Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) (27 page)

Innocence lost. The taste of youth blighted before its time.

“
Y
ou
are mine
,
”
he whispered as he straightened.
“
At New Babylon, you will kill yourself, little one. And that will
not
be a part of my duty.

“
It will be my greatest masterpiec
e.
”

****

Later, Myleene summoned everyone to the house library. It was the first time I
’
d ever ventured in there. The place was immense. Built on three floors with no ceilings and only the exposed rafters of the roof high above gave an impression of great size
.
Each floor had a balcony running around it, made safe by a glass barrier. I spent the first five minutes gawping at endless rows of books until my neck ached and my eyes hurt.

“
I wanted to show you this place,
”
Myleene raised her hands for attention.
“
In the hope that you will see it is a gift.
”
she paused.
“
It will be a sanctuary for some of you. A haven, I hope. Everyone here, and everyone who has ever helped Aegis, is always welcome.
”

I watched as Myleene perched herself on the edge of a table and started smoothing down her skirt. I was still elated with my breakthrough, worried about Johnny’s reaction, but trying to dampen the emotion.

“
Our ancient Library was attacked, as you know,
”
she said.
“
Eliza and Hugo helped our house guard fight off
the attack,”
she paused.
“
They were led by the Destroyer called Loki, who, Kinkade reports, is ranked first under Gorgoroth.
”

We all listened. I got the impression Myleene was skirting around something.

“
And speaking of Kinkade
. Our friendly demon has
come up with a shortlist of actresses he wants to vacation
inside.
And when I say
‘
shortlist
‘
, I mean it. There
’
s a choice of three.
”

“
Don
’
t tell me, dear,
”
Ceriden scrunched his face in thought.
“
Nicole
.
Evangeline
. And Cameron.
”

“
I
’
d pick Cameron,
”
Ken smiled.
“
She
’
s
frisky!
”

“Couldn’t be Angelina,”
Ceriden murmured. “She’s already taken.”

Someone, I think it was Mai said,
“
Give us a break here. Myleene, stop stalling. What
’
s going on?
”

I don
’
t know how many of us were stood waiting in that room, but Myleene, I
’
m sure, eyeballed every
one of us.

“
It has been decided,
”
she said
.
“
By various leaders around the world
…
that hu
manity should be made aware of the existence of
Ubers.
”

I stared. Shock, clear and palpable and laced with anxiety, descended over the room. I wondered if I
‘
d heard correctly.

“
What?
”

“
My God,
”
I heard Johnny
Trevochet
say.
“
I only just found out myself, you guys.
Don
’
t you realise how hard it
will
hit
’
em?
It
’
ll
be like
breaking into the President’s Thanksgiving speech and saying:
hey, the Mayor of New
York
’
s an
alien. Just thought everyone should know.
”

“
Dude,
”
Ken shook his head and let out a guffaw.
“
That
’
s some line, dude. I mean, you should know.
Is
he?”

“
It will cause outrage,
”
Ceriden told us with uncharacteristic
restrain
t
.
“
And mass hysteria. There will be attempts at genocide. Vigilante groups will emerge. Humanity will finally discover that it is not, in fact, master of the universe, and that it no longer resides at the top of the food chain. Moreover,
it is a part of it.
”

“
Why?
”
Trevochet
persisted and banged his fist on the arm of his wheelchair.
“
Why risk this now?
” I saw Natalie lean over and try to soothe him.

“Because of
Miami,
”
Myleene said
.
“This
New Babylon
event.
What will happen in Miami is unstoppable. Imagine the panic if Gorgoroth
’
s summoning is when the people of this world learn
other species exist
. Imagine the chaos then,
Mr.
Trevochet
.
”

“
World leaders and people of influence have known for generations,
”
Ceriden said.
“
Those few who previously wanted to
unmask us were
…
dissuaded. And all are agreed. In a few days
we go public.
”

I pondered the word
dissuaded
and
saw new conspiracy theories cropping up everywhere. Was Kennedy
dissuaded?
Reagan? John Lennon? Thinking back to my own recent astonishment I imagined a world in disbelief, then in denial, and finally in turmoil.

