Rage and Ruin | 2

0 | 2

F I N N

     
      I walked in the front of the group as we made our way inside the ONNT building back in New York. Mr. Hunt had instructed us to return in no less than two days to inform him what we'd found, and we had much to tell him now that we knew what was going on.

      My heart plummeted in my chest when my mind went back to the massive fortress in the middle of the dank forest. It had almost radiated an aura of evil. Even now, as I thought about it while thousands of miles away, I was still rendered uneasy.

      We were in over our heads now. It took many sacrifices and a lot of time to finally have some semblance of power over Hundsen. And judging by Delphinium's description of the people that had trained her, they were much, much worse than Hundsen.

      I snuck a glance at the tall girl. Her shoulders were thrown back and her regal head was held high. A determined look was set on her finely-featured face. But I knew better than anyone what it was like to have an inner battle raging within yourself, to be much more frightened than you let on.

      My chest still felt oddly tight as two of Hunt's soldiers held open the doors of a conference room for us to enter into. I tried to ignore it for now.

      Inside, Mr. Hunt was seated at the table. Paperwork was splayed out before him on the table and he was deep in thought.

      When Riley cleared her throat to catch his attention, his eyes snapped upwards. "Ah, so you've returned." He shot a glance at Delphinium. "Find anything interesting?"

      He'd let Delphinium go to humor her. He didn't think that we'd actually find anything. Of course, neither did the rest of us until Delphinium had spoken to us on the car ride there, with her blue eyes wide and her voice grave. There was much we didn't know about her.

      "Yes."

      Mr. Hunt frowned at Delphinium's quiet tone. It mirrored the terror all of us were feeling now.

      "Elaborate, Delphinium."

      "Imperium's back," she said, so soft it was almost a whisper. "I don't know how, but they're still alive."

     The ONNT director removed his reading glasses and placed them on the table. "What makes you believe that?"

"The fortress that I once destroyed was rebuilt. Trucks were steadily bringing in supplies. We were then attacked by a group of assassins sent by my teachers when we tried to leave."

Mr. Hunt closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. "What happened to the assassins that attacked you? Did you take them all out?"

"All but one."

"We also found out that Hundsen has been working with them to bring us back to the fortress. That's why we were kidnapped," I told him when she was finished speaking, not wanting to leave out that important piece of information.

The director buried his face in his hands, fully aware of the deeply troublesome situation we were now in. He stayed like that for several long moments.

Then, he raised his head again, stood from his chair and straightened his tie. "Do you know what this means?"

"That we're screwed?" Arlo asked curiously, for once not using any swear words.