Arielle
The meeting was quite enlightening to say the least. In addition to discussing the new case that Kylie and Lukas were dealing with, I also found out some news about Clara's case. Avery had said this to me in passing after the meeting because she knew that we were meant to keep the details of Clara's case somewhat a secret, even within the organization. Another guy on our team, Matthew, had been out at the bar with his girlfriend, Holly, about a week ago, and they had encountered this guy who had obviously had one too many drinks was spilling information.
He had said that his name was Jacob and he appeared to be quite paranoid and hysterical when Matthew met him. Apparently, he had gotten arrested awhile back for selling drugs for the Black Phoenix gang, and he had sold them out due to fear of going to prison. Knowing the Black Phoenix gang was after him, he decided to go get drunk one last time before skipping town. Deep down, he likely knew that he wouldn't get away though. The Black Phoenix had connections even within the local police force.
In the midst of his drunken rambles, he actually told Matt some useful information. While he was at the Black Phoenix's headquarters on several occasions to pick up the packages, there was a girl who appeared to be in her mid-twenties who was always around. Compared to the other gang members, she appeared to be quite out of place. She had short brown hair and striking, green eyes. However, her natural hair appeared to be red as shown by her roots. She never spoke, but he heard the others refer to her as "Kate". The next part made my blood boil when I heard Matt say that Jacob admitted to seeing this girl being slapped around on more than one occasion. Chase had to stop me from lunging out of my seat upon hearing this.
Matt didn't realize that he could be referring to my sister, but knowing that he had information about the Black Phoenix, he knocked him out and brought him back to the office. It was no secret that both Chase and I had history with this gang, even if the details were unknown to the others. Even I was not sure exactly regarding the circumstances of why Chase hated the gang so much, but I knew that was also one of the reasons he had specifically recruited me for the agency. A common hatred was a powerful thing.
Of course, it was a complete secret as to where the gang's headquarters were, since they had so many locations set up, so it was not as if we could launch any rescue missions. After Jacob had sobered up, Chase had personally interrogated him and inferred that he was referring to my sister based on the information he revealed. Chase decided to keep him here for the time being until it was safe for him to leave town. As Chase's personal assistant and most trusted person, of course Avery knew. However, Chase had finished interrogating him three days ago. They had been keeping this from me for three bloody days.
I turned to glare at Chase as soon as we exited the room. "Excuse you?"
"What?"
"How could you keep this from me?!"
He sighed. "Look, Ari, this honestly wasn't a matter of keeping it from you or not, I swear. I..didn't know how to tell you."
"Avery knew." I stated.
"It's not Ave's fault." He sighed. "She was under the impression that I would tell you. When she found out I still hadn't last night, she called you so I'd have no choice but to tell you today."
"Funny how you're standing up for her. Sure you two aren't dating?" I commented coolly.
"What? No! We-" He let out a nervous laugh. "So you're not mad?"
"Oh what makes you think that, Sir?" I sneered. "I'm furious." I growled. "I deserved to know about this first. Do you realize how many years I've been waiting for this news?!" I had been looking for any hope that my sister was alive, but it was as if she had disappeared off the edge of the earth. The Black Phoenix had the power to do that to people. This was the only indication that I had gotten in all these years that she could be alive .
"Ari-"
"THREE! And not including the many that I spent helpless as a kid!"
"Arielle, calm d-"
"DON'T tell me to calm down!" I screamed. "You know what? I'm not waiting for you to find someone else because I won't be able to trust them not to screw up. I've learned by this point that you can't really trust anyone other than yourself! I'm going to infiltrate the Black Phoenix and nothing you say will change my mind." I snarled. I had never spoken to Chase this way, but I was livid.
He closed his eyes for a moment and held his head in his hands. "Fine. You'll go. But give me a week to prepare you. Please."
"You-"
"Ari." I turned as Celine appeared by my side. "Give him a week. If you want to help Clara, then planning properly is absolutely necessary."
"Fine." I turned and left Chase standing there. Celine hurried after me.
"If it's any consolation, I definitely wasn't aware. I would have told you immediately."
"Obviously."
"I'll join with you." I whirled around.
"You most certainly will not! Do you know how dangerous it is, Celine?"
"And yet you're asking us to let you take that risk alone."
"Yes, but I'm used to being on the field and you're used to office work." I argued. "You don't know what it's like out there."
She sighed. "Even if you aren't gonna let me go, know that nothing will stop me from going after you if anything happens."
I pursed my lips silently and continued to walk. This was precisely why I didn't want to get close to anyone here. They were better off without my problems. At least they would be safer. "Arielle." Ben approached us from behind.
"Yes?"
"I heard about Kylie and Lukas. I'll give you a break and show them around."
I smiled in appreciation. "Thanks, Ben, I appreciate it, I really do."
"Let me know if you ever need anything." He nodded to me and walked off again.
Celine glanced after him with an unfathomable expression. I watched her curiously. She cleared her throat after a moment. "Let's go." We silently exited the office. "Are you going home now?"
"I have to. I have so many assignments to do."
"On the first day? Want a ride?"
