Me: Hello, ever-
Brooke: Why!? Why did you have to make me so annoying!? CantIbejustlikeanynormalkidw ithafamilyandalifeandohIreal lydontlikeyourightnowIjustme tKalynandyourealreadymakingm eseemlikeabratandithatstotal lynotfair-
Me: Um...
Solace: Dude...
Brooke: What?
Solace: Never mind...
Dean: Popcorn tastes like chicken! :D
Solace: It what?
Brooke: You eat CHICKEN?
D'Anna: It is impossible for popcorn to taste like chicken.
Me: Actually...it's not.
Solace: Chicken flavoured popcorn? Now this I gotta see.
Brooke: You eat CHICKEN?!
Me: Well, yeah...
Brooke: CANNIBAL!
Me: Um...hi.
Solace: I think it is officially my turn to thank people.
Dean: What!? No! Is not! My turn!
Solace: Thanks to Denow, Firefrostflare, Pri-
Dean: NNNNOOOOO! LALALALALALALALALALALALALALA LALALAICANTHEARYOU! LALALALALALALALALALALALALAAL ALA!
Brooke: Really Dean?
Solace: Thanks also to Princessjewel101, Renxoxox, and caningirl365. There.
Dean: I hate you.
Solace: Hate you too. ;)
Me: Please enjoy this chapter, and help yourself to some chicken flavoured popcorn.
Dean: NOO! Not the popcorn! MINE!
Chapter 11:Choice
I ran my finger across the top of the letter. My name was printed in typewriters font on the lip: Brooke Katelyn Matthews.
How did they know my name?
I debated whether I should open the letter or not. Did I want to know what they had to say? But curiosity won over, and dig my finger under the seal. As I broke it, I saw that the letter wasn't in cipher runes. It was in plain symbols, and I could read it almost instantaneously.
Dearest Brooke,
We have been informed that you now hold captive one of our fugitives. Kalyn Tyler Matthews was of the upmost importance to us, and it is beyond your abilities to hide him from us. We are everywhere. We know where you keep him. And it's not hard to take an injured teenager from the clutches of a small helpless girl? So this is what we propose. Because of his actions, Kalyn is no longer in our best interests. We are more concerned about a different Telepath: You. Join us, and we will spare your brother. Meet us in Mysterium tomorrow. If you aren't in the area by noon, we will take Kalyn from you, and you will never see him again.
Together, we can do amazing things. We will be the face of the Council, and we will rule the world. No one will ever hurt you again. I have a feeling you know what I'm taking about.
My thumb touched the black swan that replaced the authors signature. Part of me was relieved: they didn't want my brother anymore. But part of me was terrified: they wanted me. What was I going to do?
I folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. I had to decide by tomorrow at noon. Or otherwise, they would take him. They would take my brother.
"Brooke?" Kalyn walked into the kitchen and looked around.
"Kalyn!" I said "You really have to stop doing that."
He broke into a grin "When you say that, you know I can't resist."
Then he saw the letter "What's that?"
"It's nothing."
Kalyn gave me a suspicious look.
"It's not nothing," he decided, and tried to reach forward to grab it.
I held it far behind my back, and watched him stumble. He leaned on the railing.
"I'll decide if its nothing," I said, shoving it into my back pocket and covering it with my log sweater.
"Now who's lying?" He frowned "How do you expect me to be honest with you, if you aren't to me?"
"Well, it took quite a while for you to even get you to tell me anything. Was it two or three weeks before you told me who you really were?"
"Brooke..." He sighed and sat in the bottom step of the stairs.
Then we locked eyes.
Don't you dare, I transmitted
I could, he answered back.
It's illegal, I'll hold you for a tribunal.
You wouldn't.
I would.
Tell me.
I don't have to.
I'll do it.
I'm serious.
So am I.
I squeezed my eyes, forming a barrier around my mind. I felt his mind slam against mine, and I tried to force him out. But I knew in the end he was much better than me, so I gave up.
I let go. He stopped.
"You gave up." He said
"Yeah," I muttered tiredly "I did."
"Why?"
"Because I know you're better than I am, and I wasn't going to win."
"You don't know that," He said
"I do. And I'm tired. I wouldn't have done it to you. "
"Ok, fine." He said "You don't have to tell me. But you know you don't have to block everyone out. I'm here for a reason."
I couldn't help smiling "You're here for the food."
"No I'm not."
"You said it! I witnessed it!"
"Maybe then," he grinned "But does it look like I've been eating anything lately?"
"Yeah, about that."
"You know my favourite food."
"Oh really, do I?"
"Bet it's the same as yours."
"Bet it's not."
"How much?"
"A week of desserts."
"Oh really."
"Yeah."
He shook his head "It doesn't work that way. I don't go to school."
"Fine, then, what do you want?"
"A sketchbook." He grinned
"A sketchbook?"
"For drawing?"
"Yeah, I know what a sketchbook is. Just, a strange request. We don't really do art as stuff."
"It looks fun."
"I guess."
"Well then?"
"Deal."
I searched the cupboards for my favourite food, and poured into a dish. When I showed it to him, he smiled and accepted the bowl.
"I won the bet." Was all he said, then he ate.
I didn't really care what I had won or lost, because technically, I had tricked him into eating. Or at least, that's what it looked like.
What I was more concerned about was the letter burning a hole of fear in my back pocket. Was I going to make the right choice? And if I was, at what cost?
I was torn. I sat on the floor in my sleeping bag, wondering what would happen if I joined them. It wasn't nearly bedtime, but I felt like I wanted to hide under my covers. Of course, my sheets were currently taken, so I had to resort to my sleeping bag. Would they really leave Kalyn alone? Either way I didn't have a choice, I couldn't let them take him. Perhaps they would let me visit, or something. But I had to go. I had to do this.
