The Revealed (22 page)

“So what?” I spin on my heels and face Julia. She’s taller than I am, but only by a bit. It’s enough that I can hide how intimidated I am by her. “You want me to just stay here and do what exactly?” I manage to ask rather defiantly.

“We want you to train. You have abilities now. It’s important you learn how to use them. We brought you here to keep you safe. But now that you are here, we want your help.”

“And then? How do you save my father?”

“We stop Westerfield. He’s planning his attack on Election Day. He wants to assassinate your father and make it look like the Eastern European Sector is to blame. We’ve been tapping his phone and his computer, but he’s careful to use codes. He’s paranoid and smart. We’ve cracked some of his code though. From what we can tell, he’s going to have a sniper in the crowd on Election Day. He’s been importing illegal arms—AK-47s, to be exact.”

“So why don’t we take him out now?”

“It isn’t that simple. He knows we’re after him. We have to be more clever about our tactics. He was originally going to conduct the assassination at the gala. We got there in time to stop him, but someone had tipped him off about our arrival before we got there. He’d fled the scene. Election Day is a time and a place he can’t avoid. He has to be there so when the assassination takes place he won’t be considered a suspect. This means he won’t be able to flee the scene if we show up. And we’ll finally have him.”

“Are you going to kill him?”

“No. We’ll hold him in custody until we can gather enough evidence to prove, without a doubt, his guilt. Then we’ll hand him over to the proper authorities and let due process run its course. My guess is the justice system will be the death of him—either by rotting in a cell or by lethal injection.”

“And his followers?”

“We’ll take out as many of them as we can. We suspect once Westerfield is in custody, the others will disband on their own. We’ll still be here to keep an eye on things though.”

“So?” Rory asks hopefully as she comes out of the room. “Will you stay?”

I take a moment to think and realize it isn’t enough. “I need time,” I say, “to process all of this.”

“We’ll give you private quarters this evening,” Julia offers.

“Thank you.”

“No one will disturb you until you’re ready to talk more. And I do hope you’ll come to me with any questions you have. I suspect you will have quite a few.”

The next morning, I find Rory in the dining hall. She pats the seat next to her, offering me the empty space, and I take it.

“How are you?” she asks. “Anything you want to talk about?”

I look around at the rest of the table; Nero and Romni sit across from us, as well as another girl with dark ringlet curls and chocolate skin. I’m not sure if I want to discuss my doubts in front of this crowd, all of them strangers, as well as members of The Revealed.

Rory waves it off. “It isn’t anything they haven’t been through.”

“So I’m not the only one who’s thought about leaving?”

The girl with the curls laughs. “Everyone thinks about leaving. It’s a shock, suddenly being in this new place. You need time to adjust.”

“Lily, this is Maya. Maya, Lily,” Rory says.

The girl sticks out her hand, and I shake it.

“Nice to meet you,” she says, and grins widely.

“You too,” I mumble, still afraid one of them is going to zap my hand somehow. Like these niceties are just some kind of joke.

“Listen,” Rory says, “you have to understand. None of us came from the background you do. Most of us lost everyone in the war. We were out of school, working in the factories. I was living on the street when The Revealed found me. Both my parents were dead. I didn’t have anywhere to go. Everything but the clothes on my back had been destroyed by the war. I hadn’t eaten in two days.” Rory presses her lips together, the memory hard for her to recall. “I would have done something bad,” she admits. “I was desperate.” She looks away from me for a moment. “Being taken was the best thing that’s happened to me. Yeah, I was scared. I thought they were evil just like everyone else. But Julia gave me a room and food. After time, I also found a family. I learned the mission and gained a purpose. Now I’m working for something good. I am someone good.”

I take in everything Rory tells me. And after a long moment of silence, all I can say is, “Rory, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t want you to. I don’t like pity parties,” she waves it off with a few flicks of her wrist.

“So I take it this means The Revealed isn’t going to kill me.”

Rory snorts and rolls her eyes, “Of course not.”

“Well that’s a relief, at least.”

“Get something to eat,” Rory tells me. “I want to show you something.”

After shoveling eggs down my throat, I follow Rory into the east wing.

She takes me down an elevator to a basement that houses dozens of computers on desks. Next to them are shelves with rows of books, articles, and boxes, which I assume hold more papers. It reminds me of the libraries I went to with my mother before the war. A lot of books were destroyed in the war. Of course, there are still some bookstores and archives, but most information was placed in an online database that is accessible to everyone. This makes research much easier. Rarely do people—my father being an exception—keep collections like the one I am now looking at. It takes a lot of time and wealth to accumulate artifacts like these.

“Why is all of this here?” I ask, thumbing my hand across some of the loose papers.

“Evidence.” Rory strides down one of the aisles, peeking into random boxes as she goes. “The government’s tracking abilities are too strong for us to risk compiling our evidence online. Any information we want to store, we print out and organize here. That way, we don’t run the risk that someone will discover us online and become suspicious of what we’re doing.”

Rory pulls out a few more boxes before finding the one she’s looking for. She carries it to an empty table and takes off the lid. Inside are more papers.

“Here.” Rory lifts a stack of pages and hands them to me. “Be careful to keep them in order though.”

I look through them sheet by sheet. Some are emails, others pictures. There are even a few formal contracts, though I’m not sure how The Revealed got their hands on these.

How could Westerfield be doing this? My heartbeat pulses in my ears. I feel so many mixed emotions, but confusion and fear top the list. My whole world has been turned upside down in less than forty-eight hours. And to think, Westerfield is behind it all.

A breeze picks up, tossing my hair.

“Calm down, Lily.” Rory places a hand on my shoulder, and after a moment, the wind around me dies. “You need to learn to control your emotions. Your abilities are connected closely with your mind. If you lose your focus, bad things could happen.”

