“Thank you for coming.” I said; clasping my hands in front of me as my eyessurveyed the group of people seated around the oval table. It felt strange to be addressing all these important figures, but I had learned that nothing is impossible and that I was now in a position to address them.

Not the mention the fact that they had flown all the way here to meet with me on my invitation was more than enough reason for me to feel confident.

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Nirmal smiling encouragingly at me. Taking a deep breath I mentally went over what I needed to say. You can do it Gail. I chanted to myself before speaking up.

“As most of you are aware, there had been several incidents that had happened in the last few years regarding the young POE generation being ambushed and abducted.” I began, making sure to maintain eye contact with everyone. My lesson one-o-one on public speaking was that eye contact is the key.

“Yes, we are aware.” A soft Chinese accent said to my left and I turned to face the Sue Zhou. She was in her late twenties, however looked as though she was still a teenager with flowing long hair, porcelain skin and almond shaped eyes. Dressed in a simple, beige robe she looked like a moon fairy. “But that doesn’t justify your accusations.”

“No.” I agreed with her and the doll-like woman looked surprised but pleasantly settled back into her chair. “But we were fortunate enough to identify one of their members during an attack.”

I tapped on the file in front of me to indicate everyone to open their copies and grabbed a photo out. I proceeded to turn it around, letting the photo face them. “This is Gideon Harris.” I said, my finger digging into the glossy print. “He was hiding in the Ganesh family guard under the pseudo identity of Hamish Reich and assisted in the kidnapping of the trainees occurred last spring.”

Satisfied to see everyone pouring over the information I put together with Nirmal, I allowed myself a small smile. It wasn’t easy digging up Gideon’s history, but after a lot of digging, and with the help of de Silver and Ganesh’s network we managed it.

“At first glance it appeared that his family did not have a history of POE.” I continued, pulling another photo out, one of a very normal suburban house. “But after some investigation, it was discovered that he was adopted at the age of seven. It was a private adoption and we suspect that he was placed there by the Apocalypse or an affiliated organisation.”

Flipping to another photo, one that we had found at the local council record of Gideon when he was about fourteen, I pushed it forward. “He was placed into a summer program every year, until he was discovered as a POE at the age of sixteen. The program turned out to be an empty shell, and from there we were able to trace it to a company called the The Amazing Grace.”

From the gasping around the room I knew that everyone knew exactly what the company was. “The Amazing Grace was discovered to be a terrorist group by the UGE just last year.” I said; there were news clippings in the folder to refresh their memories. “And five POEs were found amongst them and detained at the questioning centre. Four of them committed suicide as soon as they were brought in but they managed to sedate the fifth one and a telepath was able to read his mind.”

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see a few of the representatives were shifting in their seats, looking bored. I tried not to let it get to me and reminded myself that this was what the meeting was for, convincing them that there were real dangers out there and we needed to work together as a community in order to survive the coming crises. And along the way there were bound to be people who did not agree with my point of view. People who would deny the truth to avoid the inevitable, wasting precious time we need to prepare ourselves.

“It was discovered that they were a subdivision of the Apocalypse, and they were working on a grand scale plan to continue their vision to wipe the Earth clean. With Gideon’s betrayal during the training mission last year in the Himalayas and the ties to Amazing Grace, we are very certain that he was part of the Apocalypse. However the motives of the abduction are still unclear.”

“What exactly is your point?” a woman who looked to be in her forties and wearing a pearl necklace asked, and I recognised her trait mark blonde hair and green eyes similar to Mr. Andrewson.

“My point is,” I said slowly, willing my words to come across as strongly as possible. “If it wasn’t for these chance discoveries we would never know that the Apocalypse is behind everything. We cannot afford to underestimate our enemy, and the only way we can gather the information we need is too band together.”

I could see a few people sharing an uneasy look and felt my stomach twist into a nervous knot. I didn’t expect it to be easy, but I was hoping these people will see sense. I knew it was time to break out the big guns.

“Katerina Falcon had foretold about this.” I said, effectively capturing the attention of everyone in the room. “It will be the crisis that would make or break our world. It is up to us to make sure that we don’t throw away the world that was given to us by the Originals.”

