12. Chloe

And so the mission begins, Lucas thought. He had two objectives for the day.

The first is to find the Secretary General’s daughter. The second is to get in contact with his handler – Cale. But the former wasn’t too difficult. There was only a single path leading to the landing pad.

So, he only had to hide.

It didn’t take long for two girls to walk past him, merrily chatting with each other, unaware of his presence behind a tree. There she is. Aoife Manners. And looks like she’s with Fia Manners. A second year, thought Lucas.

He inhaled deeply and thought of ways he could approach. How would someone, close to unlocking their soul core, feel at the prospect of joining the lucky 0.01% of the population? Excited? Pensive?

Apparently, it depends, but according to the Director, the most common surface emotion is a balance between excitement, anxiety, and confusion. But aside from that, all the instruction he got from the Director was: Just act naturally. You’re not infiltrating a cartel here. It’s not that hard. Or something like that, whatever that bastard meant.

So, he donned his most confused expression when he made contact with the two girls.

For some reason, Fia glared at him with her silver eyes.

She’s suspicious. She’s protecting her. She must be aware of the dangers, Lucas thought, but he chose not to react and pretended to fumble his phone instead, keeping up the act.

After Aoife helped him out, he thanked her. “Thank you,” he said before looking at Fia. “And sorry to jump on you guys like that. I’m Lucas, by the way, Lucas Hale. I just really thought I went to the wrong address.”

“Oh! I was actually wondering about the same thing. But Fia’s not telling me anything,” said Aoife with a laugh. “Right! I’m Aoife by the way. This is Fia!”

Lucas smiled. “Nice to meet you guys! And, seeing as… there’s lots of confused students here too. We should be on the right place, right?” He still didn’t understand why they had to be flown to the Academy from here. The Consortium does this every year for its new students across all five academies.

The explanation is simply that the landing pad is the most accessible location to most. But also, at least according to Mrs. Livia, crisis fosters a stronger connection between students. So, while inconvenient, it has become a tradition.

If you can even call collective confusion a crisis. Tradition my ass, Lucas thought, before shifting his gaze back to the duo. But what should I tell them next? Make small talk? How do you even do that?

“Why don’t you join us, Lucas? But God! My feet are getting tired,” said Aoife.

“Same… but they’re all occupied,” said Lucas with a sigh.

He noticed many of the benches had people on them. And it looked like many of the students had also already formed their own groups.

“Oh, look at that,” said Fia, pointing at a girl sitting on a bench alone scrolling through her phone. “I think she’s alone. We should join her.”

“I think she’s alone,” Aoife mimicked her voice back. “Yeah, I totally see someone with her.”

“Shush!” Fia elbowed Aoife.

It was odd even to Lucas. The girl occupied a bench alone. He would have expected other students to have already joined her. But he figured he’d find out why not too long now.

Aoife asked with a booming voice. “Mind if we join you, Miss?!”

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Aoife. You’re scaring her!” said Fia.

Startled, the girl looked up with widened eyes. She had bright, silver eyes. The eyes of an Awakened.

This must be the reason why. Is she a Prime? Nah. That can’t be, thought Lucas. If she were a Prime, people would flock to her. Not to mention there’s no way a Prime would be here.

He also felt as if he had been here before. A deja vu.

But his string of thoughts were broken when the silver-eyed girl responded.

“Ah, yes, of course you can!” the girl said with a smile before scooting over. Her smile lingered on Lucas a bit longer than the others.

Lucas smiled back, of course, but he immediately shifted his gaze away, gulping as he pretended to check his phone. What’s wrong with you, Lucas.

Fia and Aoife sat with the girl, while Lucas chose to stand up. There was no space.

The group then introduced themselves. You know how it goes.

“Nice to meet you too guys! I’m Chloe. Chloe Auclair.”

They talked more about themselves. Where they came from, and if they were excited and stuff. The usual. “How about you, Lucas?” asked Aoife as she tossed him a wrapped gum.

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She seemed oblivious to the glares of some students in the distance. And Lucas, with his Awakened ears, could hear them. And judging by the subdued frown on Fia’s face, she must be doing the same thing.

“So, that’s Aoife and Fia Manners,” a student with a dark combed-back hair stared at them. The son of a public figure – Niall Locksmith. A Bloodline Legacy of the Locksmith Family.

According to Mrs. Livia, Niall’s father is a member of the federal cabinet. The Presidential Palace's Chief of Staff.

Niall was with two other students, and Lucas was familiar with the sight. They’re lackeys. Lackey A and Lackey B.

“Ha. She’s just hiding behind that Fia bitch,” said Lackey A.

“What should we do about them?” Lackey B said.

“Nothing. I was just curious,” Niall said before shifting his gaze away.

Lucas unwrapped his gum. “Thanks. And oh, you mean where I come from? Originally from St. John until two years ago. Then I moved to Marianne,” he said. He didn’t lie. Marianne is where the SPECTRA headquarters is located.

Also, he had no reason to lie about his background. After all, SPECTRA already kept his information classified anyway. And he wouldn’t expect students to dig his information.

He didn’t need to lie, he just needed to omit things.

“St. John… isn’t that,” Aoife stammered. It’s like she wanted to say something, but she prevented herself from doing so.

Fia replied to her. “The Dominion that fell two years ago, right?”

Chloe affirmed. “Yeah. I was also from St. John,” she said.

The four grew quiet.

If people were looking at them, they might mistake that the group were just enjoying the peace, listening to the birds that descended on the ground before them, chirping their songs.