I wondered what would happen if I joined. Would they make me kill, or hurt? Would my parents be there? I was dying to ask them. Maybe if I joined I could.
What would it be like to be the bad guy? I wanted to know. After all, tomorrow at noon, I would be one of them.
"Brooke," I heard as I woke up, sunlight seeping into my eyes "I made you breakfast. It's almost noon, you better get up. "
"Mom?" I asked as I squinted my eyes.
"Yeah, I'm definitely mother," I heard Kalyn's sarcastic voice seep through.
He put on a mocking voice " I made you breakfast Brookie."
I laughed. "Mom does NOT call me Brookie."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." I smiled "And I suppose this is my cue to say that I'm not hungry?"
"Haha, you better not. I didn't fall halfway down the stairs for you to say no."
"Kidding," I said and accepted the bowl.
The mixture looked like jello, only it was a slime green. I tried not to grimace as I ate whatever he had concocted. I reminded myself when he was better, never to accept cooking from him again.
"I know where you're going," he said
I froze, spoon mid way to my mouth.
"What's that?" I asked
"I know what you're going to do." His voice came more seriously "And I'm not going to let you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"What happened to not lying to each other?"
My brain suddenly turned on. It's almost noon, he had said. I was going to miss my chance! And I knew what he had done, both cutting into me in a horrible way.
"What happened to the ancient rules?" I asked "What happened to not reading people's minds without their permissions? Does it look like you're on assignment?"
"I had to," his voice was hard "I couldn't let you go."
"Well, you would never have Known."
"You can't go."
" Im tired of being lied to! Why cant you just be truthful with me, why cant anybody be truthful with me? So you're telling me you made me breakfast to convince me not to go?"
"Yes...and no."
"I can't believe you!" I cried "You're only making this so much harder!"
"So you're going to join them?" Kalyn asked "Do you really think they're going to let me go? As soon as you become one of them, they're going to take me too! They're using you, that's all they are! And even if they don't, with a family devoted to the Black Swan, exactly where do you think I'll go? Nowhere, that's where."
"I have to try," I said "and you can't stop me."
"How could you?" He said as I made for the exit "I thought we were family!"
"We are," I said plainly "That's all the more reason to go."
"Don't go!" He yelled, but I was already running.
The cupola wasn't far away, and I figured I wouldn't be able to hold myself together if I light leaped alone.
"Mysterium!" I yelled into the chandelier, and I didn't look back as I was washed away in the blue light.
Mysterium was bustling with life. It was only when I set foot on the ground, did I realize that I hadn't thought this through. How was I going to find the Black Swan?
I walked through the town, looking for any signs that could tell me anything. Kalyn couldn't have followed me this far.
It was harder than I thought it would be. I sat on a bench by a big pond, watching the ducks play by the water. Suddenly, a black black duck beat its wings and sprayed me with water.
"Hey!" I protested
But then I looked carefully. It wasn't a bird. It was a swan.
The swan took this moment to turn around and swam across the lake. I ran around the water to follow it. It waddled into a forest, where it was greeted by a cloaked man.
"Hello, Brooke," the man smiled and a cold shiver went up my spine.
"I'm here." I tried to keep my voice steady.
"Indeed you are."
"Well, what are you going to do to me?"
"I'm going to make you a powerful person, that's what. But first you must swear to something."
"What is it?"
"That you will never see Kalyn again."
"What? That wasn't the deal?"
"Oh, I think it was."
Three more men came out of the shadows. I took a step back.
"You can't make me do that."
"I think I can," he produces a ball and handed it to me.
In it was an image of my parents caged inside a prison.
"Mom," I choked "Dad."
They stared at the ground sullenly, their eyes pale and their heads down.
"I will make them do the darkest of things if you do not listen. They will face tribunal and surely die."
"My parents are stronger than that! You'll never make them!"
"Of course I will."
"How?" I didn't believe him.
"Simple," he said and lifted of the hood "Because I'm the Mesmer."
I stared in his cold calculating eyes in shock, and stumbled.
"My parents work for you!" I cried "How could you do this?"
"Quite the contrary, Brooke," he chuckled "I was never a Black Swan."
"Then h-"
"Nuh uh uh," he spoke in a wicked tone "Questions later. Right now you are coming with us."
"What? NEVER!" I screamed.
"I think you are," he said and one man held out a metal object "Have a nice sleep."
The metal object shot blue sparks at me and I was thrown back. My body burned in pain, and I was blinded. I could hardly move. Then slowly I felt myself slipping away.
Only one thought burned more than any pain: If the Mesmer wasn't part of the Black Swan, who was he?
Brooke: Well then...that was intense.
Me: Aww, c'mon, it was more like EPIC.
Brooke: Intense.
Me: Epic.
Brooke: Intense.
Me: EPIC!
Brooke: Shocking.
Me: That too.
Solace: I'm with Brooke on this one. Was not EPIC.
Me: You didn't even read it.
Solace: I exist purely to go against everything you say.
Me: Right...
Dean: Chicken flavoured popcorn!
Me: They probably have chicken flavoured popcorn, I've seen hotdog and pizza chips.
Brooke: MORE ANIMALS! O.O
Dean: LEMME TRY!
Brooke: *pulls out sledgehammer* CANNIBAL...
Dean: *sweatpalms* AH! Not a cannibal!
Me: Please review!
Solace: And favourite!
Dean: And follow!
Brooke: CANNIBAL!