The Jungle

Chapter 18: Fixing Severed Connections

Juliet stared out the window, completely confused by the current state of things. Bahati and Caroline’s relationship hadn’t come as a surprise to her, but she didn’t understand why Warren had been so angry with the native for initiating such a relationship. The room was dark and cool and helped her think, but unfortunately it didn’t help with all the questions swirling around in her head. Warren had agreed to process the blood samples from herself and Bahati in the lab downstairs, but Juliet was a nervous wreck between waiting for results and plotting how to overthrow Hamlet and staying one step ahead the Metropolan forces, who were surely out to get them. At any moment, she expected them to break down the door and put a bullet in her skull.

But if her hunch was right and she was part Kupata, she had to endure the storm. Her people, if they were indeed her people, were counting on the results of a single court case and rested in the hands of a ragtag group of rebels and a psychopath bent on their destruction. When this was all over, if it ended well, Juliet thought she would like to live on the island. Even now she missed it. She missed the lush greenery of the place, and how clean the rain tasted on her tongue and how many different types of birds sang in the morning outside her window.  Come to think of it, she had never really realized how much the place pulled her in, as if she needed it and that was the reason she was trying so hard to save it. It wasn’t just Bahati’s home. It was hers.

“You’re worried,” said a voice from the darkness.

“Of course I am, James,” she said, whirling around. “I have no earthly idea what’s going to happen and I’m not quite sure if you noticed, but there’s a huge rift right down the middle of our group because of what happened between Warren and Caroline and Bahati. I’m worried Warren is going to leave us, and we need him. He’s been in front of the council before and he’s the only one who knows how they work. He’s our best hope of winning this thing, James. I’m completely terrified of what’s going to happen if he goes. And then there’s something else I’m stressing over as well.”

“Which is?” James asked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her from behind.

“I think I’m half Kupata,” she said softly. “I took a blood sample from Bahati and gave it to Warren to test with a bit of my blood to see if it’s true. But I have blond hair and green eyes, and I have the same weird type of blood as Bahati. If I am only half Metropolan, it means this is just as personal for me as it is for Bahati. I am in every way just as affected by this as he is, if not more. If my father was Kupata like I suspect, it means the council ruined all chances of me ever having a normal family.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this?” James whispered, nuzzling her ear. “How did Bahati take it?”

“He took it surprisingly well, given that he’d never seen a syringe before in his life. I was expecting him to freak out like he did with Warren’s phone yesterday morning.”

James chuckled. “We’ve got to teach that kid how to use technology. And then to read and write. Have you gotten in touch with your old contacts here?”

Juliet nodded and pulled away from James’s embrace. She walked to the chest of drawers and pulled out a manila folder. James opened it and stared at the picture and profile of its subject. “Draco Demosthenes Cleisthenes. That name’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it?”

“He’s a councilman, and he goes by the name ‘Lex’ because he hates the name his parents saddled him with,” Juliet said, pulling a page from the file and holding it up. “Not only did I grow up with him, but I worked with him awhile ago on a project with the CIA and ended up saving his life. Since then, he’s owed me a favor. He’s one of the few guys who doesn’t let the corrupt councilmen boss him around and I think we can count on him to shelter us and speak on our behalf.”