The Man In The Midnight Blue Suit

Chapter Eighteen

The next morning I wake alone. I don't bother going for my usual morning run. Instead, I shower and dress, only meeting Jonathan at breakfast. I grin at him, fresh from last night's revelation. He smiles back. We eat in silence. As much as I am brimming with questions, I can't say anything. It is too much of a risk for us to not be careful. So I stay quiet, eat my breakfast, and fill the silence with thoughts of what's to come.

A week passes before something changes. I train three times, long and brutal. My abilities are honed with each session. I can control the power within my mind with a practised focus, a skill both beautiful and lethal. The danger of what I can do is never far from my conscious. But I control it. As long as I control it, it will never be dangerous. At least not to people who matter. I can't help but notice that Lucian is more pressured, more hurried. He is testing me, noting the extent of my abilities more than before. The end game is in sight.

The change comes when I find another of Lucian's cards patiently waiting for me. There will be no training for me today. Written in his trademark midnight blue ink, is a vague direction: The Study. There are no other details, only a destination. I'm not surprised – Lucian has never been one to give away more than essential information – if that. I take a shaky breath. I can only hope that I will finally find out why I'm here.

I step out of my room to find Jonathan waiting. He flashes a card at me, identical to mine. Still, no words pass between us. We are too wound up in our thoughts to talk.

Together, we walk down the corridor of identical doors. Remembering how dizzying I found them when I first came here, it seems odd that now I know this place like the back of my hand. Being stuck in this mansion for so many months has imprinted it in the back of my brain like an irreversible stamp. We turn another corner, and the midnight blue door is only meters away. My heart begins to thump. I haven't been back there since I first met Lucian, when I had broken in. It seems to me now that, perhaps, finding the real truth was part of another test for me. A qualifying round. He just never expected me to go so far as to break past the midnight blue door. Back then, I had no idea what was coming. I still don't.

We pause outside the door before entering. Jonathan rakes his hand through his dirty blonde hair, only a shade darker than mine. I place a comforting hand on his shoulder and reach forward to turn the doorknob.

Inside the study, Lucian waits for us, his stance like one of a practised performer, onstage before the lights come up. We stand expectantly by the doorway. Contrary to a man all too aware of his power, he doesn't acknowledge us at first. He stands by the window, looking out over the immaculate gardens. Leisurely, he turns to face us. He looks us up and down as if inspecting our appearance. Finally, he motions for us to sit. We do, our backs straightened and eyes alert.

It is now that I notice that the Shag Book, that exaggerated, brainwashing storybook, is not on Lucian's desk. I drag my eyes over the bookshelves, but its thick spine is nowhere to be seen.

"Dedication is important," He says, addressing us at last, "It can make or break a person's success. When you begin what we've been working towards, I hope you'll remember this, Casey."

I swallow, taking a quick glance at Jonathan. He sits tensely, uncomfortable on the blue couch.

"You have learnt. You know how powerful you could be, how powerful you already are. You are the perfect candidate, the one to represent me."

I'm quick to hide the fear bubbling in my stomach. Represent him? Lucian?

"You're wondering what the purpose of all this is. It's written over your faces." Lucian pauses to adjust a dark covered book sitting slightly askew in the shelf. He draws out the action, relishing the power of holding back answers we are so desperate to have.