Gray knew staring was rude, but he did it anyway.
"President Lilly?" He stammered.
She was sitting behind a sleek black desk, calm.
She looked older than she did on TV.
Her gray-streaked, straight brown hair hung around her face in a neat curtain, and her blue eyes seemed duller.
Still, her power was definite as she smiled at Gray.
"Sit down, please. Have a cookie."
She offered him a tin box full of the shortbread kind.
Gray sat. He took a cookie, but didn't eat it.
His head was too busy spinning with questions.
"Why am I here?" he asked nervously, realizing too late that he probably sounded rude.
President Lilly's smile faded slightly.
"Quick to get to the point, hmm?" She sighed, setting down her mug carefully.
Gray didn't answer, and she sighed again.
"I must apologize for the way my officers treated you. They can be a bit... brisk."
Gray bit back a stinging retort, reminding himself that this woman held his future in her hands.
So he just waited for her to go on.
"Gray, have you ever heard of the Emberforce?" Lilly asked.
Gray blinked, wishing that the name would ring any bells, but it didn't.
"I... No."
A flicker of a smile played on Lilly's lips.
"I didn't think so." She stood up, her hands folded behind her back.
"The Emberforce is a terrorist organization, hell bent on destroying our world and letting darkness take over."
Gray stared at her.
Darkness? Emberforce? What the hell was she talking about?
He opened his mouth to speak, but President Lilly raised her hand to cut him off.
"No interruptions, Gray," she said firmly.
Then her eyes softened.
"You should know what you're up against."
Gray's head was spinning as he tried to process every word.
He just nodded finally and Lilly smiled.
"Good. Now, listen closely. We are the Alliance, a counteract government dedicated to fighting the Emberforce and keeping balance in our country."
Gray nodded.
He knew about this.
His country, the Alliance, was created to quell the uprisings and fights that occurred decades ago, during World War IV.
The Alliance was the compromise, a theocratic government that was strict only to enforce peace.
"This is the part where you come in, Gray."
President Lilly picked up her coffee mug again, lacing her hands around it like she was nervous, and she seemed to be avoiding Gray's eyes.
"You see, Mr. Sohren, every year, a special statistical analysis program, Specialized Conjecture Area Rune— or SCAR— predicts an individual to defeat the Emberforce every year, keeping it in check, preventing such darkness from entering the world.
"It specifies detail, you see, such as gender, or birth city. This year, SCAR predicted a girl, born to Northerners, but—"
"I'm sorry," Gray cut in, struggling to keep up. "What do I have to do with this- this terrorist organization and prophecy?"
Without warning, Lilly's eyes flashed, and she slammed down her mug, spilling coffee all over the table.
"Mr. Sohren!" She snapped. "I have asked you not to interrupt me!"
Gray slumped in his seat, stunned.
The President seemed to be showing a... different side to her persona now.
Lilly sighed, but continued anyway.
"This year, however, the prophecy has gone wrong," she said slowly, looking away again. "It predicted a girl, but it ended up being a boy. It predicted Southerners, but the boy ended being a Northerner."
Lilly looked up, and Gray felt a sort of nausea crawl up his throat.
"So you're saying-"
"Gray, have you ever wondered why we hold The Choosing?" President Lilly said suddenly.
Gray let out a breath, relieved that this conversation was taking a sort of lighter turn.
"To... eliminate the students who aren't smart enough to make the cut," he told her, but she shook her head.
"No, Gray. It's to find the child of the prophecy- the Celestial."
It took a few moments for Gray to piece all this new information together.
"So... if you're saying the prediction is going wrong, then does that mean the outcome does, too? Couldn't the Emberforce escape or succeed?" He stammered.
Lilly played with her hands.
"Exactly, Gray. So, I think you and I would agree that the only way to keep the world safe, is to end the prediction, and wait for a new one."
Gray's heartbeat was so loud, he was sure President Lilly could hear it.
"So-"
Lilly finally met his gaze.
"So, Gray, we're going to have to kill you."
