Chapter 10: The Big Picture

Everyone was gathered in the kitchen. There was a celebratory mood. Hana was at the center, holding a stack of papers. Ashe was standing next to her.

All three of us simultaneously gasped: “Whaaaaaat?”

We were stunned to see Ashe! Just the day before, she had been presumed dead after the failed meeting. Meyer made his way around the room and stood right next to me. He leaned over and whispered: “She was found unconscious just outside the hotel. She doesn’t seem to be injured but she has trouble remembering anything. She had a stack of papers with her and a warning for Hana.”

But Hana didn’t seem too concerned about the warning. She was beaming triumphantly as she exclaimed: “Today we celebrate as we take one more step toward the liberation of wrongfully incarcerated children….”

“Wrongfully incarcerated children?!” I blurted out.

What is she talking about?

Hana kept talking but my brain was already gone.

She said, “wrongfully,” “incarcerated,” “children.”

It felt like I had just been completely mind fucked.

Without a glance, Meyer said to me: “Are you surprised?”

I didn’t want to hear more.

I knew exactly who she was talking about.

How could it be anyone else?

My whole life, so far, had been one lie after another.

I left the room. I needed to be alone.

I ran down the long hallway.

I ended up on the roof top. The same place where I had once spent the night with Eli.

Meyer had followed me.

“ARGHHHHHHH!” I screamed to the sky.

I kicked a half hanging shingle and watched it fall to the ground below.

“What is this place? And who the hell are these people? Nothing makes sense anymore.”

I grabbed Meyer by his collar and jerked him upward, toward me, “Who the hell is this Hana girl? What exactly does she want? Who is she fighting and for what?”

I let go of Meyer. Arno had just appeared on the rooftop. He was holding two bottles of whiskey. He sat down next to me and took a swig from one of the bottles. He then handed it to Meyer who did the same and passed it back.

“Do you know what day it is?” he asked me absentmindedly.

I wanted to punch him.

“Today is the 11th of June,” he paused.

So much anger built up. I couldn’t hold it anymore.

I took a swing at him. He didn’t duck.

Just before I connected, he said: “Happy birthday Fenn.”

It stunned me; my fist mid-air, I halted.

I fell to the ground.

I started laughing hysterically.

“I guess you didn’t know,” was all he said.

My laugh turned into full bitter tears.

Who am I?... was all I could think about.

I grabbed the bottle of whiskey from Arno’s hand. I took a big gulp. It burned my throat, but I liked the pain. It was a different kind of pain. I took another swig. The burning sensation was numbing. I could get use to that.

“The thing with Hana is that she won’t trust anyone. I don’t know what kind of life she led before I met her, but I don’t think she’s ever known happiness,” said Arno.

He was speaking slowly, carefully, without his usual exasperating glee.

“I don’t think she’s ever had anyone she could trust. Or anyone she could call family. She’s rough on the edges, that’s for sure, but I’ll bet there’s a reason. There’s always a reason. Some people are good at hiding things. That’s what she does, I think. When no one’s there to protect you, it’s best to build strong defences. And that’s just what she does.” He took another swallow.

It was Meyer’s turn to speak: “She was really angry last night. I know she made it sound like the ordeal was one big success, but anyone who was there yesterday knows it was a complete disaster. Evian didn’t show up. The coward set a trap for us. Hana was furious about it. I’m sorry she took it out on you when we got back. But in all fairness, you will have to develop that survival instinct of yours. I get it, you didn’t want to kill, but in doing so you jeopardized both Eli and Fiori.”

It wasn’t the taste I liked; it was the burn that was comforting. I took another swig from the bottle, letting the liquid slowly scorch down my oesophagus.

Happy birthday Fenn…

We all sat in silence. The darkness pressing on our souls. It was uncomfortable. It was heavy. I liked it. Every disagreeable sensation was a way out of my head. An escape from my doubts, my loneliness and my confusion. More and more I found myself seeking them.

It took a while for anyone to break the silence. It was Meyer who finally hazarded: “Did you ever consider, just maybe, that you could use your Heighten Characteristic to suck out just enough energy to knock the person out instead of killing them?”