But then, as if we didn
’
t have enough to take in, Geoffrey Giles came running into the library, looking horror-stricken.

“
That bloody Destroyer,
”
he cried.
“
Jondal. He
‘
s gone! Vanished!
”

Myleene gaped.
“
What? How-
”

Giles said,
“
Somebody
freed him
.
”

Felicia stood up instantly.
“
Who
isn
’
t
in this room?
”

I got it. Whoever wasn
’
t in the room was the traitor.

“
Lucy!
”
I
shouted, jumping to my feet so fast the blood rushed to my head.

“
She
’
s fine,
”
Giles waved a hand at me.
“
We checked the house. No casualties.
”

“How long has he been gone?
”
I asked.

“
About twenty minutes,
”
Giles wiped sweat from his temples.

Belinda pulled a face.
“
Not good, Gilesy old boy, we
’
ve been in this room about ten.
”

I
realized
she was right. My eyes flicked unbidden towards Lysette. Maybe it was time to let the girl from Monaco sift through our innermost thoughts.

“
This can
’
t go on,
”
Myleene said in a strained voice.
“
Aegis is
not
this incompetent.
”

I stayed quiet, and raised my eyebrows at Belinda. I
realized
I
hand
’
t even had a chance to talk to her since she left to pick up the
Trevochet
’
s.

I banged my head hard against my seat back

Why was life always dealing us the Death card?

3
9

YORK, ENGLAND

When the meeting broke Belinda made her way over to me, and stood so close my nostrils were filled with the heavy smell of leather. Her t-shirt read: ‘
I’ll be even naughtier if you give me chocolate.’

“
Hey.
”

“
How
’
s it going?
”

I grinned at the effervescent sparkle in her eyes. This was the real Belinda. Thank God Ashka
’
s drugs
hand
’
t hurt her too much.

“
Been better,
”
I said, thinking of Lucy. “And, hey, am I not good enough to warrant a sweet nickname anymore?”

“
Saving the best ones for later.
”

“
Later,
”
I widened my eyes.
Maybe that t-shirt offered a clue. “Would you like a
Twix?
Or, wow, what would a King Size
Mars bar get me? What was it you said before? Something about James Bond
…”

Belinda stepped forward
, now
so close that I had to open my knees.
“
How
’
s this?
”

I swallowed hard. “Not bad, actually.” I
’
d never known anyone so forward. My own confidence had taken a hit when Raychel left and had
laid
low ever since. But Belinda had confidence for two, well
fifty
actually. I guessed that knowing her would be like riding a roller coaster- fun and adrenalin-fuelled, an endless series of highs with not many lows, and with the added spice that somewhere along the way a track or two might be missing.

“
That
…
that
’
s fine,
”
I croaked.

“
Logan?
”
a voice interrupted us.

Lysette appeared behind Belinda, a faint smile on her flawless face.

“
Hi.
”

“
I
’
m sorry to interrupt, but I really need to talk to you, Logan,
”
Lysette said to me.

I rolled my eyes at her.
“
Can
’
t it wait?
”

“
Yes,
”
Belinda breathed.
“
After all, he
’
s not going anywhere.
”

“
Sorry, Belinda, but no it can
’
t wait,
”
Lysette persisted, keeping her face neutral.
“
Logan. It
’
s about Lucy.
”

A shadow fell over my heart.
“
Lucy?
”

Belinda moved backwards without saying another word. I opened my mouth to say something but she shook he
r head. She made a noise of
frustration and le
ft the room, leaving me
red-faced and bothered.

“
Sorry,
”
Lysette took the seat beside me.
“
Looks like you and Leathercrotch are hitting it off.
”

“
Leathercrotch?
”

“Everyone gets
a nickname.
It helps me
remember who they are.
”

“
I see. I‘m not even gonna ask.
”