John Trelawny

"John said he is at the Carlton Hotel, we can meet him in the restaurant area since he booked the entire floor for himself" Alicia reported after ending her phone call with John, her hands were shaking with anticipation. It has been months! She finally saw hope in finding her son.

From what Angelica knew of Los Angeles, was that the Carlton Hotel was located near the beach. It was nearby, so it did not take long for them to park in front of an old-fashioned building, fifteen storeys high and stretching an entire block.

A dozen valets in matching grey waistcoats hurried forward to help them out of the car and then to park it below. But even the valets were outnumbered by the secret service personnel, who had their own uniform: black suits, white shirts, sunglasses and earpieces.

"Body guards" Alicia explained to Angelica and them, these were the special guards arranged for John Trelawny.

Angelica glanced at a peculiar guard who had a aura around his body, if it was not that they had an important mission to deal with then she would have rushed to interrogate this man. 'A Cannibal' she thought

Cannibals did not specified a specific race, but a group of people who shared the characteristics to get stronger by consuming their own kinds. Those who went against what their race dictates as morals, and ate humans, devils, and all kinds of sentient beings instead of following the mainstream.

And it is due to their characteristics that they can explosively grow stronger than anyone, while having a chance to inherit the traits and powers of the beings they consume. And a special Cannibal could even inherit the memories of those he consumed, and that was the Apostle. The most dangerous one of the group, the one who was the cause of the disaster Angelica's tribe faced in the past.

Shaking her head, Angelica calmed herself down. She glanced at the hotel and thought of what Ulrika reported to her a moment ago. According to Ulrika, Senator John Trelawny was staying here for twenty-four hours before he gave his speech at the LA Convention Center and he had taken over the entire twelfth floor for the night.

There were less than five months until the general election and his campaign team numbered almost a hundred people, including media advisors, political consultants, speech writers, pollsters, personal aides and more security men. All of them had rooms, and for one night all the lifts to the twelfth floor had been blocked.

To visit the senator, guests would need to show ID and then receive a pass key provided by the secret service. Callers were accompanied all the way. If they didn't have an invitation, they didn't get in.

"Will he even be willing to see us during such an important time?" Jamie asked,

The six of them had entered the hotel and followed a winding corridor, Alicia nodded with confidence "I just have to let him know we're here…"

They entered a cavernous lobby with a huge chandelier hanging over a round, polished table. This hotel was incredibly extravagent, there was too much of everything. Too many electric candlelights, too many vases of flowers on the table, too many antique clocks and mirrors and display cases packed with handbags, scarves and shoes.

And too many people. There was a concierge desk and a reception desk and porters and guests everywhere.

Alicia stopped and looked around, searching for someone she knew. A few moments later, she found him. "There!" she exclaimed, and moved forward.

A man was standing next to a table close to the lifts. He was dressed in the same dark suit and white shirt as the other security men, but he had a brightly coloured tie as if to announce that he wasn't actually one of them. Even so, there was a telltale wire curling behind his ear and he was obviously doing the same job: scanning the lobby with suspicious eyes.

The man saw Alicia and recognized her before she was nearer than ten paces. "Alicia!" He greeted her by name but he seemed more surprised than pleased to see her.

"How are you, Warren?" Alicia asked,

"I'm good." Warren answered,

"I didn't know you were in LA." Alicia said,

"I didn't know I was coming until a couple of days ago." Warren explained nonchalantly, he had noticed Jamie, who was standing a few steps behind her, trying to keep out of the way. He frowned since he found this boy suspicious compared to Angelica and the girls who stood confidently.

"These are friends of mine, this is David, Ange, Stephy, Eva and Sandra" Alicia introduced Jamie, Angelica, Stephani, Everest and Sakura using different names although for the latter four she made impromptu names on the spot hench why it sounded so similar.

She turned to Angelica and the rest to introduce the guard "This is Warren Cornfield."

Warren nodded slowly at them, then turned back to Alicia. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

"I want to see the senator." Alicia said without hesitations

"You want to see the senator?" A smile spread across Cornfield's lips. But he wasn't amused at all, and he immediately rejected her "You know that's not possible, Alicia. Tomorrow he's talking to ten thousand people. Somehow, I don't think he's got time to see you right now."

