~ Chapter Twenty-Nine:
NERO
March 21st, 2014 - Esme Jackson has arrived at base. Dr Chadwick will operate on her shortly. Soon she will forget who she is.
Marxh 22nd, 2014 - operation successful. Esme - Borne Six - has no idea who she is. Excellent. And Kheo Heliosi Khamen, the final Borne, will train Esme up to be our secret weapon.
April 13th, 2014 - it has been two weeks since my last review of Borne Six. There have been errors, some irreversible. We must strike. Either she reacts positively to the new drug, or we kill her.
April 20th, 2014 - one week since administration of new drug. Chadwick reports immediate results. Esme Jackson has already become ruthless.
April 21st, 2014 - problem has arisen. Borne Six has interfered with the injection into Adam Grimshaw. Grimshaw has now reached a state of unconsciousness. He is likely to die. Jackson will be detained until further notice. Her fate rests with Rula Verenspik - who will, most certainly, execute the girl.
April 25th, 2014 - execution date: 4th of May, 2014.
I shoved the phone into my back pocket. I had two days - just two - to rescue Esme and Adam.
There was a screech of wheels and then pounding feet. A blinding light scorched my face.
"Nerovian Jackson." The female voice was firm and authoritative and foreign. "I am taking you to the headquarters of Dr Cornelius Chadwick. You will be detained until further notice and may speak when spoken to. Is that clear?"
I couldn't see, just burning white, but I felt the cold hard tip of a gun pressed into my cheek.
"Where's Esme?"
The gun was slapped around my head. Before I knew it, another slap and I felt the blood flowing freely.
I don't remember much after that.
***
The boy sat in the diner, looking at his watch. I sat opposite but he didn't seem to notice. He glanced up, but his gaze sailed right through me. I was just watching the memory.
This was Adam Grimshaw.
Well. The old one.
His hair was blonde but much cleaner, and his blue eyes reflected a lot less sadness. He sighed as a woman came and sat next to me.
Thalia.
"Hello, Adam." Thalia was professional but she wore a reassuring smile. "I'm glad you got in contact."
"Anything to get away from them." Adam sounded furious. "But you left me with them."
Thalia shrugged. "There are no excuses, Adam. The decision I made, as part of the BPA, was a stupid one. Many of us accept that. You shouldn't have been sent to live with Gladys and Michael. We appreciate that.
"But they're demigods and your parents. Bornes are better raised in good environments, and we thought they would change for you."
Adam slammed his fist on the table. "Change? I have scars, not just physically. They battered and burnt me and they don't care."
"I knew Gladys as a child. She was a head counsellor at Camp Half-Blood when I was around fifteen. About ten years older than me. She was going nowhere in life. As a demigod, her last resort was to become a counsellor.
"Her mother was a highly successful businesswoman in Paris. Her father was Dionysus, and the eighties weren't good for the gods - their parenting skills slipped. Gladys had a busy mum and an absent dad."
"Am I supposed to care?" Adam snapped.
Thalia smirked. "Stop being cocky and drop the facade - you're twelve, not twenty. Your father was a son of Jupiter, a real rarity, so Gladys struck gold with him.
"Until he hooked her on alcohol and drugs."
Adam started to retort but the dream shifted. I saw Esme chained up, with Zarah free beside her.
"Are you okay?" Zarah was asking.
Esme scowled. "What do you care?"
"I do care. You, me - we'll go free. When the other Bornes are dead, we'll go free!"
Laughing hard, Esme shook her head. "Are you seriously THAT naive? We'll be slaughtered along with them, Zarah. How could you fall for such stupid -"
Esme jerked forwards, screaming. Zarah's finger barely touched her, but even from here I could sense the electricity.
"NERO!" she screeched. She slumped down, panting. "He thinks you care about him."
Zarah twiddled her fingers. "I... I do. I didn't expect to, but I do, Esme."
"I don't believe you."
"Don't, then."
Esme scowled. "How's Adam?"
Zarah scoffed. "Him? He won't last the week, Esme." She softened. "I'm sorry. I know you -"
"I barely know him." My sister remained steely-faced. "I'm guessing he's just expendable in your devious plot to wipe out all the Bornes "
"We could live," Zarah whispered.
"I'm going to be bloody executed!" Esme screamed. "You can't do this, Zarah, we're Bornes! We need to stick together!"
Zarah ran forwards and grabbed Esme's face. "We're nothing alike, you and I. I can see where this world is going. The gods will be wiped out and generations can live in peace. FREAKS like us will be exterminated, but I will live to show the world I can change. Because we're heading into a new age, a final age, where the titans will be reawakened and the earth will become no land of the gods!"
The scene shifted, but not before I saw Esme convulsing with electricity again.
Chiron the centaur sat with my parents and the pot-bellied man in the Big House.
"Lucas gave them the earpieces," Chiron was muttering. "They should be replying."
"Zarah disappeared off the grounds," Mum said. "Joey reported that he saw her take off after a confrontation with Apollo." She gulped. "Nero hasn't been seen for two days, but was reported to have left alone despite clear instructions."
Dionysus shook his head. "Most certainly a child of Peter Johnson, then."
Dad jumped up, as did Mr D. "Enough!" Chiron ordered. "We have more pressing matters. Rozanna Lucierra was electrocuted sixty-four hours ago. The girl is in a heavy coma."
"Did Zarah do that?" Dad asked.
Chiron nodded. "We also found Peleus in a dreadful state. Dr Solace confirmed both victims were intended to die. They got lucky, particularly Peleus. He'll live. Unfortunately, it's too early to say the same for Rozanna."
"She's the Vorafengius girl, right?" my dad interjected. "The one whose leukaemia was cured but ended up with some disease?"
"Red hair and purple eyes," Mum mumbled. She took Dad's hand and a look of love mixed with worry crossed between them.
I couldn't imagine the horror of knowing you'd lost not one, but two children. And they could die.
"Will has agreed to continue working with the girl," Chiron added. "We can only monitor her and keep a steady but balanced supply of nectar."
"And the Bornes?" Mr D asked lazily, looking bored. "Two have been handed over, one has gone missing, one is working with the forces and one is unconfirmed. We only know of two and one is a smug vain git and the other is a tech geek. Need I go on?"
My dad barely contained himself now. "Do you ever consider how people might be feeling?" he snapped. "My children - my only children - are probably going to die and you think you're a funny smartass!"
He lunged forwards and suddenly he was gone.
"My Lord," Chiron said wearily.
"Where's my husband?" Mum demanded.
"He'll wake up in the strawberry fields," Dionysus said dismissively.
Chiron stood up and said to Mum, "Come along, Annabeth. We've... we've much to discuss."
***
There was a little guy in my head hammering hard. At least, that's what it felt like when I roused myself and found I was chained to a concrete wall in a cell.
Yep, cell. And who be my cellmate?
Adam Grimshaw. Blonde, blue-eyed, battered and bruised.
But definitely him.
_____
So yeah, that chapter's pretty shit. You'll probably agree.
I was away this week on 'holiday' - which I spent two and a half hours on a bus to get to. I tried writing on there but then this old lady sat next to me and basically she was big... I didn't have much room!
No wifi in the caravan :/ sorry!
Also, I have (painfully) bruised my coccyx. Sounds rude (teehee) but it's just a bone at the bottom of your back.
Promise to upload a chapter of MUCH better quality soon!
- Lauren xx