"Are you Abigail Beckett?" he asked, holding his hands up to show that he meant no harm. I stiffened. How could he possibly knew who she was?
"How do you know m name?" Abigail spoke from behind me. The guy's, and his team's, face brightened.
"So you are Abigail Beckett?" their leader asked. The girl with the crossbow looked excited as well and I couldn't help but wondered why.
"Hi, my name is Trevor," the leader introduced himself and reached forward to shake my hand. I frowned at him but shook it nonetheless. "We are under the Ganesh Family."
He looked expectantly at us. I had no idea who the Ganesh Family were and frankly, I didn't care. After an awkward pause, the guy who recognised Abigail stepped forward and introduced himself.
"This really isn't the best place to talk. We should head back to the Yunan Citybase," this guy, Patrick, said. Abigail looked towards me then Bowen. This was our goal: to find a group of mercenary and find our way to a Citybase. But the circumstances under which this was happening wasn't part of the plan.
Hence, I nodded at Abigail. They seemed to like her, so it might be wise to let her do the talking. No objections were made and soon, we found ourselves tailing this strange group towards what I hoped was a Citybase and not certain death.
Abigail had a smile on her face as she passed me and I frowned at her. There was nothing to be happy about. She caught my eyes and gave me an even bigger smile and heat rushed to my cheek. Oh no.
Immediately turning aside, I hoped she didn't see me blush. I silently reprimanded myself, I needed to keep my emotion under check.
Aside from a short warning for us to act natural on arrival, we walked in silent. I ran over the possibilities of what awaited us inside the Citybase, none of which seemed particularly favourable. Given that each Citybase housed almost a million people at least, it shouldn't be hard to slip away if we want to. The only trouble was that we would stand out if we were indeed in a Citybase in former China.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realise we were close to the Wall until it was looming right above us, a solid metal structure that gleamed in the sunlight in flawless perfection. I gulped. The Walls of the Citybase looked impenetrable; how on Earth could Legres ever break through?
Trevor took a step forward and started running his hands along the wall. With a triumphant groan, he pressed hard on a particular patch and the entire wall started unraveling in our very eyes, shifting into an entrance out of nowhere.
"Close your mouth," the girl with the crossbow whispered to Abigail. Trevor ducked slightly and stepped through the doorway, and the rest of us followed.
As soon as I entered, I could see the two guards on the far side. There was also two windows that showed a bustling street outside, but before them, there was another gate.
"Name," one of the guards asked in boredom. It was clear that they weren't taking their jobs seriously. Were these the people that guarded the Citybases so careless towards mercenaries? This was disappointing.
"Trevor Hale," Trevor answered and the guard checked on his device mechanically before waving us through. My hands were shaking from nerves. We could easily be detained and the separated. I won't have that. Just as I thought we'd lucked out, the guard opened his mouth.
"How come you've such a large group?" He eyed us with less boredom and more alertness than before, but after Trevor gives him a reasonable answer, he waved us through.
Yunan Citybase was something else.
I always thought Paris Citybase was crowded, particularly since I lived in the most densely populated neighborhood, however, Yunan Citybase was easily twice as busy.
The crowd of people that streamed past us were shouting, waving and shoving against each other, and yet they were doing so in an orderly chaos. They all seemed accustomed to the craziness and soon, we were smacked in the middle of them, too.
I made sure I was behind Abigail and when she reached her hand out towards mine without looking back, I hesitated. I knew she did it because she didn't want to loose the people behind her. I peered forward and saw that it was Natalie in front of her. Good.
Tentatively, I reached out and grabbed her hand. She turned around when I finally did and I looked away from her, afraid that I would blush again.
Hyper aware of our intertwined hand, I looked around me to distract myself. The city was a mash of stone and concrete, and some structures were clearly older than the Citybase itself. The grey cobbled stone paths, the exposed waterways as well as some of the building design were uneconomic for a high-density living quarters. I could make out some skyscrapers in the distance, which meant the city had an old and new quarter.
We were walking deeper and deeper in the old quarter and soon, we were led to a small alleyway and into one of the oldest house I had ever seen.
The air was cooler inside and the lack of lighting meant we could barely see. Abigail's hand tightened around mine and I froze. What should I do?
I squeezed her hand back and she didn't respond. That was the right thing to do, right?
Trevor turned the lights on and a girl appeared. She practically sprinted into his arms and everyone laughed. It was amusing to see Trevor flustered.
"We've found the kids, Is Nirmal here?" Trevor asked. Who was Nirmal? Was she the one looking for Abigail? He said kids, were they looking for us, too?
"She just got back from the north; I will inform her right away," the girl who jumped on him said and exited back the way she came. Before I could ask any questions, Fred spoke.
"Nirmal? Nirmal Ganesh?" Fred asked. I could see his face that he knew something. Ganesh, why did that ring a bell?
"You mean Ganesh, as in Yasim Ganesh?" Nate cried. That's it! The surname of an Original. Nate actually remembered before me, I needed to get my brain checked.
"Yes," Trevor answered and then had a good look at Fred. Something passed between them and I squinted at the duo. Fred was hiding something.
"You are not supposed to know this much. Nonetheless, the situation isn't normal and Nirmal will explain everything," Trevor said just as the girl that jumped on him reentered.
