Melina:
I knocked on Silas’ office door a week after the last member of our team had been introduced- Arji.. I couldn’t avoid it anymore, the one thing that kept bothering me. “Come in,” Silas’ deep voice called. I pushed my way into the office. Silas gave me a slight smile. “What can I do for you Miss Melina?” Silas asked. I forced myself to take a deep breath.
“Everyone here was… chosen for a reason. Right?” I clarified. Silas nodded.
“Yes, that’s correct. Everyone has a connection, per se, to this mission,” Silas agreed.
“Why me?” I forced out. Silas frowned.
“What do you mean ‘why you’?” Silas questioned slowly.
“What’s my connection?” I whispered. Silas sat back in his chair, staring at me. Then he shook his head in wonder. “You don’t know, do you?” He said more to himself than to me.
“Don’t know what?” I replied. Silas stood.
“Melina. You are the most crucial part of this entire operation. We are counting on you to get us to Queen Bess. Melina, Queen Bess is your mother,”
Jinx:
I frowned, glancing over my shoulder at the door, once again, looking for Melina. “Jinx, are you okay?” Arji asked me, with a raised eyebrow.
“Mel’s not here. She’s usually up early,” I replied, turning back to face Arji, whose eyebrows had shot even higher. “Oh. Are you guys… uh friends?” Arji said lightly.
“She’s my best friend. Well, first friend really. We were the first two to arrive here,” I answered. “Uh huh,” came Arji’s reply. More minutes ticked by. Worry gnawed at my stomach. Then, finally, Silas and Mel walked into the dining room together. Mel stumbled slightly behind Silas looking… shocked. I pushed away from the table and fell into step beside her. “Mel? Are you okay? What happened?” I grilled her. She blinked as if she was barely registering my words. “Uh yeah I’m fine,” She mumbled, tugging on a few loose strands of her chocolate brown hair. I narrowed my eyes at her, but didn’t say a thing as I sat back down at the table. “What’s wrong with her?” Arji whispered. I lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “She won’t tell me,” I muttered. Arji didn’t say anything for a minute, but then, completely changing the topic, asked, “So what’s your connection to this mission anyways?”
I sat up, memories coming back to me of that little green box and the mysterious customer- who turned out to be Silas.
June
There is not a single day where I don’t think about the computer. Or Charlie. I sighed, I missed Charlie. I picked at my food, thinking about the computer. It shouldn’t be possible. A magical typewriter granted wishes. Silas had informed me that the computer was Queen Bess’s, and that it had been in the Aplin family line for ages. The question was how in the world did it end up with Charlie, then me? I pursed my lips, thinking hard. I didn’t buy it. I didn’t think the computer could be my only connection, if it were Silas would have chosen Charlie- the first person to discover it. I sighed sitting back in my chair, dropping my fork onto the table. Wylie glanced over at me. “Charlie or the computer? My guess is both,” He murmured. I smiled, Wylie and I had arrived here at the same time (a little over three weeks ago). He’d quickly become my best friend and knew me almost better than I knew myself. “You’d be correct. Both,” I admitted. Wylie shifted closer.
“Wanna talk about it?” He asked, careful not to be pushy.
“I think I have another connection,” I said after a minute. Wylie frowned.
“What do you mean, the computer is a huge connection to this mission,” Wylie pointed out. “Well yeah, but if the only connection is the computer why wouldn’t Silas have picked Charlie, the first one to discover it?” I countered. Wylie was silent for a moment, thinking it over. I smiled to myself, I loved that about him, how he always took me seriously. “That makes sense,” Wylie finally agreed.
“Do you think it’s the fact that I’m a… wish?” I asked in a small voice. Wylie shook his head.
“June, I- I don’t even know if I believe that your a wish. I mean, couldn’t you have been dropped off by someone to make it look like Charlie’s ‘wish’ had come true?” He murmured slowly. I hadn’t thought about that. I looked away, nonverbally telling Wylie that I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He respected that, going back to his food. I smiled again in the short time I’d known Wylie we’d become such good friends. My smile widened wondering, not for the first time, if we were headed towards something bigger than friendship.
