Chapter Twenty-Five

Luka didn't waste anytime.

Suddenly, his muscular body was soaring through the air above us. His large muscles contracting underneath his white jumpsuit. My entire body went rigid. There was something about him that made me nervous. He seemed more advanced than any of the other Ciphers.

"Samuel, is he actually a Cipher?" I pointed towards Luka. Samuel had to know more about him. Luka seemed much more advanced than the others.

"Yes," Samuel responded without taking his eyes off of Luka.

"Do you know anything about his RaCO?" I waved my hand in front of his eyes.

"No," he turned his attention towards me. "But, obviously I need to find out some information about his history. I agree with you Esa...there's something about him that makes me very nervous." Samuel also watched Luka as he advanced through the entire course faster than any other Cipher.

My head snapped downwards as I looked at the rest of the team. Gave was jumping over a large pit of fire. Audrina was right behind him. Luther was helping several Ciphers on another obstacle. My eyes scanned all of their facial expressions and then came to a stop on Luther and then back to Samuel.

"You know him. Don't you?"

Samuel didn't immediately respond. Finally, his head dropped. "It's Troy's son. She brought him here. He obviously has a beef with our team."

"How does he know about us?"

"Luka was very involved in his father's operations. He knew about a lot of things. He definitely knew about you Esa. Troy and I talked about you on several occasions. Unfortunately, I may be part of the reason he seems to hold such a big grudge."

Luther ran up towards us. He stood stoically behind Samuel and then it dawned on me. "Both of you knew about his existence. Didn't you?"

Rage flowed throughout my entire body. Once again, these two had lied to me.

"Yes," Luther finally said. "We do."

"Then go and talk to him!" I pushed past Samuel and walked closer towards Luther. "He obviously sees us and he knows both of you are here. Meet with him. Find out more information about what he plans to do. Does he even know about his father?"

Luther nodded. "Okay, I'll talk to him, but you should know that one of Luka's last memories was seeing his father's body floating in one of the tubes. He's probably very angry. I even imagine he blames all of us for his father's death."

My lips pinched together as I thought about a response. I had also seen Troy's body in the tube. His hair had floated above his head, a peaceful expression on his face. "You're probably right, but we need to know more about what he is really thinking. Is he against Marie or us? Marie could have lied to him. We need to know just who he is fighting for..."

Samuel put up his hand to keep me from saying anything else. It was a smart move. I had already talked too much, but it was Luka that made me suddenly need to know more about this group of new Ciphers. Would they be willing to fight with us or would they be against our team? We needed to know who our true enemy was.

Erik suddenly appeared next to me. "Esadore, we must go and talk."

Theo grabbed ahold of my hand and then turned his attention towards Erik. The look in his eyes said it all, he wasn't going to take "No" for an answer. "Esa is not leaving without me. I'm going to."

Erik turned towards Theo. "No. You have not been invited. My apologies. I can only travel with Esadore."

"Then invite me," Theo shot back. "Esadore and I are a team."

Erik's entire body jutted backwards, perplexed by Theo's defiance.

Finally, he cleared his throat. "Very well then, we will all travel together. Let us go. Now."

Erik reached out and grabbed ahold of both of our hands. Instantly, we were transported back to the place where I had first met the sisters, the Regency.

Theo's grip on my hand grew tighter. My hand squeezed back as I let our fingers intertwine. He needed to know we were okay. I winked at him, hoping that would ease any of the tension Theo might be feeling.

"My apologies. Please excuse me," Erik said as he disappeared, leaving us alone in the room. Despite the windows that overlooked Merak, it was still dark inside. Something felt off. Theo pulled me closer. "I don't like this Esa."

My heart rate increased, but I tried to remain calm. "Don't worry. I've been here. This is where I met Marie's sisters."

Theo let out a deep breath as his eyes protectively glanced around the room. It felt like an eternity before Erik reappeared. "I have let them know that both of you will be a part of this conversation."

"And, what did they say?" Theo asked, but before he could say anything else the sisters appeared behind him.

Erik nodded. "Look behind you."

Theo turned to meet the sisters. They had taken on their human forms again. Each of their bodies glowed in the darkness. Obviously, they were trying to ease any of our concerns.

"You have returned," one of the sisters sang. "It is good to see both of you."

Theo looked over at me. His eyes questioning what the sister meant.

"I don't know what you mean," I said hoping to find out more information about our history.

"Marie hated you, yet she let you live. It is very interesting," the second sister said, her voice deeper than the first one. "Marie obviously had other intentions."

Theo let out a soft chuckle. "I'm pretty sure she still hates me. Trust me. Marie hasn't really done anything for—"

"But you have returned home."

"I guess. We're still trying to understand our history." The sisters all nodded at Theo. It was almost as if they appreciated his honesty.

Finally, the sister on the far right said. "She let you live because of Aurora."

My heart sunk at the sound of her name. It was true. Aurora was related to us, but was it really true? Was she our daughter?

"You know about Aurora?" I stuttered, suddenly feeling nervous talking about her, but trying to suppress the nagging feeling that I needed to know more. "Tell me about her. What is she like?"

The sisters all smiled. "Yes. she was the most beautiful offspring. Very precious. We knew she would be an amazing member of the Regency... and the perfect ruler."

The last word they uttered caused my entire body to pull backwards. "Ruler?"

