh, are we... are we good? I mean... friends?" God, could she sound any lamer? But she had to make sure.
"Friends." Eli confirmed, and then without a glance at her, walked into him and Elana's bedroom, shutting the door silently after himself.
Mia stayed seated on her couch for a moment, simply just reviewing everything that had just happened.
So the plan right now was... to come up with one. Until then, everything remained the same.
Well, except for one thing.
"Friends..." She sighed and finally stood up as well, tiredly pulling her hair up into a high ponytail on top of her head to avoid it being everywhere in her sleep.
Friends were better right now. Sex complicated things, and Eli was complicated enough. Their whole situation was.
Stepping into her bathroom, Mia begun washing her face for the second time that night, feeling that she needed it. Not that her face was dirty, she just needed the cold splash of water in her face. It was reviving.
She then went into her bed and got comfortable, but found that she couldn't really sleep. Her mind kept pondering over this C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S thing. Who were they? What did they specialize in? And what was their special interest in Eli for?
Mia was just finally drifting off to sleep when her bedroom door opened. She sat up abruptly, seeing Eli's broad frame in the door. Her shoulders eased and she wrapped her duvet around her upper body. Friends. "Hey, is something wrong?"
"You said I needed to trust you."
Oh. So that's where they were. "Yes. And you can, Eli. You can trust me."
He stood in the door for a few more seconds, then finally came inside and closed it. Leaning up against it, he then sighed. "Cerebral Experimentations and Neurological Testing Under Reformed Investigational Enclosed Services."
"Cerebral Experimentation—it's their acronym." Mia concluded and almost dropped her jaw. "That's what C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S stand for."
• • •
Whenever I scroll through my front page, Wattpad suggests things such as 'you might also like' - it keeps suggestion my own books. Thanks, Wattpad.