Chapter 27: In the dark.

Jasmine's POV.

"just 48 hours?" I asked incredulously "yes" "how are we going to pull it off?" Carl asked "we will, hopefully" he muttered the last word under his breath, but I heard it anyway. "in that case, I'd better go inform the council" Carl said standing up "No" Charles said sharply attracting I and Kyle's attention "why?" we asked at the same time.

"because they already know" "what do mean they already know?" that was me, in a surprised tone "the council is working with the archines" he said and I felt like dipping my hands into his mouth to bring out more words "that's impossible, we're enemies" Carl immediately got defensive. "are we?" he asked eyes darting between us.

Then continued "the story we were made to believe is that a small group of arites arose and formed a rebellious association, that they called archines. But what we were not told is that that rebellious group was stirred up by the head of the council's wife, that is, Mr. Chen's wife" Charles said calmly.

"lies, that's a lie, what we were told is that it was stirred up by a woman by the name Mrs. C, which is..." Carl said but was interrupted by Charles "which is Mrs. Camilla Chen, a South American that was one of the first kind of arites that do not possess lines on their faces. She didn't stir up a rebellious group, she was supported by a group of arites who saved her from the terror Chen and the council put her through because she was different" He continued.

"so if Condolisa is such an angel, why does she want to kill us all?" I asked "well, I haven't been entirely forthcoming with you guys, there are no bombs planted beneath us, I said that to catch your attention. I and the guys came here to discuss the plans with the council, I'm sorry" He avoided my eyes and stared at the floor "you lied to us?" I glared at him "it's not really a lie, the archines are in trouble, Santiago is working with the council to plan an attack on the archines, and like I said, we have about 48 hours left before they blow up our headquarters".

Charles explained scratching his head "you're such a joke, so now the council members are the bad guys?" Carl snorted "look, I know this seems unexpected but it's the truth, the council members are not who you think they are" Charles said looking around as if sensing danger "and you know all this because? you know what I think? I think that giving you a listening ear was a big mistake" Carl spat.

"well, since you don't believe me, you'll have your answer soon when the council barges in. They've been keeping tabs on the both of you because they suspected something like this would happen. I'm sorry you're going to have to learn the truth the hard way" Charles said, and the next second, Chen, Rosa and two other council members barged in along with Carla, who pointed to us and spat out "there, there they are".

The three of us looked up sharply, we didn't get to enjoy our surprise though when two of the guards that followed the 5 of them captured Charles' two arms, bending him over and punching his gut in the process "no! let him go" I approached him, only to be stopped by another guy who dragged me back "what are you going to do to him?" my voice was small "simple, what we do to betrayers" Chen's eyes has lost it's usual calmness and is now cold and icy.

"I would admit that I'm disappointed in you Carl, I loved you like mine, but it's a shame people would always be people " Chen said his choice of words not corresponding with his facial expression. "yeah, just like you loved your wife, am I right? you sure have a special way of treating people you claim to love". Carl glared at Chen for the first time since I've gotten here, and I think Chen was a bit surprised too "take them away" Chen muttered softly turning away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

They put us in the same dark cell and I was finally able to get little sleep after crying my eyes out. Much to Carl's annoyance though, because he totally ignored me. I'd finally started dreaming of rainbows and stars when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I first thought it was Carl and muttered coldly "burn in muspellhem Carl" when a female voice spoke "wake up brat, we need to get out of here" I jolted to a sitting position, squinting my eyes in the darkness to make out the figure.

I looked around, the room was a bit illuminated by (you guessed right) the lines surrounding I and Carl's faces. Carl was already up, eyes closed like he was trying to meditate when he spoke suddenly "there are two guards protecting the entrance, four patrolling the hall, three on the South leading to the back gate and five leading to the main entrance. I sense a slight vibration, so I guess there are roughly three amingers around the area for additional security." his eyes snapped open and he breathed deeply.

I raised an eyebrow at him and he just shrugged "one of the perks of being a bringer of knowledge" and I rolled my eyes. "we need to go" she whispered and I saw her fidget a little before carefully stepping out of the cell.

Karen's POV.

"I'm sorry Jasmine, but we had to keep you in the dark all along" I said approaching her, then stepping back when I saw her move away. "we don't hate you, we never hated you. All we did was to protect you" Lawrence added. She looked around, as if noting every face in the room, and when her eyes locked on Emily's, she asked in a shaky voice, pointing "did you know about her?"

I and Lawrence exchanged glances before I replied "yes, we knew about her, in fact we planted there" .