Chapter 26.

“Im gonna tell you something you don't want to hear

Im gonna show you where its dark, but have no fear…” Nighcall - Kavinsky

March, 2137

Eveline

Eylisha had been right in her choice to find a new chaperone for me and my mom.

She was punctual and on Monday she arrived early and waited as they greeted her downstairs and I was the first one called to meet her, a super nice girl and was excited to work with us, so I briefed her on the itinerary of the week with the preparations for the ball and our official schedule appointments and she listed it very haughty in doing everything.

Eylisha already knew her and the two work exceptionally well together and Adela even being a little shy managed to interact with the new employee and with Nolan's help she was managing to loosen up more and, to everyone's delight, they were dating.

Finally my little push had paid off.

Annabeth had been upset that she hadn't been able to talk to my mom yet, but I promise I'll try to get the two of them together soon and so today I was chasing my mom through the palace corridors after a meeting about the final repercussions of the latest adjustments made by me last month.

Incredible as it seemed the rebels obtained missing the map which was somewhat strange and as measures settling well without any hindrance which provided my annoyed father and the other members of the council beaming. Scott was so happy he couldn't stand it and hugged me in front of the photographers at one of the press conferences we held this week about the prom and the repercussions of the adjustments.

Everything felt calm and good, and it was making me nervous, it was too good to be true.

Not counting the behavior of Roman who seemed more nervous and worried with each passing day and I just couldn't tell why, I even thought about asking but he was assigned to patrols in the city which I found weird since I asked there was that he was always with me, and when I asked Scott he was surprised too since he wasn't the one who gave the order.

I even dared to question my father and to my surprise he also knew nothing and was absolutely confused by the situation and after investigating Kesley we discovered the completely purposeful recovery playmaker.

My dear fiancé.

That made me extremely angry and nervous. Kesley was very embarrassed but I said it was okay, my dad didn't mess with it and my mom was busy with my brother making the final adjustments in the ballroom which made me drop this little misunderstanding of the side per hour.

But Nathan didn't miss waiting for my payback.

Today was Wednesday and keeping my promise I needed to introduce my mom to Annabeth, so I was going up to the second floor to talk to her, and when I walked into the hallway I didn't see anyone present and no guards and I assumed maybe she wasn't there, but when I approached her office I heard the sound of footsteps and stopped in silence in the hallway completely frozen.

When I looked at my leather wristwatch I realized it was almost dinner time and everyone meant to be downstairs, including the guards, one or the other must be making the rounds upstairs so whoever was in her room doing it who knows what is not meant to be here.

I edged a little closer to the half-open door and practically held my breath just to hear the conversation clear.

“Do you know why I didn't take the job, how could I? And she's better at it than I am…” I recognized in so much shock that it’s my brother's voice and frowned, who was he talking to? It was hard to tell since he wasn't using video calling.

The room fell silent as he listened to the person on the other end of the line of what I assumed was the tabletop Cerberum and I waited as I poked at the dark nail polish on my freshly manicured nails and sighed looking around and noticing that the cameras were pointed to the ground which I found more strange than anything.

What the actually fuck is going on here?

"You can't do that, it's crazy... No, she didn't agree with that... I won't authorize something of this caliber and neither will she, and if you want to resolve this impasse, talk to her, it was a pleasure! Fuck that shit!" I heard him grumbling and slamming the phone angrily and cursing whoever it was.

Who would they be and why couldn't he take my place? It was something I always asked myself.

I decided to think about it later and I had a stupid idea and I looked around and saw a small alcove at the end of the corridor and taking advantage of the fact that none of the corridors were very light I walked there and leaned against the wall and waited to hear his footsteps leaving the corridor.

As I waited, I spied on for a few moments and prayed that none of the night patrol would pass by.

My brother stays there for a little while but after some minutes I heard him open and close the door and I peeked a bit to see him coming down the hall and a few minutes later I heard his footsteps on the main staircase, but I waited a few more minutes and when I was sure I came out of my hiding place and walked to the I cautiously looked at the door of my mother's office and looked down the hallway where Jordan had disappeared and when I didn't see anyone I went to the door and forced the handle.

It luckily was open so I just had the job of walking in and closing the door quietly behind me and using the moonlight outside to reach her desk and grab the Cerberum to look at.

This model had a panel and a device that we put in the ear to accept a call and I did just that, but I pressed the unknown number in the history and waited while I heard the call and looked at a door.

The number called for a few seconds and when a call was accepted I thought I could talk but the person on the other end was faster.

"Have you changed your mind, Jojo and are you going to accept a proposal from The Crow?" The voice asked while laughing, a male voice with a weird accent and I froze, that was the northern accent. What the hell was my brother doing?

As I didn't answer I heard a rustle on the other end and the line was soon dead, I ended the call and when I dialed the number again it was said to be non-existent and definitely the situation was getting weirder.

I stop for a few minutes trying to reason with the information I have and automatically my date with the scar girl comes to mind and all that talk about believing me and supporting me makes my body tingle with amazement and anger.

Were my brother and mother colluding with a possible enemy behind my back and my father's back? I hated that my dad made and made his completely clueless decisions and wanted to take my place on the throne so he could no longer boss me around and control my decisions with the help of my idiot fiance, and I trusted my mom and brother would support me in this but by the carriage ride the two were also manipulating me, for what reason? A nice, kind face to rule the people while they pulled strings behind the scenes trying to be friendly? This was getting more and more unpalatable and disgusting.

I feel sick.

I was being manipulated again and it left me completely groundless because of how little they thought of me, because they thought I was too silly to not see through their lies, I could still be wrong and they deserve the benefit of doubt but it was getting crazier and more difficult to follow, so deciding to end the theater I needed first to understand who "they" were and who was the "crow" my brother will talk to is there was only one person who could help me right after Nick.

Roman.

I would go after him even though I have to flee after dinner into town and maybe I would take advantage of the Mustang still parked behind the greenhouse for that.

But beyond a shadow of a doubt I needed to locate him and soon, but first I needed to face dinner without arousing suspicion for myself and a conversation I had just overheard, so end a call and cleared my calls from the list and went to the door and I stopped to listen to the surroundings, when I didn't hear anything I opened the door and stuck my head out and watched the cameras and they were still down so I sneaked out and closed the door and walked towards the main staircase.

I didn't see anyone and I watched the cameras from that part of the hallway and only the one filming the stairs was pointed straight ahead so I'm sure they'd assume I left the council room, passed my room and then went down to dinner.

Something weird but it came in handy.

So I smiled faintly as I made my way downstairs and realized there was no guard around the entire perimeter and more than ever I felt I should redouble my care and put into practice what Nick teached me on our little trip last year and also look over my shoulder more if I didn't want to pay with my life from then on.

And definitely the siege was closing in and it wasn't going to lead anywhere good, and I still had faith that we would make it through.

But when I think about this now I realize that it’s a huge mistake of mine, the siege will be worse than ever and I will be lost in the middle of the mess and I almost will fall apart with them.