deCEIVED (Book 2)

18: Lucas

"Lucas Powers," Claudia King's voice echoed softly, "long time, no see."

"Claudia King," I responded, "how are you?"

"I'm fine. But I never enter anyone's mind without a good reason, so I'm just going to cut to the chase and get out. Mental training begins tomorrow, and I've seen the machines that the Society will be using on you. Those machines are going to put you to sleep and show you a hallucination of your worst nightmares. But it could also do something to your memories." Claudia explained.

"My memories?" I repeated.

"Yes. Before you came to the Society, one of your memories was completely erased, and it was a big part of who you were. Now that you are about to be mentally trained for your fight with Bill, your memories could heal very soon." Claudia said.

"But...how will I know what I need to remember?" I asked.

"It will all come back to you once somebody has shown you what you have forgotten. Michaela and I will both help you recover your memories, even if they don't heal right away." Claudia told me.

For some reason, I had the urge to take off her sunglasses and find out if she was hiding something in her eyes. I involuntarily reached out to grab Claudia's sunglasses, but she slowly swatted my arm away. "What on Earth are you doing, Lucas?" Claudia asked.

"I...I'm not sure, actually. So could you tell me what I'm forgetting now, Claudia? Maybe that will help my so-called 'lost' memories heal faster." I suggested.

Claudia winced and tossed her waist-length, caramel blonde hair behind her shoulders. Then she put her hands on her hips and floated towards me, her feet barely touching the ground. "I can't tell you the whole story, Lucas." Claudia said to me.

"Why not?" I inquired.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you what you're forgetting about. You would think I'm insane." Claudia replied.

"Could you at least give me a hint?" I requested.

"Very well...if you want to know the truth...let's just say that my name isn't Claudia King." Claudia confessed.

"So you're not Claudia King?" My voice raised more and more as the question slipped out of my mouth.

Claudia, or at least the girl who claimed to be Claudia, shook her head.

"Then...if your name isn't Claudia...what is it?" I asked.

Claudia turned her head away from me and whispered in a voice so small I could barely hear her, "Annabelle."

"Annabelle?" I repeated.

Annabelle sprinted away from me as fast as she could after I said her name. I tried to chase after her, but I wasn't fast enough to catch her.

Then I stopped and fell to my knees as a memory began to flash through my mind. I was standing next to a woman named Annabelle Kingston, and we were both firing our guns at a large crowd of Troopers. It was during the Creature Revolution of 1997.

Annabelle Kingston had been the love of my life, but I'd never told her how I felt about her before she died shortly after giving birth to her only child. I couldn't remember who her child was, unfortunately- all I knew was that Annabelle had a daughter three months before she died.

"Annabelle...that was the ghost of Annabelle...Annabelle Kingston..." I said to myself.

I looked down at my wrists and saw a blood red tattoo of a water lily on my left wrist. On my right wrist, there was a blood red tattoo of a poison ivy leaf. The two tattoos almost seemed like cuts that were slowly digging through my skin, gradually giving me a great deal of pain.

"ANNABELLE! MICHAELA! WHERE ARE YOU?!" I called out.

x•x•x•x•x•x•x•x•x•x•x•x•x

"I'm right here, Lucas," Michaela said.

"What?" I groaned in confusion as I sat up in my bed and gave Michaela a strange look.

"You were talking in your sleep, and you were asking where I was. So I said that I was right here." Michaela responded.

"Oh yeah...you and Annabelle...I forgot about that." I mumbled.

"Annabelle?" Michaela repeated.

"Yeah," I said as if it wasn't a big deal.

"As in...Annabelle Kingston?" Michaela gasped.

"That's exactly who I was referring to! How did you figure that out?" I asked Michaela in astonishment.

"SHE'S MY MOTHER!!" Michaela exclaimed.

"Wait, but isn't your surname Powers?" I reminded Michaela.

"Yeah, but she got married to a guy who had the same surname as me." Michaela responded.

"OKAY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Samantha announced from out of nowhere.

"Geez, do you have to break my eardrum everytime you make an announcement?" Jared asked Samantha.

"Actually, yes. You broke my heart, so now I get to break your eardrums." Samantha answered.

Jared rolled his eyes at Samantha and reluctantly allowed her to continue. "The list of partners for your first day of mental training have been posted. You have three minutes to check in with your partner and meet me in the lab. If you don't know where the lab is, just ask me and I'll gladly tell you."

I ran over to where the list had been posted and read it before anyone else could shove me out of the way.

MENTAL TRAINING
DAY ONE:
Sydney Rider + Isabella Chancellor
Devon Brody + Tiffany H. Gleeful
Stephanie Trigger + Jared Trigger
Phoebe Wells + Nathan Rogers
Milo Schaefer + Reagan Morrison
Michaela Powers + Lucas Powers
Stella Rogue + Samantha Anesworth
Holden Landcaster + Axel Chancellor

"Well, Michaela," Nathan said to Michaela, "maybe it will happen today."

"What do you mean by 'it'?" Michaela asked.

"You know...the thing we talked about last night?" Nathan whispered to Michaela with a wink.

Michaela snapped and said, "Oh, okay! Never mind, I couldn't remember. There were a bunch of thoughts running through my head at the moment. Don't you just hate it when that happens to you?"

I nodded and said nothing to Michaela or Nathan. I was also curious as to what it was. Maybe I would find out today during training.

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