Revolution (Book 3 of POE Chronicles)

Chapter 11 Taking that leap of faith

"Who else is coming?" Casey asked. Fred and Natalie had arrived earlier and gone to put their suits on underneath their clothing, and I was shifting nervously on the sofa in the lobby with Casey, waiting for Viktor and Diego to show up. I hadn't heard from the later for a week and I was starting to worry about him. We had half an hour before we really needed to get going to make it to the rendezvous point to meet the Vulture and Iris, and I would really rather not be late.

"You will see." I couldn't help but smile, imagining Casey's face when she realized that Viktor would be part of the team. Just then, a hooded figure entered the lobby and I could feel the familiar vibes coming from him and my face broke into a smile.

"Diego?" Casey's eyes almost bulged out of her head as Diego stopped in front of us, her face frozen in shock as she stared at Diego, who offered her a small smile.

"Hi Casey." He greeted, but Casey was still in too much shock to reply. Stifling the smile breaking out on my face, I quickly handed him his pack of gadgets and instructed him to change.

"What, how, huh?" Casey let out a mumbled stream of incoherent noises. I turned around and saw Diego disappearing around the corner just as Fred and Natalie emerged. The two had obviously spotted Diego as well, and they both hovered towards us in a trance-like state.

"Was that Diego?" Natalie asked, her eyes still trained towards the corner where Diego disappeared to. I checked to see that both of them had put the watch on and nodded in satisfaction. Checking my own one, I could see a dot moving towards us – hopefully that would be Viktor.

"Yeah." I answered, receiving three questioning stares. "I ran into him in the hotel last week and asked him to come along."

"You what?" Fred's voice held a hint of anger, "Don't you think it's suspicious that he showed up in the same hotel as you after fourteen months. Do you even know where he was and what he did at all?"

"Hey," Natalie put a hand on Fred, looking at him in slight alarm. "It's fine, it's Diego."

Casey threw me a look and shrugged. "Fred has got a point." She said, "I mean, I don't think Diego would be a bad guy, but I don't know who or what to believe in anymore. Are you sure you can trust him?"

"Hi, am I interrupting something?" Viktor's voice came from behind us and I turned back around to see him awkwardly standing there, looking at us uncertainly. I could see the hint of silver from the suit under his t-shirt, and his watch firmly on his right wrist.

"Wait, he is coming too?" Fred's voice now was dripping with sarcasm. For someone who is an ice elemental, he sure had a fiery temper. "Do you just invite everyone from the street to come along?"

"Hey." Casey and Viktor yelled indignantly at the same time and Natalie shot me a panicked look. Viktor was also staring at Fred warily, and Casey looked torn between being happy or annoyed.

"I don't need your opinion on this, Bowen." I said pointedly, turning to look at him to let him know that I was being dead serious. "I have made my decision. This is my call to make, not yours. I trust Diego and Viktor and that's all you need to know."