“Does everyone know about my characteristic?” I grumbled.

“No, just those from the meeting and maybe a few more. I’m the one who broke into the orphanage data system and accessed a copy of your record. So yeah! I know a lot about you. Probably more than you even know about yourself. I know about your characteristics. I know you were also used as an assassin. I know you don’t have any recollection of the 4 people you’ve killed. Do you know why? Most likely because your memories were altered. It’s very simple actually. It’s the third Heighten Characteristic. The one I don’t have,” he said bitterly.

He continued: “They can get into your head, they can mind control you, they can alter your memory, they can play with your thoughts. It’s frightening really. The possibilities are enough to drive anyone crazy. One could be tormented and never know the source. This characteristic is the reason the government is so afraid of us.”

“But there’s no proof that this characteristic even exists!” I pointed out.

“Sure enough, but if you ask me… I know it’s out there. How else would…” He suddenly went quiet and seemed confused.

I changed the subject. “You were rescued too. How is it that you don’t have a red smudge of ink on your cheek?”

He smiled.

“Ah, yes. It’s true, I was rescued by Hana, just like you. Although my situation was a little different. My code name was EYER3141. I was living in Senex Centralis, an orphanage affiliated with Centralis University. I enjoyed quite a good life there. A sheltered life. A privileged life. We were lodged within the university compound; we had access to all the amenities. Although we were under strict surveillance, we didn’t get inked on the face.”

He lifted the hem of his shirt. Across his left ribcage, his identification number was clearly visible.

He continued: “We were given free time, three meals a day, a room, clean clothes. It was a good life. Some days, I miss it.”

He grabbed the whiskey bottle; looked at it with sadness for a moment…then put it to his mouth and took a good long drink.

“Senex Centralis was a high-tech coding center where the most gifted Aethereusians and Meliors worked together. There, we were taught hacking skills and instructed to protect sensitive governmental information. It was there too, that Arno and I met. Senex Centralis was where our adventure with Hana began.”

I had never seen Meyer this talkative. The whiskey was probably the reason.

“You must have incredible characteristics then,” I said in complete awe.

“No, no actually I don’t. My characteristics are quite average. I heal faster than most people. But that’s about it. No, this was truly a place for the naturally gifted.” There was regret in his voice.

“He doesn’t look like it, but this kid is a genius,” Arno said with sudden cheerfulness as he ruffled Meyer’s hair.

“So, are you a genius too?” I asked Arno.

“Me! Oh no! I am far from being a genius. I was merely a security guard there, in charge of keeping an eye on the Aethereusians. I can’t say I was really good at my job either. Perhaps I lacked motivation, or perhaps I was bored. But when Hana approached me, and offered me a life full of excitement, in exchange for busting Eyer out of the system, I knew I just had to jump on the opportunity.” I could hear a hint of sarcasm in his tone. “That was two years ago. That’s is when Meyer and I joined Hana.”

“Fiori was already by her side. He had been a General in the military but had some sort of a disagreement and fell out of favor. So, he deserted. He brought with him, quite a few Aethereusians who had served under his command. Ashe, Doran and Yuki for instance. How Hana and he met, I don’t know, but he quickly became her right-hand man and closest friend. It’s not hard to see why. Fiori is a great tactician, and even more of a sweet talker.”

The alcohol was definitively making Meyer chatty. It was the perfect time for me to ask the all so important question: “Then, what is Hana trying to achieve? What’s her endgame?”

Arno and Meyer both laughed.

“Her endgame?” repeated Arno. “I don’t think she’s got any.”

Meyer finished the first bottle: “I think she’s going mad.”

“So, you all just blindly follow her around? And you are ok with this?” I asked perplexed.

