Two Tribes, page 25
part #1 of Young Atlanteans Series
* * *
Xavier’s brain was buzzing with spin-off ideas all the while he walked. Some legal, some not, but all put through the shop. The meeting with their father would be a simple mental implant. By the end of the week, Dr Henry would remember it as a business meeting that went extremely well and all misgivings would be squashed.
JJ was brooding and split off quickly to make a call, which was a relief, because he spotted Paige walking quickly towards him. ‘Hey!’ he said, smiling and kissing her on the cheek. Then he frowned at how flustered she looked. ‘What’s the matter?’ He was used to her carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, but this seemed different.
Paige shook her head, hopelessly. ‘Nothing. I just got in so much trouble over Friday night. Jade’s mum phoned my mum and blew my cover and now she’s on the warpath.’
‘What about the nanny interviews, didn’t they soften her up?’
She looked at him then as if he had no clue about anything at all, which stung a little. ‘Well, no, actually. She wants to see you. She’s not comfortable with it.’ Then she seemed to soften and reached out to touch his hair and the side of his face. ‘It was a lovely, generous idea, but I just don’t think it’s going to work.’
Xavier pulled her into his body, then kissed her shamelessly on the lips. Several wolf whistles came from passers-by. He steered her away from the onlookers, behind the cover of a wall, and cupped her face gently with his hand. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll come after school and see if I can talk her round … Oh, and I want you to get your geeky science club friends together.’
‘Why?’ she said, her face lighting up immediately.
‘I have a proposition for you for some clinical trials.’
* * *
JJ wanted to speak to one of his father’s tech team about an idea of his own. Now he’d seen how serious Xavier was he needed to immerse himself in something too, and tuck shops and crèches were not going to generate the kind of money they needed. For them to be free of their father, they had to make enough money to fund themselves and make the school independent, without making parents pay fees. Parents had to know they were onto a good thing to accept the takeover. They had to hold the power and not the Department for Education and certainly not his fathers’ council. They had to have complete autonomy and for that they needed to separate from his father’s purse strings with a high level of technical know-how. Possibly to rival Silicon Valley. Neither of them was voicing it yet, but in short, they had to rule.
A couple of phone calls and he’d set up a video call with someone who could help him do just that after school. Then, putting his phone back in his pocket, he turned back for the building and spotted Latitia sitting all on her own on a bench. A stab of pain twisted his gut. He’d never seen her so lost and alone. This was the back-end part of the school, where the generators, cleaning and storage areas were. No place for her to be, not like this. Her hair was flat and her face pale and bare. Her eyes were cast down as if her thoughts were miles away. He couldn’t leave her like this, so he carefully approached, calling out, ‘Latitia,’ quietly, so he didn’t startle her.
She looked up at him, bleary-eyed.
‘Budge up,’ he said, forcing her to shuffle along the bench as he sat down with her. He inwardly flinched as she touched her head in obvious pain. He shouldn’t be there. His presence would play havoc with her troubled mind. Intense emotion would threaten to expose the memories buried deep inside her psyche like a raw nerve. ‘What are you doing all the way out here. First period has started,’ he said, trying to distract her.
‘Has it?’ she said, looking utterly confused. ‘You’re Alexia’s brother, aren’t you?’ She was now squinting with the pain from the light.
He nodded, his brain racing; hating himself for his treatment of her. He wasn’t sure if he could keep this up. It was cruel. ‘What’s wrong?’ he said, closing his eyes, despising himself. He’d entered many minds and he’d learned neural pathways, thinking of it as a game as a child. He’d toyed with mental switches to learn what they did, like preferences on a computer. Most of the time it had been to get his own way, to get served alcohol by weak-minded humans, or let off homework, but he’d never conducted a complete sweep of someone so close, who had such deep feelings for him. He felt ashamed. It was foolhardy at best and, looking at her now, it was downright dangerous.
