THE PRODIGIES

Chapter XXVII

My brain goes completely blank for a second. I can't believe this lady is standing in front of us. I start thinking about how much Chance seemed to trust her when we were at her house. She didn't even want my help. And who would willingly stay at their own house when they know someone is threatening them? Now it all makes sense. She knew we would come looking for her. What doesn't make sense is why they only took Chance. They could have easily ambushed all of us in Rebecca's house while we were talking. They could've gotten us when we walked outside to leave. It feels like an unnecessary step to take Chance, but this is the government here. Whatever they do, they feel is necessary so they must've needed Chance for something. And I'm going to find out what.

As I'm sitting down, I notice the lights in this room have gotten brighter. It catches my attention, and I'm able to bring myself back down to earth. I stroke my sisters hands with my thumb in an attempt to calm their shaking.

I clear my throat before speaking.

"Why does the SFA want the lyxina so bad?" I ask Rebecca directly.

Rebecca steps forward and leans against the table.

"When the prota-cedrix vaccine was created, only one woman knew what it consisted of. There were only enough doses for the first project. The entire project was too risky, and the SFA couldn't risk it falling into the wrong hands. The scientist who created the prota-cedrix vaccine wouldn't tell anyone what was in the original vaccine. All we know is that lyxina is the blueprint."

"But why do you need it from us? What happened to the lyxina that was taken from Skylar and Penelope?"

Bree let's go of my hand and places her hands on top of the table. She stares into Rebecca's soul as she questions her.

"It had been in the SFA's possession for over 20 years but once we started the new project, we had to improvise."

Now it's Mila's turn to speak.

"Improvise how?"

"There was only 80 milliliters of lyxina that we were able to use. We used a portion because we wanted to try to break down its properties but weren't successful. The remaining lyxina was used to create a new vaccine. It's a much smaller dose, and it works. But only for those who have blood type AB+. When we learned of this, we only had enough for three injections. Red Eye and Shadow Ice were injected. The last vial hasn't been used yet. We need to be able to preserve as much as we can. After we injected them, their abilities came within a few seconds."

Bree clenches her fists together, and Rebecca instantly flinches.

I hear whooshing sounds followed by clicks from above. My sisters hear it too. All of our heads pop up and turn towards the sound simultaneously. We see that we are surrounded by three agents, each holding some type of futuristic gun. The opening is rather large for any regular gun. The body of this machine is long, and it looks too big to carry. It's big enough to do some extreme damage. Because of this, Bree casts a force field around us.

Rebecca lifts up her hand.

"A force field. That's impressive. I knew of your abilities but to see it up close and personal is completely different."

"Stand down, Agents." Director Styles says towards the direction we're all staring at.

Bree still has her force field surrounding us. She doesn't let up even when Rebecca and Director Styles tries to assure us that nothing is going to happen.

"Listen, their orders were to capture the three of you and bring you to us safely. Anyone who got in their way was collateral damage. This is all in the best interest of our country." Says Director Styles.