CHAPTER 4
The Conference
Colonel Low abandoned all hope of the promotion table and dragged the short girl through the train station and into a small empty waiting room. He left Bolden to sort things out with the thief. John didn't have to worry about taking the armored friend along with him because it followed like the girl's obedient dog. As he threw them into the small room, he closed the door behind them. The windows were clouded so they wouldn't be interrupted, or overheard.
"Sit," He commanded them. The armor immediately obeyed, while the white haired girl stood in defiance. John almost forgot they weren't in the military, so they didn't need to answer a commanding officer. He has been spending too much time in his office. With a huff, John got on with his little interrogation. "How did you learn to do alchemy like that?" The girl slumped down in a chair and pretended to be preoccupied looking out of the clouded window. John walked over to the two people until he stood towering over them, casting shadows over their faces. "Who are you."
The armor one, being more polite, or open, answered him. "I am Fernandina Victorian, and this is my older sister Riven Victorian," the armor rang out in a high feminine voice. The colonel felt like he was hit in the face. The last thing he expected was that inside the suit of armor, there was a teenaged girl, and that she was in fact, the younger sister. When John looked at the girl again, he noticed that the helmet revealed the left side of her face, which bore kind grey eyes and a few stray strands of long black hair. The right side of her face was completely covered by a thick shield of golden armor. The armor she wore was not bulky like a man's armor, but it rather looked custom fit. When you really look at it, John could see that it did fit snug to her body and revealed a few curves here and there. What really scared him was the fact that this girl couldn't be any older than twelve and yet she had a massive long sword tied around her waist. As the Colonel studied them a little bit, Fernandina gave a little worried look and whispered, "Um, is everything alright?"
John snapped out of his little coma and got back to business. "Yes, yes," he waved her off as to settle her worried look. He started to pace around the small dim room. "Where do you two come from? Where did you learn to do alchemy like that?"
"We come from a small country town called Arrington, we traveled here to pick up on some research and maybe see the library," Fernandina answered politely. Riven grumpily elbowed her in the ribs, just to smack her elbow off of the sleek metal wall. She grabbed her elbow in pain and glared at her sister.
"That's it Fernandina. Let's just tell this man everything! We don't even know who he is!" She scolded her little taller sister.
"I am Colonel John Low the Fire Alchemist of the Centrilian army," John identified himself to them. He then walked up to Riven and pointed one of his gloved fingers in her face. "Now tell me, what did you do back there in the station?"
Riven stared at the finger pointed in her face for a little bit, noting the transmutation circle inscribed onto the back of the glove. She looked the Colonel up and down and then a smirk crawled upon her face. "It's called science, Mr. State Alchemist. I shifted the floor of the station into a wall. I didn't do anything wrong. It's basic alchemy."
Low glared at her, "I know it was alchemy, but I wanted to know how you did it without a transmutation circle."
"Don't we all," Riven chuckled dryly. Something flickered through her eyes, but it disappeared immediately. John gave a huff as he got up and started to pace again in thought. He walked back and forth for a little bit until his eyes fell on the vanilla folder, he forgot he was carrying. With a quick glance at the girls, he opened the folder and took out the picture of the girls from the arson fire. He glanced back and forth from the picture to the girls who were eyeing him suspiciously. Their eyes surely were the same color, but their features were all off. For one, the girl had white hair and the other had black. Fernandina was way too tall to be the same tiny girl in the picture. And these two were all but defenseless. There was no way, the two Victorian sisters were the same two from the arson, but then again, their eyes.
"Why are you looking at us that way?" Riven snapped, annoyed at the constant glances the officer was giving her, but he just shook his head and placed the photo back in the vanilla folder.
"Sorry, I just remembered something," He mumbled back to her.
"If that is all Colonel Low, are I and my sister free to go?" Fernandina asked him sweetly. He nodded and let them out of the door. He lead them through the station to the exit. The chaos that the crowd was put into earlier seemed to die out as the majority of the travelers were boarding their own trains, so it was much easier to walk down the platforms. When the soldier got to the end of the road, he hailed a cab for the two girls. Fernandina thanked him politely, while Riven jumped into the car with a huff of annoyance. John was about to let the two girls be, but then turned back towards them before they could shut the door.
"You two said something about a library right?" The armored girl just nodded back to him. "Try the Midtown Central Library on Main Street," he advised. After John closed the door to the cab, he walked back into the station. His shift still had three hours to go.
Yay intenseness! How's that for suspense? Probably too much foreshadowing but hey, don't expect everything to be a secret! what fun would that be right? Please review, spread the news. I have updated and will again later.