Page 18 of Reverie
He says this so dispassionately it takes me a moment to register what he’s just said in the midst of my rage.
“Winter’s parents were in a car accident,” I say.
“A car accident orchestrated by the players in The Legion who didn’t want her mother to become a senator. They’d tried to get her to fall in line, but she was an idealist. And she knew too much.” Misha shrugs again. “It was easier to get rid of her rather than hack the election systems. Plus, the ‘hanging chad’ thingfrom Florida during the 2000 presidential election made them antsy. In any event, that idealism got her killed.”
I hum in response, and the muscles on my forehead feel tense with how hard I’m frowning.
“What exactly is your role in all this?” This comes from Leo.
Misha grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I’m the one in charge here.”
Amelia tenses, and I spare her a glance at the slight movement of her body. When my eyes land on her, I catch her staring at me.
I don’t give in to the urge to stare back.
Snapping my eyes back to Misha, I say, “So youarethe one who made the call that no one would intervene with Winter’s abduction.”
Silence falls upon the room as I bring the topic back to what matters the most tome.
After a moment of uncomfortable stillness, Misha releases a tired sigh. “I’m sorry for what Winter has gone through. I never want to see anyone get hurt. It’s unfortunate. However, the mission is more important than any one individual. To save everyone—everyone being the world—there will be sacrifices.”
I stare at him, and I know that if I could kill him with my glare, he’d be dead on the spot.
But when my mother looks down at the table, rubbing the glossy oak surface, I decide to close my eyes and turn away instead.
Misha leans on his armrest with one hand cradling his chin. Glancing at the tall man he spoke to earlier, the subordinate hands me and Leo a teched-out tablet.
“Let’s not waste any more time and get you up to speed,” Misha says. He shifts his gaze to Amelia, who squares her shoulders as she pushes away from the table. She walks to the screen on the wall opposite our chairs.
An organizational flowchart appears before us.
“As you now know, we are called The Resistance. We are the counter group to The Legion, which is a secret society that came about in the decades between the First and Second World Wars.”
“Clever name,” I say in reference to The Resistance’s title, putting my head on my fist as I lean on the armrest. Leo coughs and straightens in his seat.
“The Avengerswas already taken, unfortunately,” Max pipes up. Everyone looks at him for a moment before returning to Amelia.
She continues.
“The Legion’s core mission is to unify the globe under one rule. They feel it to be a divine mission and that they are ordained by God.”
Amelia flips through the images of several recognizable figures, and I wrack my brain to place them, searching through my memories of world history.
“Their core tenet is that man was created in the image of God, and therefore, anyone who is or looks ‘other’ is an abomination. ‘The Undesirables’ aren’t human. At best, they’re seen as chattel.”
She flips through more pictures, and they become more current and recognizable.
“The Legion started with a few notable members—oligarchs from the East, former royalty who saw their kingdoms demolished, and, of course, American moguls who wanted globalization. They’ve always operated underground, but even in the shadows, their power grew. Their leader is called The Architect.”
She shows pictures of several public figures I recognize and a few royals from well-known monarchies.
“They’ve amplified their mission: to bring Earth under one central rule and rid the world of those they deem less-than. Which brings us to their work over the last forty years.”
She flips the screen to show more of the images that Misha revealed in his office hours ago.
I force myself to keep my gaze on the pictures.
“The Legion began to experiment with genetic manipulation right after World War II. There was a mass of labs run by the Nazis and other parties that just ‘disappeared.’ Except they didn’t. Those research facilities were taken over by Legion scientists. Their goal was to ensure they could maintain the birthrates of ‘pure-bloods’ in the face of what they viewed as a takeover by The Undesirables.”