CHAPTER 5

"Alright Drake? Any news?" Caine was sitting in the big leather chair that had previously belonged to the Town Mayor with his feet up on the table. Drake shrugged.

"Had a scene with that Cleo girl…think she'll probably come and give you grief at some point…" Caine raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"Killed a baby." Drake said as casually as if he'd just said 'ate a sandwich', "She didn't like it…" Caine frowned.

"Right…that might be a problem…hope she does come to see me before she tells anyone else, don't want her to spread the word before I can deal with it…especially after the whole incident with that other girl at the fire station…"

"The townies are too uptight, can't take a bit of banter…"

"Killing people isn't exactly your average banter Drake…"

"Is for me." Caine ignored the comment, he was used to Drake's sadistic ways.

"But it is necessary." He said to himself. Drake closed his eyes as he lay across the large sofa next to Caine's desk.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours, Mary arrived for her shift. After an emotional explanation of what had happened, creating tears from both girls, Cleo left for the Mayor's office. A message had been sent to Edilio to pick up the tiny corpse, and Cleo felt a flood of gratitude and admiration towards the Honduran kid who had done so much for Perdido Beach since the beginning of the FAYZ. She hadn't ever talked to him personally, but everyone only ever had kind things to say about him. Cleo had left Pippa in Mary's care, not really thinking it appropriate to take her with her, but her trusty hound Oskar was, as always, by her side. Recently the FAYZ had not been the safest of places to be in, and even though Oskar had only goodness in him, Cleo felt considerably safer when he was with her. She reached the large building which Caine had claimed as his own since the Coates kids' takeover and entered, heading up to the room she had only been in once before, the first time she'd met the handsome but scarily focused and powerful Caine Soren. She knocked on the door now and entered at his

"Come in!" He was sitting in the leather chair with his feet up on the desk and Drake was lying on the sofa. But after Caine muttered something to him he left the room and shut the door behind Cleo, leaving the two of them on their own.

"Ah, Cleo! How can I help you?" He beamed, looking so kind and friendly, Cleo realised it must have all been a misunderstanding.

"Um, well, something happened today which I thought was, err, completely out of order…" She said quietly, his warm smile completely throwing her off track. His expression changed to complete concern.

"Really? Well I really appreciate you coming to tell me, what was it?" Suddenly Cleo didn't really know how to say it.

"There was a murder at the day care." She said, and Caine's expression turned to shock.

"Really? Oh that's awful! Who was it?"

"D-drake. And there's something else…he had a list of rules, and one of them said that if someone broke the rules…he was allowed to kill them."

"Well? Was the child breaking the rules?" Caine asked.

"I don't know…I didn't see…but apparently he was using a power. But surely that's not against the law? I mean, he's a baby! He didn't know!" Caine sighed and walked over to sofa.

"Cleo, Cleo, Cleo…come here, sit down." And he sat down, patting the space next to him for Cleo to sit next to him. She did. "The thing is, Cleo, some of the kids in the FAYZ have powers…do you have one?" Cleo wasn't sure what she should say, but looking into Caine's eyes she couldn't help but nod. "Well, some of the powers these kids have are extremely dangerous, we can't just allow them to go round using them on people, it's very dangerous! Especially the younger kids - they don't know what they're doing! It's like if a baby had a knife or a gun, you'd take it off them, wouldn't you? It's the same with their powers."

"But killing them? That's a bit extreme!" Caine shrugged.

"It's a last resort, Drake was obviously under threat, he didn't have any other choice! It was one little sacrifice to save a lot of other people, do you understand?" He looked at Cleo like a teacher might look at a not particularly bright student, and Cleo slowly nodded.

"I guess…" She muttered, her argument suddenly sounded rather silly. Caine smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Good. Now, as I was saying about powers being dangerous…we need to keep a track of everyone with a power, for the safety of everyone. So what's your power, Cleo?" And he looked at her so kindly that Cleo didn't think twice about what she did next. She saw a bright red cut on Caine's hand and took his hand in both of hers. He frowned, not sure what she was doing, but when after a few seconds she pulled her hand away to reveal that the cut had completely disappeared, Caine's eyes widened in excitement. He quickly hid it again but it hadn't gone unnoticed. Then he nodded at her.

"OK, thank you Cleo, and I really appreciate you coming to tell me, if anything else bothers you, don't hesitate to drop in, you're always welcome." Then he smiled a smile that made Cleo felt like the most special person in the world, rubbed her shoulder kindly and then went and opened the door for her to leave, patting Oskar on the head as he walked past. Cleo felt a glow surrounding her as she left the building, everything was going to be OK, Caine was in charge…