“We will be behind you a hundred percent.” Nirmal stated and I gave her a grateful look. When I first contacted her I wasn’t sure what to expect; after all she tried to help us get back to the POE Academy, and the whole mission was bolstered and most of the people went missing and many had died. However instead of being resentful she was livid, not at me but at whomever that had done it. She was quick to agree to help me and made this meeting possible.

“I can see your point just fine without you throwing an Original into this.” Wolfgang Lessig said, his long fingers curling together as he stared at me with the intensity of a hunter. “What I cannot understand is why you think you are in position to address us.”

Feeling like my heart had been filled with lead I silently grit my teeth and told myself to calm down. I could see Nirmal sending me a concerned look and the watchful eyes of all the other representative zeroing in on me. Caleb had warned me that this might happen; he said not everyone will embrace you with open arms, especially someone so much younger with little experience in the same department. He spoke from experience.

“Perhaps the correct question for us would be why hasn’t anyone addressed this already?” I retorted, keeping the anger rising inside of me at bay. This wasn’t personal; he would have done it to anyone else. The corner of his mouth turned down to form a frown, Wolfgang narrowed his eyes at me. Before he had a chance to speak, which would surely be something snarky and offensive that would threw me off my game, I quickly continued.

“I had escaped the attack at Ruin 18387 and the ambush of the Ganesh family guard. I have identified an undercover member of the Apocalypse, my friends and classmates are captured by them and most have been missing for more than a year without any news. If these are not reasons enough for me to take action then I need to revaluate my morals.”

I could feel heat rushing to my cheeks as soon as I finish my sentence and immediately realised I shouldn’t have burst out like that. I could see a smile tugging on the corner of Nirmal’s mouth and even Chung seemed amused. The older representative remained impassive except for the increased frown on Wolfgang’s face.

“We appreciate your, enthusiasm; however this project should be led by someone with more experience.” Wolfgang said carefully, spitting out each word in a calculated fashion like a snake circling its prey. Unable to resist the urge I stole a glance at Lynette, who had a similar idea for the whole thing. I just found it hard to stomach this kind of selfishness when so much was at stake. To be honest if it wasn’t for Akram’s video I would have been happy to hand over this position to someone else.

“Perhaps,” I replied, placing both of my hands on the table and leaned forward, my eyes locking with his. I could feel my heart speeding up and blood rushing throw my air; my adrenaline level was running so high I could practically feel the world slowing down. “May I ask you a question, Mr. Lessig?”

Taken aback by my sudden request, Wolfgang hesitated for a second before nodding his approval. “Have you ever experienced an attack?”

“No.” Wolfgang replied, his eyes narrowed as my intentions became to dawn on him, “But that doesn’t…”

“Have you ever heard reports of an attack?” I continued and a smile flitted across his face.

“Yes.” He said, leaning back in his chair. “What is your point Miss Beckett?”

“My point is that you have never been in an attack, or react to one.” I made sure to look at every representative when I said that and was glad when I caught the approving glance from Nirmal. “In fact, none of you had attempted to address this. If I hand over the responsibility how likely it is that the whole investigation and prevention will get shelved after a failed negotiation? You need a third party, someone outside of the Legacy family, someone who have seen the attacks first hand to address this.”

The statement hung in silence for a while as everyone contemplated my words. I could see a few converted glances towards Lynette, who was obviously the odd one out here.

“What do you want us to do?” James Spencer asked, his steely blue eyes colliding into mine. I swallow the lump in my throat and tried not to be intimidated by this thirty-something. He had a reputation for being a ruthless negotiator.

“Manpower.” I stated, “We need to investigate what happened and to do that we need a lot of people.” And of course, the subsequent fight that would happen… I added in my head. The room fell into a deafening silence and I resist the urge to gulp, dreading that everyone would be able to hear it.

“What about the POE Academy?” Francesca Balikova asked. She bore very little resemblance to Mr. Anderson, but given that they didn’t even share the same surname I wasn’t surprised.

