Ten minutes later, I was standing outside of the meeting room, wearing jeans and a button-down shirt that mostly fit. I’d found the right hallway and the second door on the right. All I needed to do now was walk in. Just turn the handle and walk in. I was supposed to be there. I was wanted there. I settled on knocking. Not two seconds later, the door opened. Melissa stood in front of me, wearing a white blouse, purple skirt, and black heels. She looked very professional. “I see Maggie told you about the meeting,” she said. “She didn’t say what it was about, did she?” I shook my head. Now that I thought about it, I had no idea why this meeting was happening. “Good. Come on in, Elias.” I followed Melissa into what Maggie had called the ‘green room’. Now, I could see that that name made perfect sense. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all painted a muted sage green. A grey rug filled the middle of the room. There was a large, circular table in the middle of the rug, and the middle of the table was hollow, like a doughnut. There was a small platform in the centre, for whoever was standing there to stand on. A few small steps led up to the centre, making getting up there much easier for anyone wearing heels, like Melissa. There were eight chairs surrounding the table, and two of them were empty. Melissa sat in one of the chairs, while I stood awkwardly near the door. “Well, don’t just stand there. Take a seat,” said one of the people sitting at the table. Her voice was warm and oddly familiar. I quickly sat down in the only open seat, next to the woman who’d just talked to me. Her hair was dark, and tiny ringlets framed her face. She was wearing a black suit, similar to the ones I remember people wearing on floor fifty. “Why don’t we all introduce ourselves?” Melissa said.
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We went around the table, everyone saying their name and what area of T.R.I.B.A.U.M. they led.
“Jackson Errech, medical operations.”
“Susan Apathine, base management.”
“Alexander Wrenith, weapons.”
“Nathan Spring, security.”
“Kathrine Tymes, research, development, and experimentation.”
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Then, it was my turn. “Um, I’m Elias Barnet. I… I’m not really sure why I’m here, to be honest. I used to be Reaper, though,” I said. Everyone nodded. It felt good to say I was rid of Reaper. I was normal now. Then, it was the woman in the suit’s turn. “I am the leader of the undercover infiltration unit of floor fifty. Elias, you may know me by a different name than the one I use here. You may know me as Letie.” My mouth dropped. So Letie wasn’t evil, and she was helping the rebellion? This couldn’t get any better. “My real name is Jasmine. Jasmine Barnet.” I had to blink a few times before I comprehended what had been said. How did Telie, I mean, Jasmine, and I share the same surname? I tried to calm down before I got ahead of myself. It was probably just a coincidence. But then I thought, maybe it wasn’t a coincidence. Maybe all of this was meant to happen. I assumed she could see the confusion on my face, so she said, “Melissa, I’m going to step out with Elias for a moment. Please continue with the meeting as normal. All of my notes are already loaded into the database.” Melissa nodded as Jasmine walked out of the room. I hurried to follow her.
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Once we were out of the room, she grabbed me by the shoulders and hugged me. I stared straight ahead, my eyes wide and arms limp by my sides. What was happening? Why was this happening? When Jasmine finally stepped away from me, I said, “What was that about? Did you feel that a hug would wash away everything you’ve done to me? Need I remind you that you tried to kill me on floor fifty? Multiple times?” Jasmine smiled widely. “What part of this makes you happy?”201Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqJ14OvKV2
“Seeing you. I’ve missed you so much, Elias. You have no idea. When Eliet first told me that you were going to be our new Reaper, I objected. I didn’t want you to need to go through that. I didn’t want to see you forced into that position, especially considering how I left you.”201Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLF2CxcTtQK
“What do you mean?” I interrupted. I had never met Jasmine before I got to floor fifty, so she was talking nonsense. “I’m getting there. I never wanted to hurt you, Elias, but I needed to do some things I’m not proud of to keep my cover. But now you’re here, and Reaper is gone, and you’re finally safe. For good. So you can hopefully see now, why I wanted to hug my son.”201Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdj2CtgRY1