I created that wind!

I take a deep breath.

“Where did you get this?” I stare down at a transcript of a phone conversation between Roderick and Kai.

“Kai allowed us to tap his phone,” she explains.

“He allowed you to tap his phone? How long has he known about you?”

“Since shortly after he left for his military assignment. They’d sent him to track us and gather information. We found him, showed him what we’re showing you. The facts told him everything he needed to know. He agreed to help us.”

“Why didn’t you do the surgery on him, too?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Rory explains. “The surgery isn’t compatible with everyone. The mind needs to have susceptibility that’s hard to describe unless you understand the procedure. I don’t even understand it fully. But not everyone can survive. If performed on the wrong person, bad things can happen. Kai isn’t a candidate for the procedure.”

“But he’s one of the strongest people I know,” I say.

Rory smirks. “I’m sure he is, but it isn’t about physical strength. It’s something genetic, inherent. We can test for it using DNA sequencing. Usually we find a hair sample or a tossed paper cup. We track all of our potential members to ensure compatibility before they’re taken.”

“And Kai trusted you enough to let you take me?”

“Yes, but he also knew that if we didn’t, his father would have you murdered. Jeremy wasn’t the only one working for him. Kai did this because it was the only way to protect you.”

My hands absently slide to my neck. I picture the gun in Jeremy’s hand and shiver.

Rory answers my silent question. “His body was found the next morning. I’m so sorry, Lily. We had no idea Jeremy was working for Westerfield. I never should have left you alone in that house with him. We knew Westerfield was after you, but I never thought Jeremy could have been involved. I thought you were safe with him. We were more worried about Westerfield targeting your father at this point. We didn’t know who was sending the notes. We knew they were coming from someone in the Westerfield camp trying to set us up, but I never in a million years would have guessed it was Jeremy. I’m sorry,” she reaches out and touches my arm.

“It isn’t your fault,” I say.

She purses her lips and shakes her head. “Jeremy was trying to make you believe The Revealed were after you instead of Westerfield. That way, when he … succeeded, The Revealed would be even more reviled. If you suddenly disappeared then it would be easily explained away. No questions. Plus, he controlled your trust. When he taped that note “Run” to the gate, where were you going to go? Of course, you’d turn to the head of security in your panic. He’d lure you in and then take your life, setting it all up to look like The Revealed.”

“That’s insane.”

“Well,” Rory continues, “along with your disappearance, the murder has been pegged on The Revealed. Just like Westerfield wanted.”

“What? You were blamed for what happened?”

Rory shrugs, “We’re used to it.”

“How are we going to stop Westerfield?” I ask. “Do you have a plan?”

“Yes,” Rory tells me, “and we’d like you to be a part of it now that you’re here. We didn’t want to take you like this. We wanted to avoid it if we could. But after everything that happened with Jeremy, we decided it was the safest move for you. I’m sorry you’re caught in the middle of all this.”

“What do you want me to do?” I ask.

“You have to learn to control your abilities. Right now, your mind is sensitive. The abilities are new to your body and unfocused. It could be even more detrimental to your family and the mission if we send you out there without the proper training. We have about two and a half weeks until the election. During that time, you’ll train. Every day. If, at the end of it, we think you’re ready, you can help us.”

“If I’m ready? No.” I shake my head. “I have to be there. My parents’ lives are in jeopardy. I’m not just going to sit at the bottom of the ocean while you go up there.”

“If you aren’t ready, being there could cause more harm than good.”

“No. No way. If you want me to even consider joining this band of vigilantes, you can’t keep me down here on Election Day.”

“I can’t make that promise.” Rory remains firm.

“I thought you said this was my choice.” I feel my temper rising again.

“It is. You are welcome to go back to Washington and live in your father’s shadow again. But I know that’s not what you want. You have an opportunity for something great here. Lily, you’ll get to travel the world and help people. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

I don’t answer. Because she’s right. It is everything I want. Desperately.

Rory isn’t done. “But if you’re going to be a part of our mission, you have to be part of the team. Sending you up on land before you’re ready doesn’t just put your life at risk. You could risk
everything
. The mission could be compromised. Your parents could be hurt. The Revealed could be exposed. Not to mention the countless innocent lives that could be lost. I know you’re worried about your parents, which means you can’t think rationally about this situation. So I need you to trust me and the rest of The Revealed. We’ll make the decision if you’re ready.”

“I don’t know if I trust you,” I tell her.

She looks taken aback, swallows, but then nods. “I hope you decide to.”

“I’m trying.” Ready to change the topic, I ask, “When do we start training?” Just because I haven’t decided I completely trust The Revealed, doesn’t mean I’m just going to sit here helplessly.

“Now.”

We walk back upstairs. My presence draws whispers and stares as we pass people in the halls. Rory glares at them and shakes her head.

I watch them as we walk, unable to hear what they’re saying.

Rory shakes her head and sighs, “I told them not to do this.” She tries to be as casual and familiar as we once were. “But you’re the hot new topic, babe. Everyone’s curious about Lily Atwood.”

“Great.” I roll my eyes. The last thing I want is to attract attention.

“You’re part of the family now.” She grins. “The attention will die down.”

“Do you even like to cook?”

She gives me a sidelong glance. “Sure. I just don’t do it very well. Why do you think I was always asking for your help? The only reason I was there was to watch your back.” Rory shivers. “The idea of you alone in that house. When we got the call from Kai saying he was going to get you, I was so worried. And out in the field … you have to know Lily, it was never our intention to scare you. It definitely wasn’t Kai’s intention. Once he got back from his mission, he went back and forth on his decision. He really didn’t know what to do with all this new information. He wanted to tell you, but was worried for your safety like the rest of us. He asked to meet with me several times before actually agreeing to go through with the plan.”