‘Oh nothing,’ she said, listlessly. ‘Just tired, you know? And I keep forgetting things, like why am I here?’ she said laughing and holding out her hands. ‘I feel so silly.’ She frowned as if she only just realized how much. ‘I’m like an old person,’ she said with a nervous laugh.
JJ smiled at her, wanting to kiss away all the badness and worry, but he knew if he did, the shock of her memory would come back and possibly kill her. However, she was on a roll and determined to talk.
‘Like I walk into a room and forget why I’m there. I’m looking for something and I don’t know what it is. I’m late for school because I keep going round and round in the flat looking for it, but I don’t know what it is.’
JJ felt terrible. She was looking for him and didn’t even know it. Someone would think she was losing her mind. He had to get away from her to think. ‘Why don’t you go home? I can tell the office for you.’
She stood up and shook her head. ‘No, it’s better to be here. I have to find it.’ She got hold of his jacket and began to shake him. ‘Can you help me? Can you help me look?’ Her pupils looked wild and dilated.
His pulse began hammering in panic; he had to do something. He looked around him frantically and saw a group of girls that had congregated to smoke. ‘They’re in your class, aren’t they? Go with them. I’ll help you later, after school. I promise.’
She looked where he was pointing, muddled and confused. Luckily, one of them spotted her, waved and called out, ‘Latitia, come here.’ It did the trick and she wandered slowly in their direction.
JJ shot behind a wall before she could see him go. He peered around to watch her and she continued to turn and look for where he’d been. He closed his eyes, despising himself and swore. He couldn’t leave her like that. Those girls had witnessed their chemistry for weeks. Any comments would only add to her current confusion and he didn’t want to get into any more damage limitation with friends. That could get really complicated. No, he had to admit he was in over his head and get professional advice.
He went out of sight to where the large council dumpsters and bicycle sheds were kept. Only the stoners hung around here. He took out his phone and tapped the best person he could think of and prayed they were currently out of the water. There were a few options. His Uncles Vionne and Darres had the strongest mental abilities, being from the part of the Borge family that lived permanently under water. They had the purest DNA; no vocal cords and communicated totally with their minds. The mess he’d made of Latitia would be a simple fix for them, but they weren’t so easy to call long distance over the phone. His Aunt Isla, married to Darres, was his best bet.
She picked up after three rings and he finally breathed, not realizing he’d been holding it.
‘Good morning, nephew,’ she said in her usual soft voice. ‘You caught me. I was just returning to Murrtaine.’
He could picture that so easily. Her on the edge of the fountain, in his father’s beautiful hideaway retreat of Filfla, just off the island of Malta. His chest hurt with longing to be there.
‘Is everything OK?’ Isla asked, when he hadn’t spoken for a beat.
Then it all came out. ‘I’ve done something really stupid. I panicked.’ He laid out the whole sorry story for her. How much he realized he must have liked Latitia to reveal who he was, but that she hadn’t reacted well, which had made him hide her memory of him instead of scrubbing it and how he longed to go back in time and handle it differently, but he couldn’t. ‘She couldn’t accept me,’ he said, almost choking up.
Isla listened to it all in her quiet, understated way. ‘I just don’t know what to do, Isla, to put it right.’ He slid down a wall to sit on his haunches when a caretaker walked by.
Isla sighed. ‘You know, the deeper feelings go, the harder and more unpleasant it is for the subject when you take them,’ she scolded.
JJ did know that, but all he’d wanted to do was to take the look of horror from Latitia’s face. He couldn’t feel any more wretched than he did right then. ‘What can I do?’ he said in misery.
‘You say you hid them rather than take them completely, JJ? Because what you’ve done is dangerous and a grave violation. They aren’t yours to take.’
He was pulling at the roots of his hair, his face burning red as the strain of it all wracked his body. ‘Yes, they’re hidden,’ he said, quickly, before his emotion came out in a tidal wave and a single sob escaped him. He guessed, deep down, he’d hoped he wouldn’t need to hide them for ever.