Meyer sat straight up and looked at me right in the eyes. He seamed woozy a little but said: “You want to know what I think? I think she’s trying to get revenge on someone. When she first busted me out of Senex Centralis, she asked me to hack into Ortus University’s system. She asked me to get her a list of names. But with limited time and resources, I couldn’t hack into the system. At least not long enough to retrieve the information she wanted. So instead, she had me hack into the system of each individual orphanage and together we sifted through all the records. It took forever. She was looking for 4 specific kids. Eli and you were two of them. Then for the next 24 months, she was completely obsessed about getting you out. Whenever I’d ask her why she needed to do this, all she would say was: because they shouldn’t be in there. They shouldn’t be in an orphanage. It was a mistake. They are not Aethereusians. But that never made sense to me. Eli and you clearly have characteristics. As a matter of fact, you both have some of the strongest characteristics I’ve ever seen.”

All three of us fell quiet again. Arno opened the second bottle. I was feeling lightheaded. Was it the overload of information, or the alcohol? According to Hana, I was a wrongfully incarcerated child. Whatever that meant. I was also a trained assassin. Half my life was altered memories. And I was a stupid coward with no self preservation instinct. What else was I? I took the bottle from Arno and started chugging it. It was burning. Burning so much. But I kept going.

Arno had to stop me. “I know it hurts,” he said. “I’m sorry I don’t have all the answers for you. It’s a twisted world we live in. I guess that’s why I took Hana’s offer. She offered me an alternative. I figured; I could give it a try. I don’t know what her endgame is, but regardless, I can tell you that she means well.”

He paused, before continuing.

“For unknown reasons, Eli and you are special to her. I watched her for 2 years move Heaven and Earth to find you. She dedicated her life to it. That dedication is enough for me to believe in her. Maybe there is no endgame. Maybe this is the endgame….”

Meyer interrupted him: “But yesterday you really scared her. I had never seen her frightened like that. When she got to the car and realized you weren’t there, the blood drained out of her face. She couldn’t even move. Fiori and Eli both dashed back to get you. Fiori shot down the helicopter while Eli recovered you. This is how important you are to her. So now I’ll be the one asking the questions…”

There was a heavy, unbearable silence.

I could tell Meyer was drunk.

I could see him trying to collect his thoughts.

Finally, he said, with a new-found clarity in his eyes: “Why is that? What makes YOU so important? Who are you?”

Of course, I had no answer for him. If only I did.

Arno was quick to change the subject: “The records Evian Li stole from Ortus University were the same documents Hana and Meyer tried to hack into 2 years ago. We got the confirmation this morning. I think things just got a little more complicated.”

Yes, indeed. All this sounded very complicated to me. A story full of holes, a woman seeking revenge with no endgame, and now a guy, trying to steal his dad’s research… and… and…. It hit me suddenly, like a slap in the face and sobered me up a little. They had tried to kidnap me! I was their target. At the meeting, they had tried to kidnap me. That’s what the guy had said on the radio. The whole thing had been a set up to kidnap me. Caught up in all the action, I had completely forgotten about it. I decided it was best not to tell Meyer and Arno about it. Or anyone, as a matter of fact, until I could figure out what the hell was happening here.

“Hey, are you having a meeting without me?”

It was Eli. She had just appeared on the roof. She crawled over to us, wiggled her way between me and Meyer and grabbed the bottle from my hand: she unscrupulously downed all that was left.

“Fun fact number one, I don’t get drunk. My body recovers too quickly to let any intoxication side effect take hold of me.” She was grinning ear to ear. But then a dark shadow came over her face. “So, what do you suppose she meant by wrongfully incarcerated children? She was talking about us, wasn’t she? I went over and asked Fiori about it, but he didn’t seem to know anything. I asked him, who else was on Hana’s rescue list… he didn’t seem to know that either. I always figured Hana told Fiori everything, but I guess that’s not the case. Ahhhh! Really, what a waste… all this time I spent giving him pretty eyes with the hopes of getting some information out of him… but then again, it was always lost on him.”

“Yeah, it would be…,” Meyer laughed. “I am pretty sure he’s more interested in…”

Eli didn’t let him finish. “Oh! Is that it? Is that the reason my charms never worked on him? Well that’s a relief. I was starting to think I was doing it all wrong.”

“You’re kidding right?” Meyer asked bewildered.

“Of course, I am! Gosh! You are so dense!”

And just like that, Eli was back to her cheerful self.