Cursed Daughter

Chapter 2

    “You requested my presence Order Garrett?” I said as I turned the knob and walked in. 

    Order Garrett was a bit different than the rest, he never wore the standard Order robes and was always in a full suit. We knew he was the youngest of all them but we never knew his true age as they all seemed to look ageless. Garrett stood at six foot with a slight, muscular, build. He had short, spiky, brown hair and clear blue eyes. His complexion was nearly flawless and very pale almost as if he had never seen the sun in his life. The only thing that ruined the illusion of him being truly flawless was a scar he had that went from his temple to his jaw.

    “Yes Lucy, please, take a seat.”

    He pointed to the chairs across his massive desk. The room was rather large with a ceiling to floor bookshelf on the right wall. His desk was about five feet long made of solid oak, facing the door, his chair was leather and if he was any shorter it would engulf him when he sat down. He had two plush chairs across the desk giving the illusion of visitors when in reality it was only ever students that came into these offices. The wall behind Garrett was all glass windows shining massive amounts of sunlight into the room. The rest of the room was all white and plain with no paintings or pictures.

    I sat down in the chair furthest to the right not wanting to be directly near him. He turned away from the laptop he was facing and stared into my eyes. It made me highly uncomfortable but years of training here made my face give nothing away. Staring was their way of breaking down our defenses, making us more willing to tell on ourselves, but I’ve been in this exact chair too many times for it to affect me anymore.

    “Lucy, I am not going to drag this meeting out as I have no desire to see you either. I summoned you as I need you to assemble a minuscule team and search for a,” he paused almost as if he didn’t know what word to use, “ lost trainee.”

    “Order with all due respect I have never had a mission outside of the borders. I will not even know where to start.”

    “You will be supplied with maps. We have reason to believe this trainee is only a few miles outside the wall as she took no supplies with her. These woods are too dense for someone from the twelve age group to survive longer than a few days alone. Your team will consist of only two other people, you are to choose them. This mission is to last a week in case our sources are wrong but you must be back by sundown on Saturday.”

    He slid a manila folder over to me then went back to his computer breaking his eye contact. That was my cue to leave so I silently rose from the chair and hurried out of the building. I hated the Order with all my being, Garrett was a bit different but he still made me as uneasy as the others. I knew he breaks rules the others don’t because about three years ago he gave me a necklace, that I had no memory of, that was from my life before here. I didn’t have a say in whether I accept this or not. 

    When they give orders they are to be followed if you refuse you disappear. I walked back over to building three and headed to my room, it was only midday but I trusted Kyle and Sandra to watch my class for me. In an hour lunch was to be served but until then I had time to think as to how I would approach this with them and to let them know I was choosing them. I studied the folder and saw the different maps I was given studying them and committing them to memory. The information on the twelve year old trainee was limited, stating her height, weight, portrait photo of her, and her name.

    There was no other information in the folder. Nothing stated when she arrived here, where she came from, or even a sibling history. I had a small glimmer of hope that seeing this folder would give me an idea on where I could start the search for my own answers. I looked over to the clock and angrily sighed, getting up to start making my way to the meal hall. I got myself a sandwich as I headed to the back table we normally occupy. I was still simmering over the folder when Kyle and Sandra walked in, making a b-line towards the table.

    “Hey Lucy, what’s wrong?” Sandra asked as they walked up.

    I wordlessly  slid the folder over to them, gesturing for them to look in it. Sandra opened it, sliding it closer to her and Kyle. They looked over the meager information also committing the maps to memory, like we were trained to do. Kyle looked up at me confused on why I was showing them this.

    “Order Garrett briefed me on this mission hours ago. From what he says this trainee got ‘lost’ and I have to pick a small group to go and retrieve her.”

    Sandra got the hint that I was meaning them so she questioned further. “Why do you need a small group to do this? They couldn’t send the girl’s teacher to retrieve her if she got lost in their care?”

    “I didn’t ask many questions Sandra, you know we can’t, but I figured this is going to become a chance to find out more information on who I am. We have to break the surrounding wall, there could be a chance I will remember it all.”

    Kyle looked at me picking up on why I was choosing them. Him and Sandra both wanted to remember their past. That was the reason I became so close to them both. They wanted answers as much as I did and they have even helped me break into classified areas to try to find that information just to no avail.

    Kyle looked into my eyes with all seriousness, “When do we leave?”

    “Tonight we are given seven days to recover this girl then return back here. He did indicate that she would not be alive when we find her so I assume we are to return her body.”

    Sandra and Kyle looked at each other, turned back to me, then nodded. They wanted to go, they wanted the same answers. If we got them we knew we would never return, but we would constantly be in danger. The Order will never stop looking for us, we know they’ll send their best, but we are determined to be free.