"Hi! Follow me please!" she practically exclaimed the words. Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw Natalie nudging Abigail before she followed the girl.
The corridor we entered was dark and narrowed to the point where it only fit one person at a time. We were led through dozens of turns and it was clear that they designed this place to be confusing and easy to defend.
"Nirmal, they're here," Mei called out and moments later, we were summoned into a spacious office. Behind a wooden desk sat a young woman who looked to be about five to ten years older than us with the colouring of those who came from the India Citybases.
"You must be Abigail," she exclaimed at Abigail and walked over to shake her hand. Hwy did they keep singling her out?
"I'm glad you have all been found. I'm setting off soon and I would hate it if I missed you." Nirmal said. So people were looking for all of us, but why?
"Thanks..." Abigail responded slowly. It was clear that she wasn't sure what to say, either. Nirmal seemed to be aware of our state f mind since she told us to have a sit.
"You probably have a lot of question, but I'm afraid I don't have all the answers," Nirmal confessed. I stifled a snort; she couldn't even begin to imagine how many questions I had. But none of those really mattered. What mattered was what she was going to do with us.
"How do you know who we are?" Abigail asked. Clearly, she was more eager for answers. Nirmal smiled at her; she knew this was going to be asked.
"Katerina told me you would come," she answered. My mind flashed back to seeing Katerina Falcon, the Original who was still alive and had the power of premonition, talked to Abigail in the New Year's Eve party. She was interested in her then, was it because she foresaw this?
"Let me introduce myself: my name is Nirmal Ganesh."—Nirmal then pointed to a portrait I had paid no attention to behind her, one of a dark skinned man like her—"This is my ancestor Yasim Ganesh. One of the Originals. I'm the Eastern Citybase Manager of the Ganesh Family."
None of these made direct sense to me, but I wasn't hard to conjuncture the meaning. The Originals had children, and now they had grown into families. And this Nirmal woman was the manager of the Eastern Citybases.
"If you are not from a P.O.E. Family, then you wouldn't be told this until graduation. Newly emerged P.O.Es are sent straight to the P.O.E. Academy, while those whose family are capable of training them won't send their children away. Overtime, we became more than just a family of P.O.E.s, we started to grow our own business and recruit new blood," Nirmal explained. That made sense. More secrets from a secret group of people.
Nirmal explained some more and from the way she looked at Fred, it was clear that he was one of those who knew. He came from a P.O.E. Family. He did always acts like he was a cut above everyone else.
"Katerina told you that we would come. Why?" I asked, cutting the musing. This wasn't the time to contemplate about the P.O.E. world.
"I won't pretend to understand the mind of an Original," she answered. "I got a message from her, and I looked out for you. This reminds me." She went behind her desk and fished out a thick journal.
Abigail gasped when she saw the journal. "That's mine! How come you have it?" she asked and reached out for the journal.
"I was asked to deliver this to you as well," she said to Abigail. I frowned at the exchange, especially when Nirmal added that she had a message for her.
"You've survived for a month in the wilderness. You were lucky you even lasted a day," Nirmal said bluntly. It was a message meant for all of us. "The world outside the Citybases is a dangerous place. Not only because of the Legres, but of the bounty hunters. It was one of the main reasons you're kept close to the Academy and not allow to leave until you have full control of your powers. There are people out there who are aware of the value and potential a P.O.E. has and some will stop at nothing to get their hands on us. To use us and to exploit us. The attack at the Classification Test was suspected to be led by a group aiming to make a profit out of new P.O.E.s. You were the only group known to have escaped the scene on your own. 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."
An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. My former roommate, Rakaesh, and current roommate Ryan were both in the test. If most of them were captured, it was likely they were, too. I looked towards Abigail as Nirmal continued to tell us about P.O.E. trafficking and how the event had caused an upheaval in the community. There was nothing I could do about the past, but I wasn't about to let this girl and the rest of the group get captured.
"You have two choices right now," Nirmal said and regained my attention. "You can forget about everything and stay here. If you stay, I can offer you a job here inside the Ganesh Family and you'll be well hidden with a new identity. And when everything dies down, you can go back to your family."
I frowned. It was a safe option, no doubt, but that was but on the assumption that whatever this upheaval cause was. This could easily turns into a global problem and I didn't want to be stuck here under a disguise. I needed to get back to Matthias. Everyone was deep in their own thoughts and the silence was deafening in its own way.
"Say we take the second option, what would we have to do?" Oscar asked out of the blue.
"Again, you will assume a new identity, but I'll send you west via different missions to get back to Pax. It's the safest, most inconspicuous way to go back without raising suspicion, but it'd be long. From then on, we'll take it step by step," Nirmal replied. She had an answer so fast that it as clear she anticipated this. I stole a glance at Abigail. I knew what my choice would be, and I think she'd do the same, too.
"I choose the second option," Oscar said without hesitation.
"Me too," Abigail added. She had a determined look on her face, and I was determined to do things right, too.
"And me," I said. She turned to look at me with her eyebrows raised, as though she was surprised at my answer. She looked proud of what I said and I gave her a small smile.
We were all in this together.
-------------------------------
It was hard for me to get into Tom's head but I try my best! Sometimes I don't even understand my own character :P
Let me know how you are liking Tom's POV, and if you haven't already, check out Dark Ages, Convergence for Akram's story!