Selection (Book 2 of P.O.E. chronicles)

Chapter 35 All roads lead to Rome

Startled, Viktor shot up from his seat and looked panicked as Caleb gave him a pat on the shoulder and nudged him in my direction. I offered him a weak smile; I didn’t know what to expect from this either. What more was there to talk about? Like I said, we were never friends. Not really.

“Hey.” Viktor muttered under his breath and I smiled. This boy was willing to die for the group of us and now he’s sacred to have a conversation with him. The thought of this made me more at ease; we came from the same Citybase and the same district, there should be plenty to talk about.

“Which area are you studying in?” I broke the silence and he seemed glad to hear this particular question.

“Mechanical engineering.” He replied with a sparkle in his eyes and I could see that he genuinely love what he studied. It was good to see him so happy and it reminded me of my distant dream to become a genetic specialist to help uncover the truth behind mutation. But then I guess I was discovering my mutation, but in a much different way.

“So that thing,” I nodded towards the totaled mode of transportation that they had. “Were you guys testing it?”

“Yeah.” He said, glancing at it sadly and scratching his head. “We were supposed to test it out and collect some samples in the Ruin, but before we could the group of Legres started chasing us so we decided to leg it.”

I nodded and we were both probably thinking that it was lucky that happened, otherwise they would be stuck on the Indian plains on that weird prototype. Nigel really was heartless.

“Have you been back home since you started?” I asked, eager for any kind of news of my friends. My last correspondence with them had probably ended about four months after Viktor had started in the School of Medicine and Science and my heart squeezed against my chest at the thought of family. Maybe Lynette had actually been so kind as to send them a message that I was alive and well. I wondered how tall Dan would be now…

“No.” He shook his head sadly, then seeing the disappointed expression on my face he quickly added. “But I got letters from people in school, and they didn’t mention anything bad.”

We fell into silence after that, and it wasn’t particularly awkward or bad. There was something about seeing a familiar face at an unexpected place that made it so much more comforting and right now I was feeling that with Viktor.

“What are you guys talking about?” Casey and Gina had decided to join us and I scooted over to make room for them.

“Nothing much.” I admitted but Casey threw me a disbelieving look. I gave her a challenging look and wondered why she kept thinking that Viktor and I had a thing. She knew about Tom and I, why would she think that I would kiss Tom if I had feelings for someone else the entire time?

“You are exactly what I imagine you would be like!” Gina chirped excitedly and I could see why Casey had come over; she never liked the chatty girly type too much despite being quite vocal herself. My eyes flickered to Viktor whose ear turned red as his friend reveal that they had apparently talked about me plenty before.

“And what did he say?” deciding to play along I asked Gina, who got even more excited and leaned forward so she could tell the story better.

“That you are a hero and saved his skin.” She said, “And it was unbelievable how a tiny person like you stood up against the Legre.”

Flattered, I gave Viktor a grateful glance but he was too busy staring out of the window in embarrassment. I turned around to see Vanessa, Liam and Caleb were inspecting the wreck and seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. Everything seemed to be going well, but this could all change as soon as Gerald and Nigel come into the picture.