HEART OF THE CHOSEN (CASTE BOOK 1)

Chapter 10

My breath hitched. I had a bad feeling about the rest of his story. Thomas continued:

“Our names are really Eric and Thomas Panchak, and we have no identity papers because our births were never declared. We were born in absolute secrecy in a village in the Corsican mountains. Uh… We haven’t been honest about our age. Eric is twenty-three, and I’m twenty-one. Eve, are you okay?”

I had just been punched so hard in the stomach that I couldn’t even put my finger on what I was feeling.

“You should go on. We’ll talk about how I feel later.”

Thomas looked down and continued his story.

“When we were very young, our parents both died. The police concluded it was suicide. Eric and I were placed with our uncle, our mother’s brother, Joseph Ferloni. We lived in Occhiatana, a village in France. People there knew us, of course, but in Corsica, we don’t meddle in other people’s business, and we protect our own. Joseph had solid contacts with a trafficker of false papers, and until Sam, no one had caused any problems.”

“But why such precautions?”

“I’m coming to that… When Eric was sixteen, he began to have extraordinary abilities. Our slight age difference means that, shortly after him, I discovered the same faculties as my brother. Something was wrong with us, that was certain. Until then, we had believed that our secret identity was due to our father’s past; he was suspected of being a fugitive. But when our gifts were revealed, Joseph told the whole truth and revealed who we were: caste.”

“What?!”

“It’s very complicated, Eve. I’m not sure you can absorb it all in one night.”

“Please don’t take me for an i***t. Finish your story!”

“It’s a very long story. The caste are human beings who are… endowed with innate abilities specific to their lineage. Our parents were both castes, which is rare since we are few. The abilities are transmitted by the genes but sometimes can skip several generations. We understood that we weren’t like everyone else. We wanted to do more research on our ancestors and meet other castes. On this last point, Joseph had forbidden us, but about research, he agreed on the condition of revealing to us only what he deemed necessary. So we went to Rome, to London, and made amazing discoveries in Germany. Joseph was a historian and had spent his life studying the genealogical trees of our family and other presumed or known castes until then. He had never wanted to reveal this information to us. But some time before he died, he gave us a confidential report on the death of our parents. We learned they had died together after a fall from the top of Canary Wharf Tower here in London. By digging a little, the idea of suicide was more and more irregular. But nothing came to call it into question, except another report from the London police, a complaint closed without continuation in a small district police station. It was about an eyewitness statement by a young man who thought he saw three bodies fall from the Canary Wharf Tower on the very day of our parents’ death.”

Suddenly, I felt ice run through my veins, half-understanding where Thomas was coming from.

“We set out to find the identity of the third body. After a few weeks of research, we finally discovered it. The man in question was also a caste. Joseph agreed to give us part of his genealogy. He was a powerful man, his line dating back to at least the mediaeval era, certainly one of the oldest known lines. It had become vital for us to know the truth. We wanted to meet the family of this man. But Joseph died soon after, and our investigative resources vanished with him. He bequeathed the inheritance of our parents to us, an astronomical sum which made it possible to continue our research. We struggled to find this man’s descendants for two years until a few months ago when we called in a reputable hacker from Las Vegas. He breached an army server where secret caste information is stored, and we finally found the truth about this man.”

Thomas was silent. Sam had his head buried in his hands, and Eric stared at me strangely. My head was burning, I had almost no control over my tremors, and I had a painful question on the tip of my tongue.

“What… was this man’s name?”

“Nathan Burberry.”

As soon as he pronounced my father’s name, I stood up, my eyes furious. I felt like a white-hot blade had lodged in my skull, my hands were shaking convulsively, and my heart was pounding, ready to slam through my ribcage. Sam and Thomas threw themselves violently on me.

“Eve, you need to calm down!”

I heard the sounds of broken dishes and objects thrown against the walls. I could feel the ground shaking under my feet. As I struggled to hold my breath, I realised nothing of my surroundings. I didn’t care, but after a few seconds of being held by Sam and Thomas’ strong hands without any explanation, I suddenly took control of my body.

“LET ME GO!”

I threw them back as if I had expelled them by force of arms. Breathing heavily, I was now able to channel my spasms. The puzzle was trying to form in my head, but the pieces refused to fit together as my mind burned under the yoke of dark anger.

“You lied to me!” I yelled. “Did you also lie about my mother? What else have you concealed from me?”

My eyes fixed on Thomas.

“Did you have any intention of revealing this to me?”

“I was going to tell you.”

He looked down. Seeing his face like a beaten dog, I wanted to strangle him with my hands.

“I wanted to be sure that you were like your father. You are a caste, Everliegh. You are like us,” he declared in a low voice.

“Now I think I’m ready to discuss my feelings… Listen to me carefully, Thomas Panchak. It’s over!”

At these last words, I went upstairs and took my backpack and some spare things, my purse and a toothbrush. I had to get out of here right away. At the bottom of the stairs, the ashamed faces of Sam and Thomas made me neither hot nor cold. I hadn’t noticed the mess in the living room, and without another word, I left, slamming the door behind me.

The air that rushed into my lungs freed me from this suffocating atmosphere. It was early January, and the freezing temperature on my skin felt like a slap in the face. A little calmer, I managed to contain my emotions when, after a hundred metres, Eric materialised next to me.

“Go away, Eric.”

“No, I’m not leaving you alone. Do you even know where you’re going?”

“I was going to get myself a hotel room and not think about one word of what was spoken this evening.”

