Final Truth

Chapter 13: Have Her Convince the Citizens

Will's point of view:

After another day of angry riots occurring at the dome as well as my police force having to subdue the hoards of people calling for revenge on my sister and I, I finally decide that enough is enough.

The people want to know what happened and why Adam has vanished. They want to know why Julia was captured.

If answers is what it takes to calm them down enough to where I can effectively seek out the box, then that's exactly what they'll get.

I've taken over Adam's office at the main building in the city, making myself at home with the easily accessible documents and records he left out.

Even better he has a wall phone with which I can use to reach my sister.

Plucking up my courage to finally demand something from Henley for a change, I pick up the phone and dial the number of her location many miles away.

After a few cursedly unanswered rings, a familiar female's angry voice answers.

"It is one o'clock in the morning, Will. You'd better have found the box or so help me I will reach my powers through this telephone line and kill you on the spot," Henley threatens viciously.

"Pipe down and listen to me," I spit back with enough venom in my voice to match hers. "Things are bad enough here with my search for the box of powers thus far being unsuccessful, but the citizens are only making it worse. They're angry because they don't know what's going on or where Adam is," I explain.

"So what the hell do you want me to do about it? I've already got enough problems to deal with here!" Henley yells angrily.

Sighing to myself, I propose a plan.

"Look, the only way they'll cooperate is to have someone that doesn't work for you or me to tell them to calm down. I don't know where Adam is, but you have Julia. I want you to force her to make a speech telling the citizens to stop resisting my rules and to obey. She's not Adam, but they'll listen to her. I'll broadcast her words all over the city so that everyone will know that she's alive and that they must obey me or consequences will follow."

Henley is silent for a moment, obviously intrigued in the very slightest.

"I acknowledge your plan, but what makes you think Julia would ever agree to do this? I can barely get her to cooperate with these tests I'm putting her through," She asks.

"Who said she had a choice? You're the one who's got everything she cares about at your disposal. If she doesn't want my force to start targeting rebel citizens, she'll make the speech," I demand.

"And what if this goes completely wrong?" Henley challenges.

I clench my jaw in anger, knowing that Henley would be the one at fault if this goes bad.

"It had better not go wrong; if it does, then you're the one to blame," I force.

I can almost feel Henley's rage picking up through the phone, and I realize I've probably bitten off more than I can chew.

However, Henley swallows her anger before she says something that she'd regret later.

"Watch it, don't make me mad," she commands instead. "Now how do you want me to do this?"

"Fix Julia up, make her look beautiful. Pass her off to the world as healthy and okay. Dress her up in something that makes her seem like her ordinary self. Tell her what to say, have her convince the citizens that nothing is going amiss. Wake her up and do the speech as soon as we hang up. Broadcast it live and let the speech be in her own words so that nothing seems forced. If she can pull this off, then our lives will get infinitely easier," I command her.

Silence, however, is the only thing I can hear coming from the other end of the line.

"Henley? You still with me?" I ask.

After another moment of silence, I hear her sigh in defeat. "Do I have to do this now?" She asks.

"Just get it done," I order her, promptly hanging up the phone afterwards.

I feel satisfied with myself, finally having been able to tell Henley what to do for the first time in my life.

Not only that, but I'm also satisfied with the idea that Julia, the one who's caused everyone so much difficulty, will finally be the one to break the citizens' spirits enough to do what I tell them to do. If she cooperates, then all that's left to do is find the box.

Well that, and fix that stupid wobbly stone in the ground outside my building...