"Excuse me?" Valentina exploded angrily, startling Nawell and Basem.
"The government has my mom and my brother!" I shouted, nearing the edge of my already frayed rope and tired of her combative attitude. "I can't join your little Scion caper, because my family is in real danger right now!"
"Wow, you didn't tell her anything, did you?" Cyrus scoffed at Mac, his eyes narrowing at my long lost friend.
"Like you're any better?" I snapped, reeling around to stare down Cyrus' overly-attractive face. "You wouldn't even tell me your name, and I've known you longer than Mac!"
"Technically, that's not true-" Mac tried to diffuse the situation.
"I conceal my identity to protect myself and my family," Cyrus defended artfully, and with surprisingly disdainful irritation. "Like any sane person would do."
"I had to give myself up!" I growled, locking horns with him across the mattress and squaring our bodies. "After you bailed on me in Malaysia!"
Cyrus stepped closer, clipping Basem's shoulder on the way. "I bailed to save your friend's life!" He snarled.
"Whoa, whoa, guys," Basem grabbed his brother's arms forcefully. "Take it easy, we just met five minutes ago, remember?"
"Well then, thank you for doing that!" I shouted angrily over Basem.
"See?" Mac said bleakly. "She said thank you. This is good. That's progress, believe it or not."
Cyrus and I were locked in and ready to fight, almost daring the other to say something or storm out. The cells in my chest had ignited, which was pointed right at his smug scarred mug, humming along with my heartbeat to warm my extremities and color my cheeks. I couldn't help it even if I wanted to, he was causing some sort of chain reaction inside me.
"Cyrus, buddy?" Mac's tone vacillated between mollycoddling and slightly disgruntled. "Why don't you go cool off, huh?"
"Gladly!" He threw his hands up to flex the lean muscles of his arms under a tight black shirt and mumbled. "Ungrateful child."
"Gladly," I mocked in a nasal voice while he stalked away.
"Alright, I need a minute with the kid!" Mac bellowed at everyone.
"Me?" Isla complained, unsure of what she'd done wrong.
"He means me," I sighed wearily.
"Damn Skippy, I do!" Mac shouted. "Everybody that's not named Ella, OUT!"
One by one 'the gang' (as Mac referred to them) filed out of the door.
I beheld the worn face of my friend, the only person who was willing to help me when I'd been turned into a human lightning rod. The man I thought I'd witnessed die a few months ago on a sweaty rooftop in Malaysia.
"What happened to Anne and Aaron?" Mac asked as a rush of grateful air escaped my lungs. "How did he get hurt?"
"It's my fault," I wailed shamefully, letting the weight of the words crush my wounded spirit. "I made Aaron post this video online to get Cyrus' attention because I wanted answers. I mean, Varun's been helping but he can't-"
"Hold on, hold on," Mac tried to calm me down. "How is Varun Rishi involved in this flea circus?"
"He's consulting on Project Scion," I replied, gulping to force a hiccup back down my throat.
"Again?!" Mac exploded. "That rat bastard!"
"Wait, did you say again?" I sputtered. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Mac flapped his hands impatiently to prompt me to continue.
"Varun is the one that got my mom and Aaron to safety when Hamm went ballistic," I told him. "He kept them safe! And then he brought his lawyers in to help me, but I can't figure out if that's just because he's dating my mom, which is seriously too weird-"
"So, I know there's a lot going on right now," Mac nodded and held up a meaty palm, his face turning an interesting shade of beetroot. "But I'm going to need you to repeat that last sentence."
"Varun's dating my mom?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought you said," his ginormous hand smacked his chin to push his beard around like he was kneading a lump of bushy dough to death.
He shot up off the wooden chair he'd been perched on, flinging it against the ceiling to shatter like confetti.
I ducked beneath the bed's netting while he thundered up to a stark bookcase and grabbed a hefty paperback. With a throaty howl, he ripped the spine and tossed the halves to opposite sides of the dinky room.
Valentina burst through the door with Basem hot on her heels to see what all the commotion was about.
"I'm fine," Mac straightened up through their shouts and shooed them out the door. "I'm good."
Valentina's violent expression could have flogged me within an inch of my life, but she didn't fight Mac's request. He'd ingratiated himself with this crowd somehow, which meant I probably should too (no matter how much they protested.)
"So Varun's been consulting on Project Scion and Anne's love life, huh?" He asked me as soon as we were alone. "No wonder Cyrus didn't tell me. I knew that rich weasel couldn't stay away."
"What's that now?" I squeaked.
"Varun was dabbling with Project Scion since before you were born," Mac elucidated with a tinge of regret in his voice. "Arnie brought him in."
"How do you know all this?" I sounded more accusatory than I'd wanted to.
"I was recruited out of Oxford to work on Project Scion after an unidentified flying object impacted Earth," Mac went on, gearing up for a big story. "A black ops team led by Hamm was brought in to make it disappear. Your dad found a drive in the wreckage that contained a language no one could decode. The army needed a linguist with fresh eyes and a focus on obscure ancient languages. They found me, and I was too intrigued to say no."
"I'm sorry, a UFO? Are we really talking about aliens?" My ions began to skitter and vibrate inside my chest, sparkling a tingle of nervous activity.
As quickly as the rush came, it sputtered out.
"Yup," he confirmed, snorting at the ridiculousness of this conversation. "I translated the glyphs that unlocked nightmares. Arnie and his brother synthesized the Scion element together. They thought it was going to win them some type of Nobel Peace Prize or some shit. None of us knew what we were in for, especially your mom."
"Was my mom a part of Project Scion too?" My mind began to reel as a cold sweat broke out beneath my collar.
"No," Mac's voice sank dolefully. "I grew close to your dad in the early days of the project. One night when we were off duty, I brought him out to meet some of my friends at a pub. Your mom tagged along that night. I didn't realize they'd fall so fast and so strong, but he swept Anne right out from under my feet. We were buddies, and I hadn't worked up the guts to say anything to your mother, so I figured, it was my loss and their gain."
"Oh, wow, so you had feelings for her, and your best friend got there first?" I gasped. "No wonder you like Michael Bolton so much."
"Right?" Mac snorted to cover what I think was an errant tear. "Sorry, where was I?"
"Aliens impacted Earth and the army hired you," I hinted. "You know, the usual."
"Yeah, so, I did my job and translated the formula that Arnie used to create what he called the Scion element," Mac took a heavy breath. "The army started testing it as soon as they could get their greedily little paws on it, but things didn't go so hot."
"Varun knew about all of this?" I gulped at the chilling realization. Just like everyone else, he'd lied to me too. "They were testing an alien element on humans?"
"Well, how do you think, you, or those kids out there, came to be? It certainly wasn't that quack in Malaysia," Mac replied, knitting his bushy brows expectantly. "You were dying, Ella and your mom and dad were scared. So, me and Arnie helped him use the Scion element in a last-ditch effort to save your life."
"My dad did this to me?" My lips quivered in horror.
"Even if we could have known the consequences," Mac replied. "I don't think he'd have done anything differently."
Holy revelations Batman!! So, Ella's dad worked with Mac to save her life, which accidentally turned her into a Scion. And Varun's been a busy little bee creating a few Scions of his own! Speaking of the gang, I wonder why they aren't living with Varun now? Or why Ella's powers don't seem to be working? Or what's going on between Ella and Cyrus? So many unanswered questions!!
I'll be sure to post another chapter tomorrow!