There was a weird moment of silence as the sisters stared at us. Finally, one of the middle ones walked forward. "We couldn't trust Marie. We knew it many solars ago. Esadore, you are the first offspring of one of us, making you very special, but we all feared that granting you Merak would give Marie too much power, so we granted it to Aurora. She is our future. She is the rightful ruler of Merak."

I sucked in a deep breath to try and keep myself from passing out. Theo had the same look on his face. Had we just heard them correctly? Aurora was the future of this planet? It just didn't seem possible.

"Does she know?" I finally managed to ask.

"No. She was just a baby when she was killed and Marie took her RaCO."

"Is she still considered part of the future if she is now a Cipher?"

"Of course, you are all still a part of the Regency, but we must bring back order among our world. If not, then we will force you to all leave. Your RaCO is still strong, but we are not opposed to implementing new laws to keep you away."

"What about Marie?" I quickly asked. Marie could definitely impact any sort of future Aurora might have on Merak. She had obviously kept her around, but Marie had made some questionable decisions over the past few months.

"We still do not trust our sister. She has lied to us many times before. If she is killed, then that's just a casualty of war."

"And if she isn't?"

"Then we will have to put her on trial to figure out how to punish her for all of her crimes."

It didn't seem possible Marie would allow herself to be tried in any sort of court. She seemed too smart and too confident that she was above any laws.

One of the sisters must have known what I was thinking. "Don't worry Esadore, we have very different ways to punish those on Merak who have gone astray."

I wasn't sure that her statement made me feel any better. Theo grabbed ahold of my hand again.

"Aurora doesn't know about us," Theo said. "She doesn't know who we are...isn't that correct?"

"We know. We have seen what you have seen. It's so sad Marie has stolen your offspring. She tricked both of you and kept Aurora all to herself."

Their words caused many mixed emotions. Had my mother really kept my child from me. I had missed out on so much time with her because of Marie.

"But you need to know she really doesn't know anything about us. While on Earth, she was kept from us. It was only recently that we figured out she was connected to us."

"Aurora has beautiful RaCO. Give her time. She will soon learn that she is our ruler."

"We may have a problem—" I interrupted her.

"What?" one of the sisters instantly asked, suddenly more interested in what I had to say.

"There is a new Cipher named Luka. We think he will pose a problem for our team."

The Regency laughed. "Luka is not as strong as Aurora. She will soon show him that he must obey."

Theo smiled, but still his facial expression looked almost defeated. "Esa, we need to talk with Aurora."

I thought about what he had just said. It was true. We need to talk with her. There was a lot to say and explain, but would she be willing to listen? We had no clue what all Marie had told her. I was pretty sure Aurora thought of me as the enemy.

"I'm not the one to approach her. It should be you," My pointer finger thrust into his chest muscle. "You are her father. Maybe she will somehow realize there is a connection between the two of you and then I can talk with her at a later time."

"I'm more than happy to talk to her," his deep voice had a twinge of anger and hurt. "Esa, she's our daughter. We created her. Don't you understand that? How could Marie keep her from us? It seems like the ultimate betrayal. One day, I will get my revenge," His fists clenched next to his hips.

We stayed with the sisters for several more minutes as they asked us questions about the new Ciphers before finally dismissing us. We landed back in our room. Theo paced in front of the large window that overlooked Merak. A large white building loomed high above us.

"This is our home," he whispered as his hands grabbed my face and lifted it up to his. "We are in this together. You and me. I always knew we had a history, which is why I struggled so much when you left. You are the mother of the ruler of Merak. What do you think about that?"

Theo pulled me closer. I could feel the warmth of his breath on my skin as he looked deep into my eyes and then slowly leaned over and kissed me. His lips were soft as they connected with mine. A tiny jolt of electricity shocked me, but I didn't care. It felt good to kiss him.

"It doesn't seem possible," I slowly pulled my face back away from his grasp. "By the way, for the one millionth time...I didn't leave. It's her fault I disappeared and I have a feeling she tried to say it was to protect precious information, but really it was just to get me out of the picture while she groomed Aurora."

"I never saw her," Theo's voice was lost in thought. "I never saw her when we were out on missions. I didn't even know Aurora existed until now. How could I have missed her?"

Marie had done a good job at hiding Aurora, but Samuel had told Audrina to take me to her. I had watched as Aurora had killed someone. She seemed so strong. There was no doubt in my mind that she would be a good leader. Audrina had thought she was showing me my own self a few years prior, but she was really showing me my daughter. It almost seemed cruel that Marie had planted that seed, but I also thought back to that time I had watched Aurora. Her eyes had been cold and she seemed very confident in what she needed to do. Aurora hadn't hesitated in pulling out her gun and shooting the man being held captive.

I cleared my throat as I tried to forget the way she had looked. "Theo, you need to go and find her. Talk to Aurora. Tell her we exist."

Theo nodded. "Gladly."

I grabbed his arms. "She is not going to be happy when you approach her."

"Why not?"

"Remember, Marie has had more than three years to condition her against us. There's no telling what all she told her, but trust me, Aurora is very strong and very willing to kill."

"Fine. She can hate me, but I'm not going to let her go on one more day thinking we don't exist."

"Thank you—"

His body disappeared. I meant what I had just said. I knew he would find her, but silently hoped their meeting would go well. I also knew that he was strong, but Aurora was young and had been brainwashed. There was no telling what she really knew about us.