Chapter Twenty-Three
"So how do we tell all of them at once? We are scattered among three different floors currently," Orion says.
"We will have all of them come into the meeting space where I met with the staff of the hospital," I say simply, and Orion shrugs and goes to start gathering everyone.
Sitting down on my bed, I tinker with the phone that I was given and try to remember how to use it. We learn how to work on computers, but phones and tablets are easier to hide, so they wouldn't let us near them. Finally remembering the passcode, I go and check my messages and see one from Aviva.
'If you need anything, you can always reach at least one of us,' it reads.
I play some music while I finish getting ready and I can't help but hum along to the tunes. I hadn't listened to any modern music in months and it is nice to hear the rhythms and different instruments, rather than just the piano playing.
I open my mouth as I start brushing my hair and the lyrics pour out of my mouth. I have half a mind to be quieter but the other half of me doesn't care anymore. I continue to sing for a while, and I am surprised when I see Cabe sitting on his bed with his eyes closed.
"Cabe?" I ask confused and he opens his eyes.
"I don't remember the last time I heard you sing," he says with a serious look.
"I don't do it very frequently anymore," I admit.
"You should," he says.
"Why?"
"A voice that powerful shouldn't be silenced, for any reason," he says standing up.
"I was offered a spot at Julliard once I graduated from high school," I blurt out. Why did I tell him that?
"Julliard? Isn't that one of the best music schools in the country?" Cabe asks me shocked.
"Yes,"
"What the hell? When did that happen?"
"Shortly before I returned to Metac..."
"And you left all that behind to save these kids?" Cabe asks me shell shocked.
"Yes, and I would do it a thousand times over," I say firmly, and I see his eyes shift.
"Faith..."
"What?" I ask on edge.
"You are an idiot, but I have never respected you more. Now let's get going," he says smirking and gesturing towards the door.
I hear the pattering of feet as we walk out of the room and I listen for the heartbeats of who was eavesdropping, but they are too far away. Did they want to talk to us and then get scared because we were already having a conversation? Or was is staff looking for us but not wanting to interrupt?
Walking into the room, I see almost everyone already present, and the last few filter in with Orion hot on their heels. Walking up to the front of the room, I can't help but look around at everyone. A lot of the bruises have faded and quite a few of them have put on some weight, I know I have. Their eyes bore into my soul with a deep curiosity coming through.
"Well I won't keep you guys waiting, we called everyone in here for a specific reason, we have some serious decisions we need to discuss," I say.
"Many of you probably thought I was dead when I disappeared from the Metac camp all those years ago, but the truth is that I escaped and was able to re-enter the foster care system. I bounced around to a few homes but eventually landed with my last foster family, the Kurning's. Ruka, my foster mother, is a metahuman herself and comes from a large family of metahumans. They also have fostered seven other meta's in the last twenty years. With this being said they know that I am a meta and who all of you are. They also understand how important it was for me to liberate this camp," I say, and I can see everyone is paying attention.
"Now the question is, where do all of us go? It's not like most of us can just re-enter the foster care system and act as nothing happened. So, the Kurning's have reached out to a lot of family friends who are willing to help. They are in the process of converting a building into an apartment complex of sorts for everyone to live in along with trying to secure another building that would act as a school for us. They have reached out to a lot of their meta friends to see if people would be interested in helping to run the school and so this choice is up to you. I am giving everyone to the end of the week to decide if they want to make the move to New York, but it needs to be a collective decision," I finish.
"Faith?"
"Yes?"
"Do we have any other options?"
"Well if you decide against this one, I will have to find something else for us," I say.
"Do we even have a choice then? You have been making all of these decisions for us anyway,"
"When it came to little things, the three of us made these choices collectively to try and get everyone to a better place but when it comes down to it, I am not your guardian, I have no power over you, and I will not make such important choices for everyone," I say with conviction.
The room falls silent and people start filing out and heading back to their rooms. One of the girls calls Orion over and I spark up a conversation with Cabe about the new building and what I know so far. My ears perk up when I hear the word Julliard. Not turning my head to incline that I am listening I slowly turn the volume up on my earpiece.
"She was offered a spot there; she seems to be delaying it to help us out though. You are her friend... maybe, you could talk to her. None of us want her to miss an opportunity like that," a soft female voice says.
"Faith, are you even listening?" Cabe asks me and I snap out of it.
"Sorry I spaced out for a moment," I say turning my piece back down.
"Can you get me the photos of the space?"
"I can ask someone to see if they have any," I say as we walk out of the room.
"You heard them mention the school," he mumbles to me and I nod.
"We'll find out everything soon enough," I say as I hear Orion's shoes entering the hallway.
I go and do rounds with the nurses, but everyone is technically better at this point and ready to be discharged from the hospital. We might need to move to a temporary place while they are finishing arranging everything in New York. We don't need to use any of this hospital's resources unnecessarily.
"Faith!" A panicked nurse's voice calls out to me.
"Yes?" I ask her confused.
"A few news vans are pulling up out front, I know this isn't supposed to go public," she says out of breath.
