Spliced

Chapter 24 Rowen

I couldn't stop thinking about Pacey. I knew Emm probably figured out that I left school with Pacey. There were tons of missed messages on my MyTab to call Emm, but I didn't want to talk to her. What I saw behind that gate haunted every single one of my nightmares. This was bigger than me, bigger than what happened to Ashton. I didn't want to see Emm for church, but I figured maybe the Order would be able to help.

This time I drove myself instead of going with Emm. I wanted to get Malone by himself before the service. Maybe he had a plan to bring the congregation together against the illegal splicing. The only other car in the parking lot was an older, sleek German model, and I knew it had to be Malone's. He would have something that showy. Also, the license plate read MALONE.

The front doors were open and without the lights on, the auditorium looked like an old, haunted theatre. Even the white curtains started to look like blowing ghosts. I knew my imagination was getting the best of me, but I still scurried around the center stage and made my way to the back where I knew Malone usually camped out before service. A steel door stood directly behind the giant screen used to display messages, and I hoped it was Malone's.

I knocked twice, praying he was there.

"Come in," his deep, charismatic voice called.

I opened the door to be drowned in gold. The walls were gold, the floor, and a shiny gold vanity with a big mirror faced me with Malone looking at my reflection in the mirror. His long, brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he adjusted the wire framed glasses on his face before he turned around to me.

"Ah, I believe you are the boyfriend of my esteemed donor's daughter, are you not?" He stood with the giant, white robe floating around him. It was so big he looked more like a little kid playing dress-up than an all powerful leader of a congregation.

I nodded. "Yes, sir, I'm Rowen Mangold."

I put out my hand to shake his, and he just looked down at it. After a few seconds of awkwardness, I thrusted my hand into my pocket. I used my free hand to run my fingers through my hair.

"I'm a very busy man, Mr. Mangold."

"I realize that, sir, but I'm here because I don't know where else to go. I was attacked by this mutant splicer, and then I found the guy who did the splicing and ended up finding a whole caged colony of these mutant splicers," I blurted as fast as I could, hoping he wouldn't stop me.

"Mutant splicers you say?" He raised an eyebrow.

I nodded. "Yes sir. Their DNA somehow got fused with the animals that were spliced on to them. Have you heard of such a thing, sir? Maybe a study you've come across?"

Malone shook his head, and then walked past me to the steel door, opening it, and standing to the side. "Thank you for coming to see me today, Rownan."

"It's Rowen, and sir, I wasn't finished yet!"

He ushered me out the door. "May the Lord bless you." And with that he shut the door on my face. So much for asking for his help.

I walked back out to the auditorium. People had already started to gather. I spotted Emm and her family. I wanted to avoid them, but her mom's hawk eyes got to me first.

"Ro! Over here!" she called out, waving one of her way too-spray-tanned arms.

Begrudgingly, I made my way over to them. Emm didn't look at me, just took my hand and pulled me closer to her like the trophy boyfriend I was to her.

"Emm, we need to talk," I whispered.

"Not now. Maybe after service, and then you can explain to me what the helter is going on with you," she said back in a whispered hiss.

I followed the family and took our seats in the auditorium. The lights went down, the music started, and the fog machine rolled in. Malone was really putting on the glitz.

A loud voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "My fellow conservationists, the day of reckoning is upon us! Are you ready?"

Everyone in the auditorium stood up and cheered. Well, except for me, Emm had to pull me and my jaw up off the floor. Malone came from below the stage, rising up on a small platform. He wore his same white robes and his hands were held high in the air.

"My fellow conservationists!" He boomed and looked around the crowd. The music died down and Malone's own voice echoed through the auditorium.

"It has come to my attention that the spliced abominations have taken on their own army. They are gathering in a compound as we speak, ready to take on all that is holy with their animal infused genetics!"

What the fritz? That wasn't what I told him at all!

"So my fellow conservationists are you ready to fight these splicers? To make sure that we conserve our genetics?"

The crowd cheered, but all I could do was stand there, dumbfounded, for the rest of the service. Malone kept going on about his plans to bring the church together against splicing and how he knew that the splicers were going to try and build their own army. I didn't even know service was over until Emm nudged me to leave. She led me past hordes of people all gathered together and talking about the steps they would take to defeat the splicers. I even heard people talking about calling the president and asking him to treat all splicers as enemies of the state. This wasn't right. This wasn't what I wanted at all.

"What the helter is going on with you, Ro?" Emm stopped and turned around so fast I almost ran her over and came to a screeching halt with my shoes skidding against the pavement.

"What?" I blinked looking at the other groups gathered in the parking lot. These didn't look like a bunch of soldiers ready for a war. More like a few juiced up guys and their buxom wives planning a virtual tennis match. But somehow I knew this was the fuel Malone had been looking for. He'd only ushered me out of the room so he could figure out how to get his plan together for the congregation. This was what he had been wanting for years with all his talk of the splicing abomination. Now he had the fuel to start the fire.

Emm rolled her eyes, pulling my chin down to look at her. "Look, Ro, I don't know what is going on with you and Pacey, but whatever it is, it needs to stop. You are mine, do you understand?"

I pulled back from her icy grip. "Nothing is going on with me and Pacey."

Sort of true. Nothing, yet, at least. But that didn't mean that I wouldn't take the chance if it arose.

"I just went with her yesterday to follow a lead on some mutant splices," I said.

"Hold up!" She held her hand to my chest. "That was who you skipped school with yesterday? I thought something just happened with your crazy mother."

I backed up. "Do not talk about my mom like that. She has nothing to do with this."

"Doesn't she? She has everything to do with this. If you stopped worrying about getting out of your house so much and focused on us instead, we wouldn't be having this problem."

I couldn't believe what Emm was saying. She knew nothing about why my parents were the way they were, nothing about Ashton. Only Pacey knew and at that moment she was the only person I wanted to be with.

"See you around, Emm," I said, turning away from her and walking to my car without another word. The battle lines had been drawn, and not just between The Order and the spliced.

n_|z