"When I left, he said his door would always be open to me." Alicia said stubbornly,

"That's not what he told me." Warren said nonchalantly

"Why don't you ask him?" Alicia asked,

"I'm not his assistant, Alicia. You know that. I think maybe you should ring back another time and get an appointment." Warren said

"You will do what we want" Angelica muttered before gripping Warren's hand, just from a casual squeeze she added, "Or we will kill you and walk, we don't need you alive for it"

"You---" Warren growled but suddenly he felt fear, he could not move his body at all. He could not even feel or sense his body at all, it was like he could only feel his head. "What have you done to me..." He muttered

"Let us in Warren" Stephani muttered as she snapped her fingers, a few magic circles tiny as dust particles materialized in front of his eyes causing him to falter, his eyes dimmed as if he was controlled.

"Yes Madam" Warren muttered, with a snap of his finger one of the younger secret servicemen came running over.

"Show these people up to twelve," he said.

"Yes, Mr Cornfield." The young secret serviceman did not question Warren's strange demeanour, and led them into the lift. The security man inserted a key into the lock and pressed the button for the twelfth floor. The doors closed.

It was only then Warren snapped out of his stupor, "The hell!?" he cried out, he immediately chased after them, he could not stop them since he said it himself. He had to at least make sure John Trelawny was safe.

"The hell did this woman do to me!?" He muttered, feeling a dreadful feeling penetrating his heart. He was controlled, like a puppet. He did not like this feeling at all, and telling them that it was not him would make them think he was mental. So he had to move after making sure that there was someone to take over his post.

Meanwhile, the young secret serviceman asked "You friends of the senator?"

"I used to work for him," Alicia said.

"He's a good guy," the security man went on talking about John Trelawney while he cursed whenever he spoke of Charles Baker, it appears the latter had caused several problems in such a short amount of time since the election started.

When the elevator door opened, there was a silver-haired man in a suit but no tie waiting for them. The man knew Alicia at once. "My dear, it's very good to see you. How have you been keeping?"

"It's great to see you, Patrick. Still playing the horses?" Alicia asked with a sly smile,

"Still losing," Patrick replied with a sigh, showing his grief for not winning.

"This is a friend of mine. Patrick is John's campaign chairman for the state of California." Alicia introduced Angelica and the girls along with Jamie to Patrick.

"Good to meet you. He can't see you for very long, Alicia," he said, as he led them down a corridor.

"Right now the pressure's on." Patrick said suddenly, only Alicia understood what he meant.

"How is he?" Alicia asked.

"He's doing a grand job. I just wish the contest wasn't going to be so damned close…" Patrick cursed.

There was a set of double doors at the end of the corridor with yet another secret serviceman on guard. Patrick showed a pass and led Alicia along with the rest into a large conference room with a single table scattered with notepads and pens, computers, printouts, files, trays of sandwiches and bottles of mineral water.

There were a dozen people sitting around and from the look of them, none had slept very much in recent days. They were busy talking, arguing over a graph of some sort, but as Alicia came in, one of them stood up.

John Trelawny didn't look like a politician. He was a handsome man, in his late forties. He had hair which had once been fair but had since faded, on its way to going grey. But he looked fit and healthy. He was wearing cords, a loose-fitting blue sweater and trainers. He was obviously tired but his light brown eyes were full of life.

"Alicia, this is a very unexpected surprise. How are you? Is there any news of Daniel?" John embraced Alicia while greeting her with a set of questions,

"Yes, there is, Senator. That's why I wanted to see you." She turned and introduced Jamie first.

"This is Jamie." This time, she used his name.

"These are Angelica, Everest, Stephani and Sakura. These girls have been aiding us in searching for Jamie's brother and my son. It's thanks to them we have information about my son" Alicia introduced further and explained to John.

John's hand reached out and shook hands with each of them.

