Page 17 of Reverie
HUNTER
I’m in what Hollywood depicts as a “war room.”
Before we arrived here, a dark-skinned woman who could only be five feet tall stopped us. She carried a bundle of clothes in her arms, and she passed them to Misha with a strange sense of reverence. Dismissing her, he tossed the clothes at me and pointed to a closed door.
“You and your woman will sleep here. Get cleaned up. You have fifteen minutes,” he said.
I didn’t waste time checking out the room. I just took a quick but thorough shower, scrubbing long enough to get the caked blood off my hands.
When he knocked exactly fifteen minutes later, I met him at the door.
My mission is to figure out what the hell is going on, and then I will make the best decision for my family.
Control. Knowledge will allow me to regain control of…everything.
Dark paneling lines the walls and ceiling of the massive conference room—likely to soundproof the space—and there’s a long table that easily sits thirty people in the center of the room.On the far wall is a digital world map and several clocks showing the time in various parts of the world. On the other side of the room, a row of computers lines the wall, and Max sits at one of the stations.
Max too? Jesus.
Misha stands at the control center, where he speaks with a thin man who is probably in his fifties. I hover a few feet from the entrance for nearly a full minute while Luna beelines for Max.
Everyone wears all black.
Luna leaves the computer station and motions for me to sit at the massive table. Just as I lower myself into a seat, a hush falls over the room, and everyone turns in unison toward the entrance I just came through.
There stands my mother.
Where she was soft-spoken, wearing her heart on her sleeve, at the time of our confrontation an hour ago, now she’s aloof. Cold.
Her eyes scan the room, and several people sit up straighter...but just as many people avoid looking at her altogether.
Leo walks in and sits next to me.
“You okay, H?” he asks under his breath. I get a flash of other times when he’s asked me the same question. When I’ve been in over my head. Leo’s always been there to save me…but I feel like this time, that’s not an option.
I inhale slowly, trying to calm myself.
When Luna walks over and closes the heavy door, silence descends among the room’s occupants. Misha takes a seat at the head of the table, and Luna moves to sit to his left. My…Amelia takes a seat on his right.
Leo and I position ourselves on the opposite side of the table, facing the hundred-inch television situated near Misha and Luna.
“First things,” Misha says. “Leo, Hunter, I’m glad you’ve decided to join us. For years, we’ve been searching for an in with The Legion, and I know with you two here, we can end this.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Don’t be so quick to thank us. We haven’t decided anything yet. Not without more information.”
Max taps on his keyboard with a rapid cadence for a few beats before slamming his finger on a key and then spinning in his chair. Regardless of the mass murder at Amelia Manor, Max isstillsmiling.
I return my gaze to Misha.
“In my book, the first thing is this: Why did none of you intervene in Winter’s abduction?”
Misha and I are in a stare-off, and it isn’t until Luna shifts in her seat that Misha decides to speak.
“I thought we were past this, Hunter?—”
“We’llneverbe past this.I’llnever be past this,” I press. Heat radiates from my sternum as I stare Misha down. Silent. He and I are silent, as is the rest of the room.
Misha is the one to break the stand-off. “Winter’s abduction was a horrible byproduct of everything happening currently. But she also was a person of interest to us because of her parents. The Legion had her mother killed.”