Revolution (Book 3 of POE Chronicles)

Chapter 2 News

“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.