Now it's my turn to be surprised. Who is this guy, and how does he know my father?
"Yes, I'm his daughter."
Kalen and Mara still seem to be frozen in shock, but it looks like they were both expecting this, and my answer was just the confirmation they needed. If I wasn't so confused myself, I would probably laugh at their dumbstruck faces. Their boss however has copied Mara and now has a smile that practically splits his face in half.
"So you are the famous Brianna! I'm so happy to finally meet you in person. Your father used to talk about you all the time. All good things don't worry," he laughs, like it was the funniest joke on the planet.
I, on the other hand, feel like I got punched in the stomach. This man knew my father, and my dad would talk about me to him? They must have been pretty close for dad to share information about his private life. He'd always been a very reserved man.
The boss seems to notice that what he said probably had a bigger impact on me than what he was expecting, because he quickly carries on before the tears that are gathering in my eyes threaten to spill down my cheeks.
"This must be a big shock for you, and even though we just met, you can trust us. We just want to help you. Mara here," he says, waving a hand towards her, "has been filling me in on today's events. It sounds to me like you had quite an intense afternoon. Now I understand why these two wanted me to meet you."
"I don't understand," I manage to squeak out, voice two octaves higher than what it normally sounds like.
"Well, for one, learning to manage your Gift will be much easier here. We have people that can help you."
"I don't have a Gift," I spit out, feeling like my knees are about to give out from under me.
But somewhere in the back of my mind I'm starting to doubt myself.
"Dear child, you are not Giftless," he says, eyes twinkling with the knowledge that I still don't possess. "Your Gift just started presenting itself much later than when a normal Gift usually does."
I'm sorry, what?
He laughs.
"I'm sorry to do this to you. I know you probably want answers right away, but I'm afraid I can't tell you everything at the moment."
Well why the heck not? He can't just expect me to nod and accept this when he has answers to the questions that have been plaguing me my entire life! Not when he just said he knew my father, like that was the most obvious fact in the world.
"But," I start to protest.
He lifts a hand to silence me.
"I won't take long. In the meantime, Kalen, Mara," he says, directing his attention to the young Elites, who seem to have finally gotten over their initial shock and stand at attention when their names are called. "Why don't you show Brianna to the barracks, I have a feeling she will be staying with us for a while."
He winks at me. Winks! And disappears through the sliding doors. My one chance at answers, gone. But wait. No it isn't.
I turn on Mara and Kalen like a whip, practically stepping on their toes as I advance on them. I probably look desperate, but I don't care.
"Explain," I grind out through clenched teeth, "or so help me I'll--"
"Brianna."
Mara puts a hand on my shoulder to calm me down, and she smiles when my crazed eyes meet hers, practically pleading with her as they start walking me out of the room. I remember her disgruntled expression back at the shack, and I feel like our positions have been reversed. Before, she was the one begging to help, because she felt responsible for me getting involved when they were after Simon Says, and now, I'm the one begging her to tell me what she knows. To give me the information that I so desperately need.
But I know, even though we just met a few hours ago, I somehow know that Mara wants to help me. What happened after school proves it. Should I trust someone I just met a few hours ago? Probably not, but like I said, I'm pretty good at reading people and their intentions, and something tells me it won't take long for me to get close to this mysterious girl.
I hang my head in defeat, letting her guide me as her dark brown eyes stare intently into mine, letting her know that I will wait for her to tell me whatever it is they know about me and my dad.
"We'll try and explain everything as best as we can once we get to the barracks okay?"
"The barracks?" I mumble, still in shock. Isn't that a military term?
"It's just what we like to call the dorms, they aren't actual barracks."
"And about explaining what we know," says Kalen, "there won't be much." He comes up to flank me on the side that isn't occupied by Mara.
"We don't know much about this, Thomas almost never talked about his Gift."
"You also knew my dad?" I exclaim, stopping as I stare at the two teens.
How many people knew my father? I mean sure, he worked here, but he was just one of the instructors, nothing special. He told me there were lots of others that taught young Elites aside from himself. Which means...
"He was your instructor, wasn't he?"
Kalen moves his head without looking at me.
"You and your mom aren't the only ones who mourned, there were plenty of others that cared about your father. So, you should stop getting so surprised, because almost everyone here knew who Thomas was."
He says it with such intensity that I just have to believe him, and I let his words sink in as we walk along the corridor, watching Elites of all ages drift in and out of the rooms lining the hall. We stop at a particularly large wooden door, painted all black, with the head of what looks like a serpent carved into it. Except it isn't just one head, but probably six, swirling and knotting together.
"The Hydra."
Mara comes up to trace the intricate design with a delicate hand.
"Proof that mutations occur anywhere, at any time, long before we knew what they were."
"Wasn't the hydra part of a Greek legend? Are you telling me that all those old myths were true? Medusa, the Minotaur, demigods, they were all just Gifteds like us?"
