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“Maybe you have to learn to enhance the fire? Be able to control it?” I offered. “You could talk to Chancellor Collins about it,” I suggested, wanting to gauge his reaction.

Jaxon glanced at me, cocking one eyebrow. “You trust Collins?” He asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug. “This place, everything, it’s still pretty new to us.” I glanced at Joshua.

“I think he has his own agenda,” Joshua remarked. “No one has been incredibly forthcoming about the recruits, why you chose to volunteer, given the risk of it all.”

Jaxon smiled. “You really aren’t from one of the five cities, are you?”

I opened my mouth unsure what to say. “I don’t know,” came out, but it sounded lame. I glanced back seeing Maya enter the cafeteria.

“Jaxon you’re up next,” Maya called, gesturing for him to come with her.

“Good luck.” I waved, briefly wondering and desperately hoping that all our questions and curiosity wouldn’t get us both into trouble. Jaxon was off to see the Chancellor – that worried me.

Joshua and I would be next.

CHAPTER 25

Joshua and I were the last two in the cafeteria as the other recruits had all been called to see the Chancellor. Sitting had only made me more anxious, wondering what was taking so long and why no one had come back to the compound yet.

“Jacqueline, you’re next.” Maya gestured for me to come with her. See you in a bit. I smiled faintly towards Joshua, hoping it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as I feared. I followed Maya out of the building and walked with her outside. “We’re going to Chancellor Collins office,” she explained.

“Maya?” I asked as we slowly approached the building. “Is it possible to acquire all the talents from the procedure that each recruit has?” Maya glanced at me curiously. “Some of the recruits have been talking,” I didn’t want it to be known that Joshua and I had figured out our ability.

Maya laughed softly. “Don’t rush things, Jacqueline. They’ll come in their own time.” I wondered if she knew we were supposed to be capable of reading minds. “Come along.” She opened the door, leading me up to a room decorated to feel comfortable. “Have a seat. Chancellor Collins will be with you shortly.”

I took a seat on the couch, noticing it looked more like a small living room then an office. There were two chairs and a sofa along with an end table and desk. No signs of technology or anything sterile like the last procedure. I felt a little more reassured.

I relaxed into the sofa, staring up at the ceiling when the Chancellor swung the door open, stepping into the room. “Jacqueline.” He nodded, walking over to sit in the chair across from me. “Congratulations on making it this far.”

“Didn’t really know I had a choice,” I muttered, crossing my arms defensively. “What am I doing here? Planning to pick my brain?” I asked curiously. I wasn’t thrilled with being alone in the Chancellor’s presence. At least with Joshua, I felt as though we had some level of protection, even if it was a false sense of security.

“The second stage of your testing begins now,” he told me. “Unlike most recruits, you and Adam are an interesting combination. We don’t have files on you, on your town or really on anything you’ve told us. Except for this,” he shifted in his seat and reached out to a small side table, opening the drawer. Chancellor Collins pulled out the familiar journal that was my fathers, smuggled out of Genesis. “I found this in your backpack, Jacqueline.”

“I–” I had nothing to say. Admitting it was mine would bring on more questions. Denying I knew about the journal was an obvious lie and would probably get me killed.

“Take your time,” the Chancellor gave me a smug look. “I’ve read through the entire thing already. Have you, dear?”

“Don’t call me that,” I hissed. I reached out to snatch the book from his fingers and surprisingly he let me have it. I clung to it as curiosity only further grew on his face.

“Now, why would you, Jacqueline, want anything to do with a journal written by Gavin Parker?”

I stalled, unsure what to say. How could I explain the value and importance of what I held in my possession without giving away the truth of who I was? “I read parts of it as well,” I spoke up. “I know what the journal means – if it’s true and they had a daughter then, the government ruling today would fall apart with the knowledge held right here.” I held the book up showing my point. “I didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands,” I answered proudly.

“Is that so?” He stared at me curiously. “How is it that book from inside the city made its way to Haven?”

“Someone in the rebel alliance must have smuggled it out.” I reasoned.

Chancellor Collins stared at me hard. “Is that so? Rumors are aplenty that a girl and boy, both eighteen escaped in the tunnels, the daughter of the Parkers. In fact, I hear the daughter, Olivia,” he stared hard at me, “escaped from prison and the government has been looking for her ever since.”

I wondered how he’d gained that information from a town with no obvious sign of communication to the outside world. “Well, there you go!” I proclaimed. “She must have smuggled the book out.” I really hoped this wasn’t going to end badly for Joshua and myself. Right now, though, I didn’t feel entirely confident in the tale I was telling.

“Right, of course she did.” The Chancellor nodded slowly, watching my every move. “Then how and when exactly did you come across the journal?”

“I met her,” I breathed staring at him, refusing to let my gaze falter. “I was to show her our home, Haven. Then the soldiers came and they destroyed our town because they were looking for her.” I tried to sound disgusted at what we’d done, that I was ashamed to have known her. “Adam and I managed to escape while our home was being invaded by the government and destroyed. She wasn’t but a few feet from me when I witnessed her death.” A part of me had, knowing I could never admit my identity, certainly not to people I couldn’t trust.

“And you managed to snag her father’s journal before escaping?” He eyed me skeptically.

I nodded weakly. “Yes. I found it in the bag I grabbed on the way out of town. We put the map Adam recovered in there and took off. We didn’t examine everything inside the bag until we were on the road. Besides who’s to say it’s even true?” Trying to make nothing of it, I offered a warm smile. “Suppose it’s a story?”

“An awfully big story to tell, Jacqueline.” The way he said my name made me shiver. Chancellor Collins stood up, pacing the length of the room. “You do know I hate being lied to?”

“I’m not lying!” It was easier to believe the lie than to confess the truth. It wasn’t as though we had done anything wrong. Was being born a crime? It certainly was according to Governor Craynor. He’d thrown me in jail for it!

Collins smiled. “Of course you’re not lying.” He didn’t believe me. “Adam’s survival and acceptance depends on you. You will not say another word,” he instructed me as he opened the door and Joshua was led in. “Adam,” he gestured for Joshua to come into the room. “Have a seat.”

Joshua took a seat on the sofa beside me. Chancellor Collins watched every move each of us made closely. “You’re girl here has told me everything.” The Chancellor glared at me, a silent reminder that if I spoke, I had the potential of destroying Joshua’s life.

Joshua glanced at me. “Told you what?” He asked confused.

I refused to look at him. I had to make this convincing, that I wasn’t speaking to him. If there was any chance that he could read our minds, we had to be extra careful. I haven’t told him anything more than he already knows.