She remained quiet, letting him get a hold on his emotions. She was a gentle soul but with a core of steel. His father had always said never to let her gentleness fool you. She was the most ruthless of all his mother’s sisters. He’d told him she’d once been a government assassin. It blew his mind when he thought of the gentle, unassuming woman. ‘Then you have only two choices. You must restore her memories and live with the consequences or get out of her life completely. Only then will the damage be limited and she be able to heal.’
It was the answer he already knew. He guessed he hoped she would say something different because both options seemed impossible to him. ‘Or what will happen?’ he asked, closing his eyes, dreading the answer.
‘Latitia’s mind will crack and split with the strain. If you continue to stay in her life, the strongest memories will break through, possibly causing lasting damage and she will hate you for what you’ve done.’
It was what he expected her to say. He nodded, emotionally exhausted. ‘Thank you, Isla.’
‘I have to tell you, I’m disappointed in you, JJ. That you would treat a human girl so poorly.’
He closed his eyes and nodded again. She was right. He knew what he had to do. ‘Bye, Isla.’
‘One more thing, JJ.’
He waited.
‘If you choose to restore her, and she doesn’t handle it well and it threatens the race, she will be brought in for conditioning.’
JJ understood. It rarely happened. Most humans had no idea of their existence. And those that did were in the highest levels of government and the absolute last thing they wanted was knowledge of an alien race getting out into the general population. So it suited them to keep their secret. Atlanteans mostly kept separate. In this situation her mind would be wiped, professionally, and he would never see her again. But that just wasn’t an option here, without going to his father, and ultimately the king, admitting the whole sorry mess and his failure. So if relocation wasn’t an option and if Latitita couldn’t keep a secret, then there was nothing left to do but silence her once and for all.
He didn’t know what terrified him more: that the result would be permanent, or that it would be done in a lab by a Murr. Either scenario scared the life out of him.
‘I love you, JJ,’ his aunt said. ‘I know you’ll do the right thing.’
He ended the call with a heavy heart, but grateful that she’d given it to him straight. He knew she would keep his confidence and be there if he needed her. He got up slowly with lead feet and walked back into the main building, churning it over in his now aching head. Latitia on one side and what he and Xavier were trying to achieve on the other. Wasn’t it to decide who would be king? Which one of them had it in them? Who was the one with the strongest will? Right then, it felt like Xavier was winning hands down.
He remembered his second father, Dante, the current king. How the Fates had favoured him and yet he never followed the rules. He’d had the gumption to follow his own beliefs, despite how crazy they sometimes seemed. In the end he overcame all the obstacles, all his enemies and gained the love and respect of his people.
He could do that. He could totally do that.
With every step in the direction of the school office, he became stronger with renewed purpose. He couldn’t restore Latitia’s memories and he couldn’t leave. So still preoccupied with his revelation, he spoke to the school secretary and removed himself from all of Latitia’s classes. Today she’d be left with a slight headache, but it was done and he prayed it was enough. Now he must see to it that he and Latitia never crossed paths.
CHAPTER 28
Alexia went from class to class, often sitting alone or with someone she never usually spoke to. The subjects went over her head, the teachers’ voices a constant drone. There was no sign of her brothers. They weren’t at school and the flat seemed like a quiet and lonely place, which was ridiculous considering it was always full of people. Her one ally, Latitia, was a changed person and had refused to get up that morning and didn’t even care if she was late for school. She was normally so alive and bubbly. And Dwayne, the one that hurt the most of all, had left for school early. He was no longer interested in her and barely spoke, and if he did all he could talk about was DJing and beating Trick, Trick’s music and more bloody Trick. Then, at lunch, she even recklessly dropped hints of memories that only pertained to her, like the time they went to the noodle bar, and got no reaction at all. She guessed Xavier’s mind wipe had been more effective than JJ’s, probably because he’d just added suggestion and trigger associations, rather than wiping at all. Judging by how quickly Dwayne tried to get out of her presence, he’d just linked her with something unpleasant. She’d kill Xavier when she found out what that was.