She takes her hand away from the wood carving and faces me with a smile.
"Not all of them," she says, "we just don't know which ones to fully believe in yet."
Well that's kind of mysterious.
"But it would make sense. Men with godlike abilities, saving the world from beasts? Doesn't that sound familiar?"
"Stop filling her head with nonsense," snaps Kalen, coming to stand in front of us. "We all know mutations only started after the 5th world war."
Mara shrugs
"You may think they are conspiracy theories, but there is a reason Dr. Frost based his research on the tales of old."
They stare at each other for another second before Kalen looks away, clear annoyance written all over his features. He doesn't believe Mara, I wonder why? Her theory doesn't sound that far fetched to me. If science created Gifts, who is to say nature didn't create them long before we ever knew they existed. I catch Kalen staring at me, and quickly erase all thoughts of Mara's theory out of my mind.
"Anyways," she continues, "these are the training rooms. We all spent our first year practically living in them." She laughs. "Classes with Daniel were always the best," she adds, turning to me with a mischievous smirk.
"Daniel?"
She pats my shoulder.
"You'll meet him soon enough."
The way she talks about this place, it makes it sound as if she's lived here her whole life, and I realize, that maybe it's because she has.
"How long have you been here?" I ask, watching as the light dims in her pretty brown eyes.
Her smile dips as she thinks about her answer, eyebrows coming together.
"I hadn't really thought about it before. I mean, I guess my whole life. Both my parents work here so I've been coming to the compound with them since I could walk. I didn't start my official training until I was six, that's when my Gift presented itself."
Six years old? Wow, I knew Gifts could present themselves early on in a Gifteds life, but only people with really powerful Gifts ever got them before 8 or 9 years of age. What's Mara's Gift, if she presented at such a young age?
We get to a new section of the building, walls lined with metal doors. Mara opens the third one to our right, and we enter what looks like a small bedroom. Two bunk beds and a single are pushed up against one side of the room, leaving space for a small closet and table on the far end. Posters hang on the walls, and a calendar is strung on the door handle. It's not very spacious, but the three of us fit in it without a problem. A simple light illuminates the room, but I see no light switch to control it, which means it must be timed. Another small lamp sits on one of the bedside tables, probably used when the lights are turned off at night.
"Welcome to the barracks," says Kalen, with as much enthusiasm as a cat in a dog park, throwing himself on the bed closest to the wall and bringing his arm up to cover his eyes.
"This is our dorm," says Mara, sitting on the second bed, patting the mattress as an invitation for me to sit with her.
I sit, watching Kalen's steady breathing from the other bed, and realize that Mara is the only girl in a room with two boys. How is that supposed to work?
"You don't have separate rooms?"
I mean, how can they get dressed, how can they change when--
"What, you mean boys and girls dorms? It doesn't work like that around here. We are all divided by teams, something about bonding more when you live together. Our team is made up of three people, so the three of us dorm here. Other teams can be made up of six people, so they get larger rooms. If more people were to join us, we would stay together, be it a boy or a girl."
"But how do you--"
"Get dressed? Have any ounce of privacy with this idiot around?"
She says waving a hand in Kalen's direction, who just grunts in response.
She looks at me again and raises her eyebrow, and I feel heat raise to my face
"Yeah, that."
"We have separate locker rooms. One for girls and one for boys," she says. "That's where we get ready. It's where the showers and bathrooms are located as well, so it has everything we need. These rooms are just for sleeping and relaxing in between classes and training sessions."
"That doesn't mean people don't use them for other reasons," says Kalen, wiggling his eyebrows.
Now I'm really blushing. Mara throws her pillow at him, and he sighs as it lands on his face. He simply takes it off and hugs it to his chest, glaring at us before closing his eyes once again.
"Ignore him," she says, "but I mean, we are all hormonal teenagers crammed into one same space, something is bound to happen now and again."
I clear my throat and ask another question, desperate to change the topic of conversation.
"Is there any other place you can go to hang out, or are your rooms the only place you can be once classes are over?"
"We have a common area," says Mara, "which is like a large lounge where all of the teams can meet up and hang out. Also the dining hall, but that is only open during certain hours of the day."
I start scanning the little room again when the door bangs open.
"Guys! You will never believe... Oh. Who 's this? New recruit? It's about time this team got a new member."
The tall blond guy from earlier comes sauntering into the room, ducking his head as he passes under the door to avoid banging his head. When he actually gets a good look at my face a shimmer of recognition lights up in his blue eyes. What had they called him again, Jacob?
"I know you. You're the girl from earlier today!"
I smile at his excitement.
"Yep, that 's me."
He shakes off his initial surprise and lands on the bed across from me, practically sitting on Kalen, who huffs and squirms out from under him, giving him space.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were the Giftless girl?"
