A TIME TO TELL
Steve walked down the street after making sure
Raquel was inside. He had seen the organization spy behind the
bushes, that's why he insisted on walking her home. Apparently Yuri
was on to him. Steve knew that the CIA had a double crosser in their
misted, but he couldn't be sure whom, and without evidence, no one
would believe him. The CIA had been expecting Yuri to make his move
this year; the prophecy had said it would happen the year Raquel's
memories of her life started to come on rapidly. At this time either
Yuri or the CIA would have to make their move, having Raquel on
either side would tip the balance of good and evil. Steve actually
started to pity her, which he had never done before. He believed you
could control tour own destiny, but in Raquel's case or rather
Anistasia's case, it wasn't true. He wondered how she'd react when
she found out she wasn't Raquel Antonuchi, that she was actually
Anistasia Moore. Most girls would break down, but from what Steve had
witnesses over that past several months, she was as almost as strong
as Gaia. He thought of how Gaia would soon have to explain to Jake
that Raquel was fearless, that she was fearless. Then he thought for
the hundredth time that day how he had to be the one to break the
news to Raquel. Would she ever speak to him again? He didn't think he
could bear it if she didn't. Steve turned when he saw slight movement
in the bush behind him- it was just a squirrel. God he hated this
town, Suddenly all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, he
turned around again, but there was no one and nothing there. He
finally got to his safe house about a mile away from where Raquel
lived and trudged up the steps of the old abandoned place. After he
had gotten the files on Raquel from the CIA he went upstairs to the
bedroom of the safe house.
He nearly dropped the files when he
saw who was in his room. "What the hell are you doing here?"
he asked incredulously. Raquel just smiled. "Are you going to
answer my question?" he asked about a minute later, they had
been staring at each other. " I think I should be the one asking
you that," she answered with a smirk. "Huh?" Steve was
completely confused. Raquel sighed "I've been coming here
since I was six, see I really don't fit in with my family... with
anyone around here. I used to jog around here when I felt extremely
pissed off or like I was sick of this place, I found this place and
I've been coming here for years, I haven't really been able to get
here since august though." "Ok..." Steve said "but
it's three floors up! And what about the alarms!" Steve was
getting frantic, if Raquel had gotten in this quietly and easily,
than Yuri's spies definitely could. Raquel pulled a little device out
of here pocket, one Steve recognized from the CIA, a circuitry
detector. A device that could take out any alarm system, no matter
how complex it was. "Well that explains why the alarms didn't go
on when you got in but how did you climb up here?" Raquel simply
smiled "I'm super girl" she replied sarcastically. YOU
DON"T KNOW HOW CLOSE YOU ARE TO THE TRUTH Steve thought to
himself. He held out his hand for the device, "where did u get
this thing? And how did u figure out how to use it?" Raquel
shrugged "I found it in my parents room, and I just knew how to
use it right away it's not that hard." Steve just stared at her
it took most agents YEARS to learn how to use this thing. Steve sat
down on the bed suddenly realizing that this was the time, he had to
tell her who she was, and what she had to do, and he had to break his
own heart. She trusted him, he could see it in her eyes, and she
wouldn't have just told him all that if she didn't. Now he was going
to destroy that trust. The trust thing was a huge deal for Raquel; he
knew the only other person she really trusted was mike. Raquel
automatically picked up on his mood. "Hey" she said sitting
down on the bed next to him "what's wrong?" she really
actually looked concerned. Steve turned to her and took her hands in
his, he noticed that she looked down but didn't pull away, it just
made this all the harder. " I have to tell you something," he
said stalling for time "ok" her brown eyes looked huge in
the dim light. "You... I... ok... there's this seriously
evil guy named Yuri." he started "Yuri petrova?"
Raquel asked looking shocked. "How did you know" Steve
asked, "Wait- you mean he's real? Oh my god I thought he was
made up!" Raquel said, " I don't know how you know about
him, but he's very real... and he's after you." Steve stated
looking her straight in the eye. "Explain please... I don't
understand this." she pleaded with him. "Okay... okay. If
you know of Yuri maybe you know of Gaia? Tom? Katia? Loki? Oliver?"
he was shocked when she nodded and said "I know of them all... I
know almost everything about them all." "Ok good, I don't
know how you know all this already but good. See about 14 years ago
Tom and Katia had another birth." Raquel nodded again "
Right Gaia's brother D" "yes but d had a twin sister one
that Tom and Katia took home her name was Anistasia." he was
relived to see Raquel finally confused as she processed this
information lightning fast. The fact that she knew a lot of what he
was telling her was starting to freak him out. "Anistasia was
like a mini Gaia, just a skilled in fighting and languages, and
sharpshotting, the only difference was she was three years younger.
Together the Moore sisters would be unstoppable." Steve finished
slightly out of breath from explaining. "What does this have to
do with me?" she asked "do you know of the day when Loki
tricked Gaia into thinking that he was Tom and tried to kidnap her
when she was six? Steve asked. "Yes". "Well when tom
and Katia, the CIA, Loki, the organization were all fighting for
Gaia, Yuri and two of his operatives went to the Moore's house,
killed the baby sitter watching Anistasia. Yuri then took her to his
safe place in fort Myers beach Florida which was also a mental
hospital." "Rainhill!" Raquel gasped "at Rainhill
he had her memory modified best he could the treatment wouldn't last
forever, by the time she turned 14 the memories would start to come
on out of her control. By that time Yuri figured that she would be
ready to become a part of the organization, even be trained to run it
if Gaia somehow refused to. "This is crazy… wait so what did Yuri
do with Anistasia after he had modified her memory?" Steve took a
deep breath "He gave her to those 2 operatives who helped him
kidnap her so they could watch her, they moved to a small town in
Pennsylvania." He looked at Raquel's stricken eyes and knew that
she understood. Raquel gasped, "You're not talking about…. You
don't mean…me! " Steve nodded amazed that she got all this. "
This is crazy!" she yelped again standing up. "Then what do you
have to do with this?" she glared down at him. " I work for the
CIA, my name is Steve Montone, and not Steve Romano I didn't move
here from North Carolina. I was sent here from New York to protect
you, and tell you all of this. Now I'm supposed to take you back to
New York with me" He stood up too and looked down at her. "Your
telling me that I'm not who I think I am, your not who I think you
are, my parents kidnapped me, and my sister is Gaia Moore!" when
she finished yelling at him, Steve grabbed her shoulders "yes all
of that… but your also fearless like your sister" Raquel looked
away from him. "Your mad at me" he said defeated. She looked at
him again softening a bit "As much as I want to be and should be, I
can't, you were doing you job and I'm going to have to accept
that." Steve's jaw dropped "That's not like you" he told
her. "I don't know who I am anymore, the last 11 years of my life
have been a lie. Do you know what that feels like?" Steve took a
step closer to her. "I'm a spy, my life is pretty much a lie, and
I think I can come close to knowing what you mean." Raquel did
something she hadn't done since she was seven and her gold fish had
just died. She started to cry. "I just feel so alone, I can't go
home, and everything I have ever know has been a fake." She sobbed
"not everything" Steve whispered in her ear. He pulled her into
his arms and she buried her face into his neck. They stood like that
foe neither of them knew how long. When they pulled apart, Steve
looked at the digital watch he had it read 11:45 pm. "damn it's
really late" he said "I'm not going back their, I won't live
with those people for another night." She answered suddenly firm
and strong, she was becoming herself again. "Fine, but we are going
over there now to get a few things." He said. Raquel defiantly
didn't want to go back, but she felt like she had to start living
up to who she was. "Ok"