"Sure, and yeah. My justice professor gave us a ton of readings to do already." We walked to her car at the end of the parking lot and got in. She started the car and pulled out of the lot.
The ride home was relatively quiet. I could tell she wanted to give me space after the revelation. I went straight to my room as soon as I got home.
Clara. She was alive. My sister whom I had spent the last decade searching for was alive. I had no confirmation, but I just felt it. Even though she was taken from me so long ago, I still remembered her long, red hair, and beautiful smile. She always protected me as a child and found time to spend with me regardless of how busy she was. When I had nightmares, she would come into my room and sing to me.
I reached into my drawer and pulled out my favourite picture of the two of us at the amusement park. Clara was giggling while I had ice cream smeared all over my face.
I quickly slid the picture back into the drawer when I heard my door open. "Mom."
"Ari, sweetheart, you're home very early today!"
"I-uh, had a lot of homework." I forced a smile.
"Why don't you leave that for now? I have dinner ready downstairs."
"I-sure, mom. I'll be right down." She brightened and walked out of the room.
I sighed. This was going to be a long night.
~~~~
The rest of the week consisted of Chase scrambling around to prepare me. Part of me felt bad that I had given him this ultimatum, but he also technically had no obligation to do all of this for me. I had barely gotten any sleep because my mind was trying to handle the anxiety on top of studying for my classes. By Friday, I was completely exhausted. I only barely noticed Kayla get on at her stop. "Ari!"
I mumbled something incoherently before slumping over on her shoulder. "I'm exhausted, Kay." Kayla woke me up when we arrived.
I was practically half asleep in all of my lectures, but at least there were hundreds of people so I was not noticed. When it was time for the seminar, I groaned, realizing that I would actually have to actively participate.
I quickly made my way to the classroom, not wanting to be late again. When I arrived, there was still twenty minutes before class started and Dr. Williams was not yet in the room. I noticed her notes had already been neatly placed on top of the projector, so I presumed that she had simply gone somewhere for a minute. I sat down in the same seat that I had on Monday and rested my head in my arms. Before I knew it, I had dozed off.
"Miss Reagan..." I felt someone gently shaking my shoulders. My head snapped up immediately, the back of it making contact with something hard. "Shit."
The classroom was still empty. I gasped in horror when I realized that Dr. Williams had been calling me and that I had hit her on the forehead with the back of my head when I snapped my head up too quickly. "I'm so sorry!" She rubbed her forehead silently. I quickly stood up. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. Please refrain from napping in my classroom."
I bit my lip in slight irritation. It wasn't as if her class had started yet. I decided to apologize again anyways. "I'm sorry. I haven't slept much all week." Her expression softened for a moment.
"Schoolwork is important, but should not take priority over your health."
"It-it's not schoolwork." I quickly said. "It's just some persona-" I cut myself off, realizing that I was about to tell her something that I probably did not want her to know.
She frowned at me and walked back to her desk in the corner. She picked up a bottle of something and placed it in front of me. I watched her in confusion. "Drink it. It'll help."
When I didn't respond, she sighed and picked up the bottle, unscrewed it, and handed it to me. "Th-thank you." I took it from her and the strong smell of coffee hit me. I took a sip, tasting coffee and something else.
"I don't usually suggest substituting coffee for sleep, but I cannot have you falling asleep in my class." I blushed.
"Thank you." I began to hand it back to her.
She shook her head. "Keep it." She walked back to the projector just as students began to file in.
I watched her frown in concentration as she fiddled with her PowerPoint, occasionally taking a sip of coffee. Usually coffee was not really effective in waking me up, but there was something different about the coffee that she gave me. I could also taste hints of something else, but I could not tell what it was.
Ten minutes later, all of the students had arrived and were chattering amongst themselves. I felt slightly out of place being the only first year in the room.
"Hey, you're Arielle, right?" I glanced to my right to see a brown haired girl with like freckles and hazel eyes staring at me. I nodded slowly. She laughed nervously. "This might sound odd, but I just wanted to tell you have the reddest hair I've ever seen. It's so pretty!"
"Thank you." I hesitantly smiled at her.
She held out her hand. "My name's kind of different. It's Miracle, but I go by Mira."
"Miracle?" I took her hand and shook it.
She blushed. "Yeah, I was born pretty premature and for awhile they weren't sure I'd make it."
"It's a nice name." I smiled. Internally, I sighed. I didn't like being rude but I also wished she'd stop talking. I hated making friends, only to worry about putting them in danger, and then have to come up with some ridiculous lie about why I couldn't talk to them anymore.
"Alright, class. Settle down." Dr. Williams walked over and sat down on my left. She placed the remote for the projector and her notes on the table in front of her. "Today, we will discuss the recent history of justice theories. By recent, I am referring to the past 4 decades." She glanced around the room. "Am I correct in assuming that everyone has done the readings prior to coming to class?"
A chorus of yeses and nods filled the room. Just then, the door slammed open wide. All gazes fell upon the culprit. My jaw dropped.
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*edited*
Hey everyone!
Here's chapter 4, hope you're all enjoying so far. So...Dr. Williams takes her coffee with alcohol - shh🤣.
-Cindy