Brianna Acero and the Second One's Return

55. I get tackled by a lunatic

Diana notices my reaction, looking down in shock as she realizes that her TekPad is on.

"That's no one!" She says quickly, hiding her device and looking at me with worry in her eyes.

"Don't worry, we already know about your uncle," says Kalen, too fast to stop himself, also having noticed Diana's distress. I suppress the urge to punch him. She isn't supposed to know that! We aren't even supposed to know who he was. He realizes his screw up, eyes going wide, and he turns to me for help. 

I watch Diana freeze, eyes widening a fraction in shock before they become guarded.

"But... but how? Everyone... my dad he .... you're not supposed to know."

She's getting suspicious, so I quickly intervene before she can jump to any conclusions.

I raise a hand to calm her down, taking in the panicked expression on her face.

"Not everyone. I'm not even sure if we can tell you this but certain individuals still know about him and what he did. We happened to stumble upon some information about him at our compound and we forced our Director to tell us who he was."

Not exactly true, but she doesn't need to know that. When the words leave my mouth her expression darkens.

"What he did was nothing bad. He was sentenced to death for being mad at the doctors that caused the death of his daughter, of my cousin," she seethes, and I take a step back, startled by her anger "My uncle was a good man, a kind man. He treated me better than anyone else, including my father. He saw me as a person, not just a Gift. He would do anything for his family, and yet it was his own family that betrayed him."

At that Kalen and I both frown, not understanding what she's implying. Is Diana treated differently because she's a Norm? Her sudden outburst makes it sound like she is. But still...

"That doesn't excuse the fact that he killed people Diana, he took innocent lives."

Her eyes flare with anger, anger that is now directed at me.

"How could you understand? I loved my uncle. He knew how wretched this world could be. He could have changed all of this,  this madness!" She exclaims, waving her arms around.

"What madness? The world is better than it has been in years. There's finally peace," says Kalen, not understanding the situation.

"At what cost." She says again, turning to him. "We are segregated. Separated according to our Gifts. How is it fair that Elites get everything while Norms have to fight for what they believe in, fight for their rights? How come Elites get to have a better education, better living standards? You call that peace? And do you really think it's fair that one man, my father, rules the entire world? He controls us all!"

I grimace, recognizing my thoughts in her words. It's all true of course, the system isn't fair, but it's all that we have. Should we find an alternative? Probably, but it isn't in our hands.

"I understand," I say calmly, "but that doesn't make what he did right."

Diana huffs, crossing her arms in front of her chest and refusing to look me in the eye.

"It doesn't make what my father did right either. It doesn't make what he is doing, ruling over us like a dictator, right. And I would sooner die than become the next President, and have to rule like he does."

She grabs her purse, slings it over her shoulder, and walks off, leaving me and Kalen to stand alone in front of her mother's grave. I watch her go, feelings of remorse settling in my stomach. 

"Well that was interesting," says Kalen, rubbing his neck.

"We need to find out who's behind all of this. First, he targets Elites, now he's targeting the President's daughter. What is this guy's end goal?"

Kalen looks at me with understanding, but to my surprise he just shrugs.

"We are looking into the President, remember? Other than him we have no other leads, and it's starting to look like we're following the wrong one".

He's right of course. I was so certain that this was the President's doing, but now I'm not so sure. Why would he get so scared over a simple message, if he was the one behind it?

"We still can't rule him out," says Kalen, noticing my distress. "He may just be trying to get us off his track, confuse us."

"I hope so," I say, and Kalen arches an eyebrow, confused by my response.

"Because if it isn't the president, and something happens to his daughter, we may be staring at another war."

The thought makes my heart ache, so I tug on Karen's sleeve, steering him out of the cemetery. 

Together we catch a shuttle back to our apartment, and pause when we find the door slightly ajar. I look at Kalen, who nods, standing behind me, pressed up against the wall. I pull on my gloves, taking them out of my mission pack. I never leave without them, and I see Kalen pull out one of his knives next to me. Together we inch towards the door, listening for any sign of trouble. Everything is quiet, and I don't know if that is a good sign, or a bad one. I open the door, flinching as the hinges whine in protest, and I nearly have a heart attack when I'm tackled to the ground. I shout, trying to get out of my attacker's grasp, when I hear a familiar voice on top of me.

"Cassie let the poor girl breathe, it looks like she's about to have an aneurism."

Wait a second, Cassie? And is that Jayson? I crane my neck and find myself face to face with a wide smile, pretty green eyes and blue hair falling in front of her face.

"Cass!" I exclaim, throwing my arms around her petite frame. She giggles, hugging me back, as we roll around on the floor like kids.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, finally managing to escape my best friend's koala hug.

"The President is at meetings all day today, something about his daughter's trip. All of us get the day off!"

I laugh at her expression. I'm so relieved to see that she's okay. I hear a cough to my right and turn my head to find Jayson staring at me with a smile on his face.

"What? No hugs for me?" He asks.

I'm about to answer him with my trademark sarcasm, but I've missed him so much that I find myself powerless to those big blue puppy dog eyes. I launch myself at him, catching him by surprise, causing a chuckle to burst from his lips.

"I missed you too, you big jealous baby."

He laughs even more and hugs me back. When we separate, I spot Mara watching us from a little ways away, her smile hidden in the corner of her mouth. I wonder how long Jay and Cassie have been here, I bet Mara is more than happy to see them, especially our resident sunshine boy. Jayson is looking at her now, a look of utter adoration on his face, and I don't know how Mara could ever doubt if he liked her or not. But instead of blushing she smiles, blowing him a kiss. Well that's new, what happened while we were gone?

"So, I need to know everything that has been going on around here. Xavier isn't exactly chatty, and I haven't spoken to Anna since we left." Says Cassie, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Speaking of which, where is Ash? His computer is still set up on the kitchen table, and it isn't like him to leave his precious baby out for the world to meddle with.

"He's with Xavier, trying to contact Anna," says Jayson, reading my thoughts perfectly.

He and Kalen are standing together, shoulder to shoulder. Kalen looks happier than I've seen him in a while, ruffling his friend's hair, even though he has to stretch to do so, and my heart gives a little jump of approval.

"We can't stay for very long, but we don't have much to say. It looks like stuff will start happening soon, however," says Cassie. "Everything was pretty calm at the Mar until now, something must have happened."

"Oh something happened all right," says Mara, leaning on the counter "Bri, why don't you tell our companions here who you've had the honor of befriending?"

I chuckle, shaking my head.

"Sit down guys, you're in for a long one."