Aoife broke the silence. “It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Why this is happening to us. What did we ever do–– to deserve all the death around us,” she said with a gentle voice. When Lucas glanced over, she was petting a small bird on her palm. “And will it ever end? Will I be still alive when it ends?”

“Even if I don’t see it in my lifetime,” started Chloe, staring into the lake with wistful eyes. “I do believe it will someday end.”

Aoife smiled. “I guess we all just have to keep on fighting,” she said with a laugh. “By the way! I don’t mean to pry, but your eyes. I just can’t resist myself but ask. Are you a Prime?”

Sheepishly, Chloe shook her head. “No. I’ve had these since I was a child. But my soul core only materialized when I turned 15 some months ago.”

And cue… silence. Aoife didn’t seem to know what to say.

Fia asked with furrowed brows, “Wait, really?”

“I know… doctors said it’s just another mystery of the aether.”

Fia very slowly nodded. “I see…”

As they talked, Lucas thought: Interesting. That could only mean one thing. She…

Their attention was immediately drawn to the sky at the approach of three dropships. The ride is here.

***

The students lined up in three, waiting for their turn to go in. Lucas and Chloe were assigned on the same line, while Fia went home and Aoife was assigned on another queue.

They all promised to get in touch later on for some coffee.

It’s been a few minutes already but Lucas was already bored. The queue moved pretty slowly as the Academy staff verified the identities of everyone – manually.

“Hey Lucas?” Chloe asked.

“Just call me Cass. And what’s up?”

“You said you were originally from St. John, right?”

Why is she asking that? Lucas tilted his head in thought. “Yep! You are too, right?”

Chloe smiled. “Yeah. And it’s just… you remind me of someone.”

“Oh?”

Chloe lowered her voice to nigh a whisper. “When the Ashen attacked St. John. There was an Awakened who saved me. I was surprised, because I didn’t know there were kids around my age who were Awakened. I didn’t know about Primes at that time,” said Chloe as she narrowed her eyes to the ground.

Lucas frowned, his mind running at such a high speed as he tried to recall the past. Now that I think about it, she does look familiar.

“And I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you for saving my life,” whispered Chloe as she looked up once more, meeting his eyes.

Time might as well have stopped when he met her eyes.

He didn’t know how to respond, or how to feel. But with that look in her eyes, he knew what it was. Maybe he was just being delusional, but it was as if she had been looking forward to this moment, as crazy as that sounds.

Her eyes were filled with sheer gratitude and relief, and he felt compelled to respond. To acknowledge her words, at least. But he thought he didn’t deserve it.

He felt… strange. But why? Why must his heart feel so heavy?

But of course, he remembered now. That girl, he thought. How could he forget? Sure, he did initially rescue the girl and those kids, but he ultimately left them in that house to fend for themselves.

There was still a high chance that they would have died. A chance that they would not have made it out.

Guilt. He felt guilt. He shouldn’t have left them.

So he didn’t know what to tell her. Nothing came to mind. What was he supposed to say? How is he supposed to answer?

To apologize? Just say ‘I’m sorry I left you to die?’

He looked away from her. “I remember… But I should have gone with you. I’m so––”

“Stop,” Chloe shook her head, and Lucas never imagined how a soft-spoken girl like her could look at him with such a fierce, cold glare. “I’m not that pathetic that I needed to be coddled at that time,” she said, and that glare immediately disappeared when she smiled. “We all survived.”

At that, for some reason, Lucas couldn’t help but smile back.

She looked at him for a while. Then she lowered her voice back to a whisper. “It was more than enough, Lucas,” she said. “For me, I’m thanking you because you gave me the opportunity to survive. An opportunity denied to others who may have deserved it better than I.”

Lucas pursed his lips, averting his gaze to the ground. Those words didn’t make him feel any better.

Shadow covered his face, and he realized Chloe reached out toward his face with both her hands, as if seeking his permission.

He felt like he did not have the right to refuse whatever it was she intended, no matter the discomfort he felt when others touched him.

Perhaps he hoped for punishment, no matter how unlikely that may be. A slap on the face would be nice.

But she just gently pinched both his cheek. “Smile,” she said. “I don’t know why a Prime would be enrolling in an Awakened academy. But if you’re going to pretend to be a student. You’ve got to at least pretend you’re confused, excited, or nervous.”

Lucas scoffed but lifted the corner of his lips. “Like that?”

“Like that. And maybe it’s just me. But you’re being too… observant,” she laughed and withdrew her hands.

“Observant?”

“Suspicious. Like you’re always looking for something. Always looking around,” she said. “But besides that, I’m glad you’re doing well. Have you found Micah, by the way?”

Lucas nodded his head. “But I was too late.”

Chloe’s eyes softened as she held his wrist, gripping it lightly. “I’m sorry…”

“No. Seriously. It’s fine,” he laughed as he shook his head. “It is what it is.”

But Chloe did not laugh. "...Don't say that."

Lucas frowned. He shouldn’t have said that, but he didn’t know how to really respond.

He was saved from the sudden uncomfortable atmosphere when the student on the queue before him nudged him to move along. He didn’t notice the line already moved. “Oh, sorry uh…”

Lucas’ eyes widened at the extraordinarily tall student. About 6’0 feet and a few inches more, with equally long black hair that almost reached his knee.

The student was also the only one to wear the signature gold-trimmed, black monk robe of the Mexurians.

The robe looked similar to the hanfu worn in the Empire of Asari in the east.

“Cale?"