Mara leans over and smacks him on the back of the head, earning her a loud yelp.
"His name is Jayson," she says, noticing just as I had the lack of introduction on his part. "He just gets excited when there are new people around, we don't usually see any fresh faces until the beginning of the new year."
"Sorry," he says, face adopting that kicked puppy look, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Guess I should have started with that."
"It's fine," I reassure him. "And to answer your question, I have no clue what I'm doing here."
At this Mara shoots up off the bed to glare at Kalen.
"You didn't tell her," she hisses, hitting him once again with her pillow.
"Ow! And no! I thought it would be better to tell her once we actually got back to HQ, I was having some trouble convincing her to come."
Mara tilts her head back towards the ceiling and closes her eyes. I'm pretty sure she's counting to ten in her head, something my mom usually does when I'm getting on her last nerves. I've tried that tactic before, but it only seems to make me madder, so I stopped using it.
"Alright then." She opens her eyes and claps her hands together turning to me excitedly.
"I guess I get to fill you in on our current situation."
Finally.
"Yes, please do."
Jayson, who seemed a bit lost throughout the whole exchange perks up as well, probably wanting to figure out why a stranger is in his bedroom with his friends, and why he seemed to be the only one who didn't know about it.
Poor Jayson, that's what happens when you are on villain duty while the rest of your team gets to track down the mystery girl who passed out in the back of a smoothie shop. I'll admit it, not one of my finest moments.
"So, Kalen and I had this crazy theory when we heard what Simon Says said back in the van, what you had said when you came to, that you somehow predicted."
I nod, so far so good.
"We thought about someone else that we knew, who had the ability to predict stuff, and we remembered that when he would come to class he sometimes spoke about his daughter."
She's talking about my dad. The information leaves me reeling, and I start to tear up when she says he would talk about me. Why am I so emotional today? I blame the stress, I'm not used to so much excitement in one day. Heck, I'm not used to excitement at all.
"At first, we thought it would be impossible for that girl to be you, I mean the chances of us ever meeting were like, slim to none. But we were curious, so I called Christian."
"I'm sorry, who is this Christian guy you keep talking about?" I cut in.
I heard Kalen say that name before, but I hadn't paid much attention to it.
"He's the man that Mara was talking to when you and I arrived." Kalen takes away his arm and peeks at me from under his fringe, not bothering to move from his current position on the bed.
"He's basically the boss, the chief if you will. He's in charge of this whole program," says Jayson, who seems happy to be a part of the conversation. "He's the director of the Landa compound."
Right, the man with the green suit and military style hair. Got it. He did have a certain authority to him. I guess now I know why.
"As I was saying," continues Mara, "we called him and told him about you, and just as we had, he thought it was impossible for it to be you, that it was just a coincidence. But the more we thought about it the more we thought it couldn't be a simple coincidence. So, we hacked into the compounds database and watched the traffic cams that showed your and your friend's route to your house, which is how Kalen found you."
"Wait, you hacked the traffic cams?" I ask, looking at Mara in shock. Is that just considered normal around here, people hacking into the city's security systems? If that's normal, I can't even imagine what else these people can do.
She flicks her wrist as if it were no big deal and continues.
"So, all we needed to do was convince you to come down and talk to Christian, and if all went well, then you could be staying at the compound to train and hopefully join the program, like your father did."
Stay? Join the program? Hold the phone, who said anything about staying?
"But I don't want to stay."
Mara looks confused, tilting her head to the side as she observes me.
"Why not?" asks Jayson.
"Well for starters, I don't have a Gift, as you seem to be aware of. And even if I did, I'm no Elite, I'm not crazy powerful or beneficial to society."
"But if we're right," intervenes Mara, leaning in to grab both my hands in hers. "Then you probably inherited your fathers Gift, and though we don't know much about it, we do know that it is the most powerful Gift out there."
Cue heart attack. Today is the day Brianna Acero finally loses it.
Mara keeps looking at me as if I'll suddenly come to realize what she's talking about, but when the constant opening and closing of my mouth like a fish trying to breathe out of water finally registers in her brain, it becomes apparent that I'm not catching on and she finishes for me. And my, what an ending it is.
"Your father," she says, "was special. That much you know, but you don't realize to what extent. Tell me, what would you give to know everything that could happen in two days' time, in two years? To know the outcome of wars, of scientific discoveries."
I don't know where she's getting at wit this, but I'm starting to piece together the crazy puzzle pieces in my mind.
"What would you give to know the day you died, to know how to avoid it? That's why your father's Gift was kept a secret, it was too dangerous for him to fall in with the wrong people. For his Gift to be used by the wrong hands. People would use his Gift for their own needs, which is why no one but a few of us know the truth."
"Are you saying what I think your saying," I whisper, clutching my hands in my lap so tightly that the ends of my fingers turn red.
"Brianna," she says, smiling. "Your father could see the future."