I brush past her and fly down the stairs. Hitting the ground floor, I dart out the front door and across the lawn. Pausing at the corner of the building, I peer over and see a few different news reports talking, but no cameras rolling. Strutting over to them, I turn off my watch and all eyes fall on me as I come much closer.
"Hiya," I say in a sweet voice.
"Hi there, what is your name?" One of the reporters asks me.
"None of your business," I say smoothing out my voice.
"Pardon?"
"I want all of you to leave right now, I want you to report that this hospital is almost empty and that there is no sign of anything here. I want you to forget you ever met me, but do take care to remember what I said," I say elegantly.
I watch as their eyes glaze over for a few moments and I take that as my cue to leave. Giving them one last parting look, I can see them looking around confused for a few moments before climbing back into their vehicles and leaving. I take the elevator back upstairs and find Orion waiting for me with a concerned look on his face.
"Did you turn down Julliard?" Orion asks me.
"No, I haven't turned down anything," I say.
"I know you heard the conversation that the two girls struck up with me," he says.
"As long as I graduate high school, they will accept me," I say simply. Well, at least that's what everyone seems to be telling me.
"Yet you are running around doing this instead of trying to graduate?"
"I am hoping they all opt to go to New York, and that I will be able to continue my schooling whether online or in class, and then eventually be able to go to Julliard," I say.
"As long as you aren't ignoring it," he says nudging me.
"That's not the kind of offer that I would soon forget or ignore Orion," I say rolling my eyes.
A few days pass and everyone slowly comes to a collective decision to move to New York and set up there. Alexander texts me updates every day about the building and he even sends some photos that the construction crew sent him.
"Faith!" A female voice calls out to me, spinning on my heel I see Cathleen standing at the end of the hall.
"Cathleen?" I ask walking over to her.
"I just went down to the police station," she says, and I can see the frustration in her eyes.
"And?"
"They've found a third grave and have already uncovered over eight hundred bodies in the first two," she says.
"The number I found could have been skewed," I say.
"I need a few favors from you," she says, and I look at her confused.
"Those being?"
"I need you to go with Alexander, Lyle, and Benjamin, to the police station. The police chief is being difficult and won't let Carmine have any visitors, but I figured he owes you one so maybe you could get them in there. I will also be going to DC in a few days and I need you to come with me," she says.
"Why do you need me to go to DC?"
"I'll explain more later, but leave Friday open in your calendar, okay?"
"I don't have a calendar but consider Friday cleared," I reply confused.
"The Caspian's will be downstairs in ten minutes, here's a nicer shirt," Cathleen says handing me a red blouse before turning and all but running back out. One of the nurses looks startled by her behavior, I just give her a calming smile.
I meet the Caspian men downstairs, and of course, they are in a black town car. I opt to sit in the front for the ride with the driver. I can hear their conversations very vividly and the fear in their voices stirs something within me. When we arrive at the police station, I am the first in the door and I smile at a few of the officers before marching into Nickolas's office.
"Faith!" He exclaims surprised and I give him a polite smile.
"Hi Chief, I have a request," I say
I can feel the guys standing in the doorway because of the amount of awkwardness that is rolling off of them. The chief looks past me and a sigh slips out from his mouth and he looks back at me flatly and I just give him my most innocent smile.
"Knock it off, I know you could kill me with two hits if you tried hard enough and I already know what you want," he says in the same flat tone. I try to smother my smirk, he's very attentive.
"Then let's make this easy,"
"I need you to testify on behalf of all of the kids," he says seriously.
"I think we can arrange that," I say, smiling sweetly.
"Five minutes," he growls out standing up.
The men clear out of the doorway and trail after the Chief like puppies. I can see how uneasy they all are in their postures, and that is a departure from their normally calm and confident dispositions. The Doc is currently being held in one of the interrogation rooms. The Chief lets the men in, and I stand outside the door.
I watch as the Doc completely loses it and starts balling her eyes out uncontrollably. The Caspian's can't touch her, but I see them trying to soothe her using their words, and I just close my eyes and lean against the wall. I can hear the conversation faintly, but I turn down my earpieces not wanting to intrude on their moment. They haven't seen her in so many years, I can't even imagine what must be going through their heads.
"Can we come back?" Alexander's voice asks the Chief as they exit the room.
"No," we both reply.
"She's under investigation for at least eight hundred murders currently, and although we know the truth, the department is still trying to gather the evidence to prove what we know," I say opening my eyes.
"How old are you?" Lyle deadpans and I smile.
"How old do you think I am?" I ask, smirking.
"Younger than you appear, you carry yourself like a damn assassin," he grumbles as we walk out.
"I could with my training, but I've managed to avoid that so far," I say firmly as we walk back out.
