The Jacksons (completed): Book 2 - Percy Jackson Fanfiction

~ Chapter Twenty-Nine: NERO

~ Chapter Twenty-Nine:

NERO

March 21st, 2014 - Esme Jackson has arrived at base. Dr Chadwick will operate on her shortly. Soon she will forget who she is.

Marxh 22nd, 2014 - operation successful. Esme - Borne Six - has no idea who she is. Excellent. And Kheo Heliosi Khamen, the final Borne, will train Esme up to be our secret weapon.

April 13th, 2014 - it has been two weeks since my last review of Borne Six. There have been errors, some irreversible. We must strike. Either she reacts positively to the new drug, or we kill her.

April 20th, 2014 - one week since administration of new drug. Chadwick reports immediate results. Esme Jackson has already become ruthless.

April 21st, 2014 - problem has arisen. Borne Six has interfered with the injection into Adam Grimshaw. Grimshaw has now reached a state of unconsciousness. He is likely to die. Jackson will be detained until further notice. Her fate rests with Rula Verenspik - who will, most certainly, execute the girl.

April 25th, 2014 - execution date: 4th of May, 2014.

I shoved the phone into my back pocket. I had two days - just two - to rescue Esme and Adam.

There was a screech of wheels and then pounding feet. A blinding light scorched my face.

"Nerovian Jackson." The female voice was firm and authoritative and foreign. "I am taking you to the headquarters of Dr Cornelius Chadwick. You will be detained until further notice and may speak when spoken to. Is that clear?"

I couldn't see, just burning white, but I felt the cold hard tip of a gun pressed into my cheek.

"Where's Esme?"

The gun was slapped around my head. Before I knew it, another slap and I felt the blood flowing freely.

I don't remember much after that.

***

The boy sat in the diner, looking at his watch. I sat opposite but he didn't seem to notice. He glanced up, but his gaze sailed right through me. I was just watching the memory.

This was Adam Grimshaw.

Well. The old one.

His hair was blonde but much cleaner, and his blue eyes reflected a lot less sadness. He sighed as a woman came and sat next to me.

Thalia.

"Hello, Adam." Thalia was professional but she wore a reassuring smile. "I'm glad you got in contact."

"Anything to get away from them." Adam sounded furious. "But you left me with them."

Thalia shrugged. "There are no excuses, Adam. The decision I made, as part of the BPA, was a stupid one. Many of us accept that. You shouldn't have been sent to live with Gladys and Michael. We appreciate that.

"But they're demigods and your parents. Bornes are better raised in good environments, and we thought they would change for you."

Adam slammed his fist on the table. "Change? I have scars, not just physically. They battered and burnt me and they don't care."

"I knew Gladys as a child. She was a head counsellor at Camp Half-Blood when I was around fifteen. About ten years older than me. She was going nowhere in life. As a demigod, her last resort was to become a counsellor.

"Her mother was a highly successful businesswoman in Paris. Her father was Dionysus, and the eighties weren't good for the gods - their parenting skills slipped. Gladys had a busy mum and an absent dad."