“I will be flying to Pax to talk to the UGE.” I said; and this wasn’t entirely untrue. I had been e-mailing the UGE with very little success until I threw in Katerina’s name (which seemed to be the answer to every problem), but they were still unwilling to talk unless we meet in person. Since SMS had requested us to go to Pax as well, a trip to the capital seemed inevitable. “Although I was hoping the Balikova family would have some news.”

“I wish I could offer you some fresh intelligence.” Francesca said, an empathetic expression hung on her face. “However any attempts to contact the Academy have failed.”

It’s hard to imagine how the POE Academy could have shut themselves off to the world for the past two years. Casey assured me that the school always kept an emergency supply of food and essentials, but surely it would be running out by now? Or that someone would have escaped from the place.

“Are you telling me that you flew us all this way here just to ask us to believe in your story and help look for the terrorist group that existed three hundred years ago?” James asked and Wolfgang’s face twitched next to him.

“I asked you to come here because it is time we all sit down and face the threat seriously.” I replied calmly. If he thought that petty statement was enough to get a rise out of me then he had another think coming. “And to gather intelligence; the lack of information simply pointed out to us how little we know and how much we need to do.”

Judging from Nirmal’s smile I knew I did well. All the representatives began hushed conversation with their companions or secretaries and I took the opportunity to wipe my sweaty palms on the side of my suit trousers. Adrenaline rush for a meeting was not fun.

“I shall do what I can and wait for the news on the Academy.” Francesca said, breaking the low hums. I smiled and nodded at her, knowing that she won’t fully support the cause until the situation with POE Academy had cleared up. Which whilst not ideal, wasn’t too troublesome as it was a key issue waiting to be tackle anyway.

The knot in my stomach untied itself as one by one all the families agreed to help investigate, at least to a certain degree. I had no idea whether or not they believed in me, but at least the issue would now be in their minds.

I breathed a sigh of relieved as one by one the Legacy families filtered out of the room. Spying Lynette still lingering with Francesca I abandoned my chance to network and made a beeline at her. I needed to find out where Tom was.

“Grandmother.” I plastered a fake smile on my face that I hoped look half-way genuine. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Francesca offered me a kind smile and congratulated me on the meeting, then proceeded to congratulate Lynette as though my performance was somehow her doing. Lynette did her part as the proud grandmother and I tried not to snort in disgust.

“Where is Tom?” I asked, skipping the small talk. Lynette’s smile flickered and she put a hand over her chest.

“No greeting, no thank you. Is that how you young one treat your elders nowadays?” She shook her head. I bite down on my bottom lip; this woman was testing my patience.

“The young man had left soon after his arrival at the Budapest Citybase.” Lynette said, revealing the location of the rest of my teammates from Ganesh family guard. My heart skipped a beat at how close Budapest was with Katerina’s castle, but we had missed each other by a few months anyway. “He snuck out of the Citybase during a military drill, however he had left a note behind.”

My mood immediately lifted up and I looked at Lynette expectantly. She signed, her expression resigned as though she greatly disapprove of this, which she probably was. Fishing out a small piece of folded paper from her bag she handed it to me. Surprised at how easy it was, I all but snatched the note from her.

“I hope you know what you are doing.” Lynette said, her eyes glancing around before exiting the room. Barely giving her a second thought I quickly unfolded the paper and was immediately disappointed by the lack of content.

I am sorry but I had to go. My family needs me. I will find you.

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Hey :) I am alive and still writing! A few of you thought I have fallen off the grid and given up - but that will NEVER happen. If there are people reading/commenting on my stories, I will always be encouraged to write.

The reason why I hadn't updated in a while it's because I had a ton of courseworks and societies things to deal with. I am the student newspaper's travel section editor and pretty much the only writer :S so you guys might be happy to know that I am honing my writing skills (for the grammar nazis out there, don't kill me because I upload first drafts :P)

Anyway news from Tom! Yay! Who doesn't love Tom? I am literally refraining myself from writing spoilers and it's so hard. I am considering doing a small novella about Tom's backstory at some point - would you guys be interested?

Also, another cover on the side done by the lovely @_milifeinwords_

Since there's only two entries, and I love them both equally both lovely wattpaders will be starring in Revolution ;) If you two are reading this, I will be contacting you via messages.

Anyway, again I can't promise regular updates, but know that you'll be in my heart x