The sun is starting to set now, and clouds seem to be hanging low. As we drive back to the hospital the clouds seem to thicken and gradually turn darker, and the pressure change of an intense storm coming in settles itself on my shoulders and skull. The pain becomes stronger and seems to radiate throughout my body as I grow uneasy. Something stirs in the pit of my stomach and I have to fight back the urge to vomit. Feeling the anxiety increasing, Alexander scoots over wanting to give me room. But the urgency and panic I am feeling is not from him sitting close to me. When we get out of the car, I drop to the ground dry heaving. Cranking my earpiece up, I hear it, the screams. They are shrill, and as quick as I hear them, there is a deafening silence that fills the air. What just happened to those kids? What just happened?!
We all dart into the hospital and as I stand in the lobby of the floor we are on; nothing could have prepared me for what I see. There is blood everywhere, nurses and doctors are scrambling. I can see it slowly seeping out of rooms, and into the hallways as if this is some cheesy horror movie. Every muscle I have spasms in shock and Alexander carefully puts a hand on my back in case I collapse.
"Don't," I order the Caspian's and they pause as I continue. I don't want them to see this.
Walking down the hallway, I see a lot of the children we have been caring so dutifully for, dead. The wounds on the sides of their heads tell me everything I need to know. My stomach drops even further and I dry heave as I think about Cabe and Orion. Running towards our room I see it empty, and unscathed. I all but slip around the three floors and find the thirteen survivors, including myself, huddled in the break room.
"Faith," Orion's voice all but screams, and he tackles me to the ground. Bruises form instantly on my back, but I can't bring myself to care. Clutching him close, the panic barely eases.
"How?" I ask in a raged and broken voice.
"Anyone with the old ear implants died," he says in tears.
"How?!" I scream.
"I don't know how they did its Faith; it must have been an option in the old implants, the thirteen of us all have the new ones," he says.
Looking past me, I see Cabe, the little girl whose hand I held in the ambulance, the girl who screamed at me in the cafeteria, the boy who needed to kill me, and a few others. The trauma in their faces is clear, they just watched everyone have a hole blown in the sides of their head.
"The doctor had been pushing the General to let her install the new devices because they were so much better, but now I see why he was so reluctant," Cabe says.
"Because he had a backup option," I growl out.
"Faith?" I hear Alexander's terrified voice call out.
"How did he even manage to set them off?" I ask angrily, and I feel myself starting to drown in my anger and pain.
"I'm not sure," Orion answers and my vision blurs.
"Faith, you need to calm down."
"Faith!"
My head whips up and my eyes burn as if I hadn't been blinking for a few moments. Rubbing my eyes, I try to make the pain go away and it only gets worse. The pain in my chest intensifies and I can't seem to get it to go away. No tears come to my eyes to help me out either.
"Faith?" Cabe's voice asks me, snapping me out of it.
"What?"
"What was that?" He asks me and both Cabe and Orion are kneeling by me and I can feel Alexander in the doorway.
"Panic attack," I mumble, but Orion knows the truth.
"Why don't you go lay down," Orion says, and I struggle to get off of the floor.
"I can't get up," I say weakly.
Two strong arms help me off of the ground and pull me close to a chest. Looking up I see a familiar head of dark hair that belongs to Alexander. I see why he and Cathleen can pass as cousins from this angle. He wraps one arm tightly around me and rests his hand partially over my eyes as we leave the room. I close my eyes, but I can smell the blood and hear the nurses running around.
My body lays down on something soft and clean smelling and I am thankful for that. Alexander sits down next to me and he doesn't say anything but rather pulls the blanket over me and moves across the room. I lay there curled up under the blanket and try to erase the images of what I saw from my memory. We were so close, and now it's all lost.
I hear Alexander shuffling around and the faint sound of his thumbs hitting his phone indicates to me that he is texting someone. I don't want to know what he is saying or who he is talking to right now, I wouldn't want to have to try and explain that news to anyone. Who wants to tell anyone that over ninety of the kids that they have been working tirelessly to accommodate are now dead because of an implant that was put in their heads without their permission?
"Alexander?" I ask quietly.
"Yes, Faith?"
"Somebody had to have given him a kill switch of sorts, it would have probably been in the evidence," I mumble out.
"That makes sense, when you are feeling better, we can go back to the police station and talk to the police chief," he says.
"I just wanted to give them a chance at a better life," I say as a numbness consumes me.
"Faith, you did everything you could, you couldn't have ever controlled the outcome of this," Alexander says with worry evident in his voice.
"I didn't do enough," I say bleakly.
"Faith,"
"Yeah?"
"They died safe and at peace, they weren't in that camp, they hadn't been beaten in weeks. They all had been fed and showered and looked after and cared for. They didn't deserve to die, and we will get justice for what happened to them. But they died in the safety of this hospital knowing that no one from that camp was ever going to be able to hurt them again. You did everything you could Faith, please believe that" he says.
"Your mom would know why the new ones didn't explode," I say.
"Faith?"
"Yeah,"
"What is Cabe's ability?" He asks uneasily. I wonder who tipped him off or if he figured it out himself.
"The same as yours, it is just slowly killing him," I mumble half asleep.
"Why?"
"I'm not sure, but I was hoping you might be able to help him. He's only twenty-two, Alexander..."
"Rest Faith, I will do everything I can. We all will,"