INIZIO

IX | NINE

Jayden's dreams were filled with terrible memories.

Once more, he saw his dad in front of him, confined inside his mind, thanks to the red bacilli. Then there was Rachel, pulling him away from his dad, so he too wouldn't get infected. Only that it wasn't Rachel, no, Rachel didn't have brown eyes, nor was her skin a rich golden color. All of a sudden, he was surrounded by trees, and his only company was her; Giselle. And in the blink of an eye, she too was gone.

-

Breakfast was served early, Jayden estimated it was around seven in the morning, for the sun still didn't shine upon the tall pines that surrounded them.

He still found his dream disturbing; well, of course, he was used to dreaming about his dad, his mom, and Rachel, but what he didn't understand was her appearance. Why the heck would Giselle be in his dreams? Because she and her family stole you, you idiot. He chastised himself; that was a fair enough explanation.

Jayden still had a hard time believing that the Union and Potestas were working together to form a new specimen of superhumans, ones specially made for combat and wars, as a matter of a fact, it all seemed just too alien to be real. He wasn't stupid, and this fairytale they fed him only unnerved him.

Where was Rachel? Was it so hard for them to say?

They were all seated together, Giselle and Vadim on one side, and Yvette next to him. The only noise that could be heard was that of their spoons clattering against their bowls. It was Giselle who interrupted the silence. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"The plan is to prepare to get Rachel. This means you two are going to go out to search. Jayden, you and I will meanwhile elaborate a plan to reach your sister." Yvette said rather flatly. Jayden nodded, although he was aware that no one saw.

"By saying 'search' you mean to check out Giselle's webcams?" Vadim asked. Yvette gave a sharp nod.

"Wait, you knew about the webcams I was hiding?" Giselle asked, disbelieve crowning her expression. Yvette gave her a sly smile. "Giselle, I too was a mother once, and I have that motherly instinct that tells me when someone is hiding something. Oh, and Vadim also let me know."

Giselle's cheeks turned a slight pink and she nudged her brother hard. "Snitch," Jayden heard her mutter.

Jayden turned his eyes away from them. "How are we going to prepare to get Rachel if you guys don't seem to know where she is?" He asked bitterly. It was a bit unbearable to see how they spoke about saving Rachel in such a calm manner.

"As a matter of a fact, we do know where she is, the problem right now is the people that are with her," Giselle explained, "so right now, what we need is a plan to outsmart them before they find us."

"Yes well, concerning that, you dropped a camoscreen right outside the bar, had I not spotted it on the screen and turned off the GPS, Mikhail and Diane would have already found us," Vadim stated. "So, I'm sure they are aware we are here. This means that the probabilities of Rachel being alone are zero." He continued, "which also means that one of us is going to have to distract Mikhail because I'm sure that Diane is going to be guarding Rachel."

Jayden furrowed his brows, "Wait, who are these people?"

Giselle glanced at him. "They aren't exactly human, like you or me, they are the first genetically engineered 'humans' to be created. They are more machine than human. They both have computers for brains, which means they follow direct orders from the UNIPO. There is no reasoning with these... creatures."

A knot formed in the pit of Jayden's stomach. How were they going to rescue Rachel from the hands of these monsters? Giselle shot him a reassuring smile, "but don't worry, Vadim and I have dealt with them before."

Jayden couldn't help glaring. "Yeah, and that destroyed a whole city." he snapped.

The comment made Giselle's smile disappear, and a pained expression crossed her face, one she quickly replaced with a glare. "We didn't mean for that to occur." She hissed.

Jayden equaled her glare with a withering look, "but it did." he replied icily.

"Never mind that," Yvette interrupted, trying to calm down the rising tension. She had worked so hard to help Vadim and Giselle to forgive themselves after the incident in France. Bringing the topic back wouldn't do much to help.

She sighed heavily and closed her eyes, rubbing viciously her temples, "whatever happened is not the topic in discussion, we must focus on Mikhail, which, like Vadim stated is most likely to be searching around Patmos and Ashton for us."

"What are we going to do, then?" Vadim asked. He avoided glancing at Jayden and instead focused on Yvette and Giselle.

"Well, you'll fill us in with their recent activity."

-

Jayden had never seen a building like this before. The house of Giselle and Vadim was huge; most of it being under earth. They had led him to the third and last "underfloor" which, like Yvette had commented, was full of technology.

And hell, it was. It was hard not to be awed.

All around him were screens and a few computers, there was a pile of camoscreens nearby, and loads of technological equipment that Jayden didn't recognize. Some hovered, which reminded him of the hoverboards that were seen all over Concord, others seemed to float in a galactical manner, like the bubblefloaters that were so popular back in Concord. Only the rich could afford such luxurious modernized floating motorcycles.

"Ok, according to the recent activity recorded by the webcams, Mikhail leaves at dawn and returns by midnight. But, if Diane calls for him, he is there in five minutes. Only when he goes to Ashton does he take more." Vadim explained, pointing to two of the smaller screens that were seen on the wall; the rest stared at the large screen in front of them.

"I overheard Mikhail say to Diane that their Guardian was going to show up in a month, to check up on them and their activity. They might get more instructions, and if the Guardian does show up, he'll realize that Rachel isn't the one they are looking for, which means," Giselle fell silent and shot Jayden a glance before turning to look at her brother and Yvette again.

"Which means what?" Jayden insisted.

Giselle didn't answer, she didn't even look at him. Fear began to spread across his chest, and the beat of his heart began to increase. He took a few steps towards her and took her forcefully by the arms, and forced her to look at him, "which means what?" he demanded, his grip on her arms tightened.

She glared at him, "let go you, idiot," she hissed, "we are just trying to help" she snapped, as she twisted swiftly and expertly out of his grasp, and Vadim quickly pulled her beside him. "Hey, calm down man, we will find her, don't worry." His eyes shot Jayden a warning, but he didn't care.

"It's easy for you to say! You have your sister by your side, whereas I don't know where the hell mine is or if I'm ever going to see her again!" Jayden belted.

"My gosh, will you guys focus?" Yvette snapped. She glared at the three, and at this, the three fell silent.

"This only means we have one month to find a way to rescue your sister."

"And what if we can't?" Jayden choked out. Yvette stared at him for a while. "Let's not think about such odds." Was her only reply before she turned to the large screens that surrounded them.