Even in Chemistry, when they were forced to be lab partners, he sat as far away on the bench as possible to her. ‘I don’t see you at all these days,’ she whispered, almost crying.
‘Busy, you know,’ Dwayne said, not even able to look at her.
It was always the same excuse, over and over. She was sick of it. ‘Don’t you miss doing stuff together? Remember the school party?’ It had been the best night of her life and been the last night they’d spent any real time together.
She soon wished she’d never mentioned it. His face clouded and he began to look angry. ‘Yeah, well, I have to concentrate on my career if I want to get somewhere. No offence, but I can’t waste my time on girls who want to know where I am every second of the day. You need to live a little.’
Aaaand there it was. Clingy? How dare he. The axe blow to her heart shrivelled it down to fury and she narrowed her eyes. ‘Offence taken.’ She had to remind herself she was talking to Xavier through Dwayne’s lips. It was clear he’d filled Dwayne’s head with ideas of stardom and beating Trick to be king-pin and that she was the thing holding him back. It was clever as it allowed her to be around him. It didn’t affect Dwayne badly, it only served to compound his repulsion of her. She never thought she’d say it, but he’d been a whole lot cleverer than JJ in that regard. JJ and Latitia were in tatters and so were she and Dwayne. Only Xavier was free to swan about without a care in the world. She had to hand it to him.
The school day finally limped to an end and she loitered at the school gate for Latitia. Kids burst out of every doorway from every direction in their rush to get out of school. Some huddled in lively groups of chatter and others cut a purposeful path through the hordes to an after-school appointment or simply for the gate to get home. Wherever they were heading they all shared one thing: a place to be.
She spotted Latitia walking towards her, oblivious to the lively conversation her friends were having around her. Dwayne bashed out of the doors just behind her, his long strides catching up with her quickly. He said something to her, then Richie joined him and together they went out through the gate, neither bothering to acknowledge Alexia. To compound the kick in the teeth, one of Latitia’s friends remarked, ‘Your brothers are so fit, Latitia.’
‘Yeah … and talented,’ said another.
Alexia couldn’t bring herself to say anything at all and simply walked in step with Latitia and her friends as they passed her for the short walk home. The only good thing was that Latitia seemed a little better – at least she began chatting with the other girls. ‘I heard your brothers and Trick are playing at the same club now,’ one of her friends said.
‘Yeah, at that Rhythm and Booze place,’ said another.
Alexia’s ears pricked up. Everyone knew, which meant everyone would go. Latitia replied with a shrug, ‘It’s all they do at the moment.’
Alexia watched with an empty feeling of detachment as they linked arms with Latitia in front of her, until, one by one, they all peeled off, to go to their separate homes.
They’d dwindled down to just the two of them and were almost home when Alexia spotted the same executive car that had taken them home from the club the other night. It was by her building with the engine running. Her heart sped up; more from anticipation than fear, which, even to her, seemed foolish. A stalker was hardly something to get excited about. Or was that a sign of how sad her life had become?
She decided to ignore it and went to turn with Latitia down the pathway to her block. Then, not sure what made her, she changed her mind and stopped dead. ‘I’ll be up in a minute.’
Latitia just shrugged and quickened her pace towards their building. Alexia watched her go in, sadly. She hadn’t even noticed the car or was even curious to find out where she was going. She had changed so much.
Alexia sighed and turned back and retraced her steps towards the car. All the while telling herself that she was losing her mind. The nearer she got, the more scared she became. Her blood was tingling in her veins and her hackles were rising – and not in a good way. It felt like she was being lured by something she couldn’t resist and yet a little voice on her shoulder was warning her to run. It was the sixth sense you got when you knew something was lying in wait.
Alexia hoped it was just the driver when she saw his bright smile through the half-opened window. However her heart hammered when he got out and opened the back door for her to get in. ‘We’ve been waiting. I have someone who wants to meet you.’