Wylie:
I slid my gaze around the table, looking at all of the people I was supposed to trust with my life. I lowered my head. I knew what was happening, we were divided. Melina and Jinx, Rosaline and Arji, June and me. It wasn’t a coincidence that it was boy -girl pairs. Romance took our minds off the scarier things we’re going to face. My gaze went to June, not that I minded that fact. The fact I minded was that we were divided. We needed to be a team. All in this together. We- Silas stood, interrupting my train of thought. “Everyone, I know that you are all wondering about this mission and its details. I have spoken privately with you all and have chosen a leader for this mission. They will guide you in the details of this mission,” Silas hesitated.
“Before I announce who your leader will be I feel as if I need to remind you- you are all a team. You must work together using all of your strengths in order to make this mission of success,” Silas looked at each of us as he said this, but his gaze lingered on me. You know this. Bring them together. His eyes read. I gave a slight nod. “And without further ado, Melina will lead you in this mission. I’m sure you’ve all been wondering about her connection to this mission. Melina Aplin is the daughter of Queen Bess, she is essential to this mission and I trust that you all will follow her lead,” And with that he turned and strode out of the dining room.
Rosaline:
Complete silence followed. No one said anything. I looked over at Arji- who’d recently become my boyfriend. (Yes I know the irony that he was trying to kill me, but he didn’t know!) Melina cleared her throat “Um, I haven’t been keeping my um… heritage a secret from you. I found out myself just this morning,” Melina gulped slightly and Jinx snagged her hand in his. “We’re each here for a reason and together we can do this. But Silas is right. We have to work together,” Melina continued, a smidge of confidence leaking into her voice. I smiled and nodded along. “Tomorrow Silas is going to outline the plan for this mission,” Melina lowered her head then murmured.
“And also, we need a name,”
No one spoke for a moment then Arji clapped “Here, here,” He agreed, grinning. Soon everyone was nodding. “And I agree on the name thing,” June called out. Everyone quieted again. I furrowed my brow, thinking hard. What was something that described what we were trying to do? Arji shrugged. “I’m stumped,” he admitted. June and Wylie mumbled in agreement. “Aftermath,” Jinx whispered.
Arji:
We all gathered in Silas’ office the next morning, the evening before we’d decided that ‘Aftermath’ would be our team name. “As you all know we have a big mission- restoring the peace in Malaik. After Queen Bess’s losses she turned- with lack of better term- evil. We need to stop it. I’m hoping to do this through persuading Bess to see reason but if it cannot be done we might have to… kill her,” Silas glanced at Melina, but to her credit she didn’t even flinch. “Everyone here has their own strengths that will be used. Jinx is going to break us into the palace. June you’re going to distract the guards being your normal charismatic self,” June grinned when he said this.
“Wylie you’re not going into the field,” Silas tossed a look to him. Wylie sighed in relief.
“I need you to find everything out you can about Skyler Aplin, the long lost heir. If she’s still alive we might be able to unseat Bess without any violence,”
Wylie frowned, “But… we know she’s dead. She has a grave,”
Silas shook his head. When we found out about that grave I sent people to check it out- the grave was empty,” Silas told him. Wylie sucked in a breath and said nothing more.
“Melina, you are going to be one talking to Queen Bess. Arji you know how to fight better than anyone else here you’re going to escort Melina to the Queen. Rosaline, your survival skills are amazing thanks to your years on the run. If anything goes wrong during this mission you do everything possible to maintain everyone’s cover and if that’s not possible get them out of there,” Silas looked at each of us.
“Does everyone understand?” He asked. Everyone nodded.
“We have three weeks to prepare, Melina will lead you in the rest,” Silas started to dismiss us, but I cut in. “Wait, why are we doing this? Why are you asking a bunch of kids to do this mission?” I asked.
“Because most of you I can’t do this without. Melina is Bess’s only child and I suspect Mel is the only one Bess will listen to- for example. Besides I’m wanted for capture and kids are less noticeable they can sneak in almost anywhere,”
And with that he closed the meeting leaving the fate of the biggest kingdom on Earth to a bunch of teenagers.
TO BE CONTINUED…