Brianna Acero and the Second One's Return

11. I try to convince the Voodo-Queen

"No way."

"But Cass--"

"No."

"But you--"

"I said no Bri!"

I'm currently sitting on the floor of my best friends' room, trying to talk her into joining the training program with me, and it's going about as well as I'd expected.

"It would be so much fun! Just think, no more putting up with bullies at school."

"For the last time, I am not joining that stupid program. And neither should you."

When I got back from HQ yesterday my mom had demanded I tell her everything that happened, but I had to tell her that some things I just couldn't, I had sworn not to tell. Like, for example, what my Gift was. She was overjoyed when I told her that I indeed had a Gift, but her hurt expression when I couldn't elaborate on it almost broke me then and there.I would tell her everything just so she would stop looking at me with such a heartbroken expression. But then she smiled and told me she understood, and that as long as I was happy, she could live without knowing the whole truth. I knew she was thinking about dad, about all the things he would keep from us, and I told myself that the next time I went to the compound I would ask for permission to tell mom everything. It wasn't fair that she always had to be kept in the dark. Once we sat down for dinner, she told me that Cassie had called right after I left with Kalen to check up on me, and nearly had a panic attack over the phone when my mother told her what happened. I called her back that night and listened to her rant about how stupid I had been, how I had been too reckless and how something bad could have happened to me. But when I told her about my Gift, all thoughts of my careless behavior seemed to vanish from her mind. I couldn't tell mom, but Christian had allowed me to tell Cass. To convince her to join of course. After all, I knew she would never agree unless I told her.

"Girl you better not be messing with me," she said. "Because if you are, I will personally drop kick you."

"Trust me, I was freaking out too, but I can't explain it over then phone, mom might hear. Can I come over to your place tomorrow?"

That's how I ended up here. After breakfast with mom I walked over to Cassie's house, which gave me a chance to get my thoughts in order. And then when I finally made it to her apartment, I got pulled into her room as soon as I stepped through the front door. I explained everything; from the car ride with Kalen, to the meeting with Christian, and she listened in silence, nodding every now and then. But now came the tricky part. Actually convincing her to join.

I knew the Elites had reached out to her when she was younger, she told me about it in the first grade, but she had refused. At first, I thought it was because she didn't want to leave me behind, but now I think she had another reason for not wanting to join. When I think back to that moment, it was around the same time her dad passed away. Cassie and her dad had been much closer than me and my old man. He treated her like a princess, and she looked at him as if he hung the stars and the moon. They were inseparable, which is why she had been devastated the day he passed away. We had been young back then, too young to fully understand death, but she knew she wouldn't get to see him again, and it broke her.

She changed.

Gone was the girl with the happy smiles and silly faces. She was replaced with someone that didn't trust as easily. That used a hard exterior to hide her true nature. But what changed most, was her opinion on Elites. She was mad at the world because of what happened, but she seemed to take it out mostly on them.

Now that I know about the program and how it works, I'm guessing that since she didn't join, she and her mother must be under surveillance. I never saw anyone near the house, but I guess they only checked up on them when they were alone. I bet that didn't help fuel her trust towards them.