“Look, Eve, I completely understand, but you didn’t let Thomas finish, so I’m telling you right now, and whether you like it or not, you won’t be left alone tonight. Later you will understand why.”

“Why, I don’t care, Eric! I don’t want to stay with a Panchak tonight, is that clear?”

“It’s clear, but I’m not leaving you. I won’t talk to you, but I’m staying, is that clear?”

Seeing his determined face was like asking a bear to hibernate in the summer. I decided not to say a word to him anymore.

We walked for a long time in the cold before arriving at the train station. Eric had no idea where we were going, and he didn’t ask any questions. We took the train to Victoria Station. I got a room for the night at The Eaton Town House. The least expensive had a king-sized bed with simple, angular furniture. A flat screen hung on the wall, and the bathroom had a large shower.

I immediately rushed to the bathroom. Could all these revelations disappear with the dirt? No, I knew it well. After the shower, I put a towel around my chest and got out of this steamy room. Eric was sitting in a chair, arms crossed, eyes scanning me from head to toe. A shiver ran up my spine.

“I forgot my night clothes, okay!”

“No problem,” he replied with a smirk.

I slipped under the sheets. I had put on a cotton shorty and taken a T-shirt in my backpack, clothes intended for the next day. I could never have slept knowing I was completely naked in the same room as Eric, even if it had to be said, a simple shorty didn’t cover much. He hadn’t moved when I turned off the bedside lamp. All lights extinguished, guilt shattered the last defences of my anger. I realised that Eric hadn’t insisted on telling me the rest of this bewildering story. He had understood that I couldn’t bear any more for the moment. I turned on the lamp.

“Eric, I’m not going to let you sleep on the chair.”

“It’s okay, Eve, don’t worry.”

“Yes, I worry! And knowing you’re there stresses me out more than anything else. Listen… go take a shower and come to bed afterwards. The bed is more than two metres wide. I don’t see where the problem is if you lie near the edge.”

He slowly turned his deep brown-green gaze in my direction with a curious expression. His eyes fell on the sheets that hid my chest and my still-damp hair. Still silent, he headed for the bathroom. I began to wonder if it was a good idea to spend the night with him. I suddenly thought back to what Olivia had told me: that Eric was in love with me. Eric was difficult to define in general, except when he got angry. He had a calm temperament, but sometimes I could feel the lava flowing through his veins. Always displaying an unfailing determination, I knew him to be loyal and in control. Olivia had always maintained that he behaved like a gentleman around her, except when she caught him staring at me while they were kissing. I was pulled out of my thoughts by Eric standing in the doorway. He skirted the bed. I jumped when he settled on his side. For a moment, I wanted him to come closer and hug me. Tears bathed my irises, and a sob escaped. The sheets rose slightly. Eric had moved.

“Eve, are you okay?”

“Not really.”

“We can talk if you want.”

He read my thoughts.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be against getting all this stuff out of my head.”

“What do you want to discuss?”

I turned in the bed so that I faced him. The most honest person in this story is Eric. Even though he had the same goal as Thomas, he wasn’t guilty of anything, except maybe hiding the clues about his strange existence and his real motivations for finding the truth about his parents’ death. At that moment, everything was clear in my mind. If my father hadn’t committed suicide, it must have been murder. But why? And how did my father get into such a situation? And why the hell would someone kill him? A red veil obscured my vision, and a taste of hate lurked in the back of my throat.

“Tomorrow, I want to know everything, Eric.”

“It’s understood.”

Eric never rushed me, he never tried to start a conversation, and that was what I needed. Suddenly I thought of Olivia and the question burning on my lips.

“Eric, is everything okay with Olivia?”

“She broke up a few days ago.”

“Oh! I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. I’m surprised she didn’t tell you.”

“To be honest..., a little.”

“Mmm… and what did she tell you?”

“That she thought you weren’t in love with her, at least not as much as she would have hoped.”

“Yes, that’s what she told me too… among other things.”

I felt a pang of embarrassment suddenly. Going further in this conversation could make me extremely uncomfortable, but my curiosity was stronger.

“You didn’t contradict her?”

“No, she had infallible arguments, and I didn’t want to hurt her.”

“Maybe it’s better. Olivia deserves to be happy. I’d still have preferred it to work between you.”

A few seconds of silence passed. He hadn’t looked away.

“She told you about her suspicions?”

“No,” I lied.

“So much the better.”

And it was in this position, face to face and a few centimetres from each other, that we fell asleep. Eric’s presence had had the effect of soothing me, and the heavy fatigue accumulated during that day had made it impossible to think attentively about Thomas’ revelations. I woke up at dawn. Eric was sleeping soundly, so I lay still in bed while my brain wandered. Caste, what did it mean? A lineage going back to the Middle Ages? I could have easily thought that Thomas was leading me on, but why? He knew he would risk losing me if he revealed his real motives. Maybe he didn’t care. And why would I give any credence to his story? Because Eric was there? No, because Sam was there. Sam would have kicked him out immediately if all these rantings were unfounded. I had to know everything and especially who I was. My head snapped back to Eric. His eyes were wide open on me.

“I want to know everything.”

“It’s understood.”

I longed now to know what he and Thomas had to say to me, for I began to wonder if I was just like everyone else or if I was hiding from my true personality all these years, partially conscious of some difference sometimes. But these abilities… no, I didn’t have any, or else I had hidden them well. Still, Sam seemed to know about it, and so did Thomas, so who exactly was I? Finally, I digested this information with much more ease than I would have thought. As if a part of me knew that something was wrong with me, a latent feeling of not being in my place.

I hoped to be able to reconstruct the puzzle of my existence.