The Elite

Forty

Leon

"I told you she wasn't on our side," Tass hissed.

I didn't respond, too busy dealing with the sucker punch of having severely misjudged Aubrey. Needing a friend and filled with grief, I'd convinced myself that Aubrey was the person I once knew. It was wrong and I should have known that. Aubrey was an alien — an Offender who'd infiltrated the Elite to cause chaos. She was going to take over the world, and I'd been stupid enough to think she was my friend.

It was then my eyes caught sight of a golden glimmer on her waist. It was what appeared to be a reflection of light from a small glass vial. If not for the bright color of that light, I never would have noticed it. Most people would just think it was a normal vial, but I recognized it. The label and the stopper matched the bioweapon were supposed to have stolen back in Kano.

"Aubrey," I said slowly, "how did you get that?"

I pointed at the vial on Aubrey's waist. She turned to look at me, and then at the vial at her waist.

"It's medicine," she replied. "I have a Gutierrez shield, so don't think you're swaying me."

That would have been a smarter thing to do, but I was fixated on the vial at Aubrey's waist. If the Elite Council painted the picture right, it was very bad to have it.

"You need a bioweapon to kill Talbots as medicine?" I asked skeptically.

"Of course!" Lelise said suddenly, realization in her voice. "You're a yeuven. My mom told me about you. You dislike Talbots because they have powers, and you don't. You're jealous."

So she was going to kill us all because of that jealously? It turned my stomach just thinking about it, knowing I'd chosen that sort of my person as my friend.

"Yes," Aubrey said. "Only we have powers now. We've evolved, and it's time for our enemies to truly die!"

"How can you want that?" I asked Aubrey desperately. "You were our friend. I never felt cruel emotions from you before."

Desperately, I wanted Aubrey to reveal she was being controlled. It was hard to think I'd really been friends with and saved the life countless times of someone so evil. It made me feel wrong, like maybe I was part evil alien myself.

"I'm a spy, Leon," Aubrey said with a laugh. "I have the power to misrepresent myself when a Talbot reads me in some way. That's why I was sent on this mission."

My old best friend was evil. She'd been evil all along, and I'd never seen it. I was friends with an evil alien for half my life, and I never saw it. I felt like a supreme idiot.

"Oh, Leon," said Aubrey. "Don't look so defeated. You've got the son of Black Queen and Nefarious on your squad. Surely that will help you."

She smiled as Mi-Suk, Lelise, and Haruki turned an accusing glare at me. Even normally kind Ramiro looked skeptically at me like he couldn't believe it.

"I know," I said quietly.

"Yeah, I'd actually like to get to my parents-"

"Did you know his father developed this bioweapon for me?" Aubrey asked, cutting off Julian.

This time, everybody turned with an accusing glare, this time pointed at Julian. He must have truly gone through a lot recently, for he wasn't as composed as I expected him to be. Instead, he was panicky.

"My father stopped when he realized it was bad," Julian defended. "Other people finalized it and made it work to kill. He just wanted to stop Talbots from having powers!"