Conbellia

Chapter 14

I run up the stairs to my room in my parents' house. Lucky thing I had the key in my pocket the day of the tests. My parents are still in the office and my sister is still at school. I have exactly one hour. I switch on my old laptop. My room is in the second floor. If they come home I'll be trapped.
Celias room is right next to it. She loves Geography. I remember she keeps maps in her room. If I try to open the CNet every step of mine will be recorded as well as the location of the device I'd be using. I need a map of the city. Now. I grit my teeth. There's no time for hesitation. I get up and go over to Celias room. I open the drawers of her desk systematucally. The maps are in the last one I open. Thank God. She does have a map of the city after all. I turn around a freeze. She must have been very quiet when she came into the house.
"Jeanine!" she shouts already running towards me. She throws her arms around me.
"Celia" I whisper "Celia I need you to understand this. You can't tell anyone I was here. Not a single person. Not even mom or dad. Celia, do you hear me?"
She looks at me with her big brown eyes. Then she touches me softly.
"I won't say a word Jane."
As I look into those beautiful eyes I know I can't trust her.
"I need this map for a few minutes. I'll give it back to you then OK?"
She nods. I hurry back to my computer. She follows.
"Celia, I need some time please."
"What are you doing?" She asks leaning over my shoulder.
I can't tell her the truth. I didn't swear the owe of leaders but I know I'm not supposed to drop a single word from the meeting.
"Listen, why don't you do your homework meanwhile?"
She continues to study the screen of my computer. I sigh. My sister isn't the one you can shake off easily.
I turn back to face the computer and type a few things in the file. Then I take the city map and lay it down in front of me.
I finish faster than I thought I would with the map at hand. I take a deep breath. Then I take out the phone I got today and connect it to the computer. There's no backing away now. I press Enter.
"Thank you so much Cilly. I love you." I kiss her on the forehead then I grab my bag.
"One last thing." I say "This computer has to be kept in stand-by mode. The battery will die down in a few days. Would you keep the computer charged for me? Please?"
She nods then pulls me in a hug again.
"I'll take care of it Jane."
"Thank you" I turn away blinking back the tears. Who knows when I'll see her again.
This is your life now.
I remind myself. I walk fast through the district and only relax when I'm a few miles away from my old home.

I help Cathy with preparation of dinner as soon as I come home.
"What about eating on the veranda?" I ask suddenly.
Cathy turns around.
"Great idea! Sure!"
We set up the table on the veranda literally a minute before Vincent and Jeremiah come home from their shift. For the first time I notice that Vincent wasn't at the meeting in the morning. Then I remember that the fighters at work don't go. They get the information later separately. That fact slows down my heartbeat a lot.
"Did you enjoy your first meeting?" Vincent asks me after a while.
I swallow down the meat I was chewing.
"It was an amazing experience and a very useful one too." I reply "I hope I learned something for the next time-"
"-if there will be one" I add.
Vincent smiles.
"You will meet Mr. Lane tomorrow afternoon." He says. "We were intending to start leadership training with you after step three of fighting training but we have come to the conclusion we need to act faster than that."
I nod. That means I'll barely have free time from now on. I'm grateful I did what I wanted to today.
"Do you think the US will attack?" I ask.
"They might. There's no way to foresee their movements but judging by what we know it seems to be very likely." I can see Vincent is trying hard to hide his worry. But the way he looks isn't right now isn't his look of calm moments. I decide to change the subject.
"Hunting training starts next week if I pass the hand combat test right?"
"Yeah" Jere say.
We go on with some small talk. Later I help Cathy to take all the dirty plates back into the kitchen. After Cathy and I are done with that we all watch a movie. It's a comedy and we almost fall of the sofa at some places. I wish all evenings were like this. Apparently, that doesn't seem to be waiting for me.