"I'm sorry to come here like this, I know how busy you are and how important this time is for you. But I urgently need to talk to you." Alicia explained,

"You've found your boy?" John asked,

"Yes, however, the location where he is and who brought him there... Will be difficult to reach him" Alicia explained,

"Senator…" A woman sitting at the table held up a cell phone. "I have the mayor of Auburn on the phone for you. He wants to talk about the birthday parade."

John looked bemused. "Not right now, Beth, can you please tell him I'll call him back?"

He turned to Alicia. "I'm afraid I can't give you too much time, there's a lot going on right now. But, you know, a break might be good for me. In fact, it might be good for all of us. OK, everyone!"

He raised his voice. "Go out and get some fresh air or have a snack or do something that approximates to real life. We'll get back together in ten minutes."

He turned to Alicia and the rest. "Why don't we all go next door where we can talk undisturbed?"

There was a sitting room next to the conference centre, Jamie watched the five of them go in. They shut the door behind them. None of the campaign workers left the table. They just went on working as they had before.

At last, the door opened and Trelawny appeared again. He called out to one of his men in the room "Michael, can you get me the file on Nightrise?"

He turned to Jamie. "I'd like to have a word."

The man called Michael had snatched up a thick folder and handed it to Trelawny, who nodded his thanks. Closing the door behind him, everyone was in the room ready to discuss further. What happened inside was nothing more than John catching up with Alicia, while Angelica explained the entire situation to him in detail.

"According to Angelica, the people who took Scott is the same people who took Daniel. And the reason they're interested in you, she says, is because you have an extraordinary ability. You can read people's thoughts. My thoughts, for example." John said, although Angelica showed him a fire magic he still was not entirely convinced.

"I'm sorry, Jamie," Alicia muttered.

"That's OK." Jamie had guessed what he was going to have to do, but this time he wasn't worried.

Everything about Senator Trelawny, even the way he spoke, made him feel comfortable. He wouldn't be the same as Colton Banes. He didn't live in the same world.

"Anyway, this should be fairly simple. Although Angelica had proven to me magic, I still don't feel convinced so Alicia suggested to me that I put you to the test. Do you mind?" John asked,

"No, sir." Jamie responded.

"Very well." John gestured at a low table in front of the sofa. There was a plain wooden box, about the size of a cigarette packet, placed in the middle.

"My wife gave me that, I carry it with me wherever I go. Alicia doesn't know what's in it. I haven't told her. But she says you can tell me." John said with a amused face, he really was curious to see if Jamie could tell him.

Jamie concentrated for a moment. Then he looked Trelawny straight in the eyes. "There's nothing inside the box, it's empty."

John didn't give anything away. However the tension within the room suddenly increased.

"Your wife made it, she likes working with wood. Her name is Grace. You keep things in it when you go to bed. Cuff links and stuff like that. Right now it's difficult to tell you more because all you're thinking about is the election. It's weird…" Jamie explained

"Go on." John felt relaxed hearing this, he was surprised but he was more curious if this boy could tell him his true feelings.

"Well, I was going to say, you're really scared of losing. But what's strange is, you're even more scared of winning." Jamie said feeling confused

There was a silence.

John stayed where he was, so still that he was barely breathing. At last he let out a long breath. "You have an extraordinary talent, I won't call it a gift because perhaps it isn't. I can't imagine what it must be like for you to have this ability."

"I don't want to use it, I don't want it." Jamie said feeling depressed, he cursed his ability which was the cause that he and his brother separated and why they had gone through such a difficult life. If only they were ordinary, then they would have been able to live ordinary lives instead of this supernatural world.

"Nobody but me has ever looked inside this box, since you have convinced me then I will tell you all why I can't help you much in this regards" John explained,

"This folder contains just the tip of the iceberg. I don't believe all big business is bad, but Nightrise is a very big corporation and they seem to take pride in being as bad as they can get away with. The trouble with this country is that we're all too ready to turn a blind eye to crimes committed in the name of business." John said with a depressed voice,

"A factory burns down and twenty workers are killed.

"A tank leaks and a whole river system gets polluted.

"A weapons system is sold abroad and ends up being used against American soldiers.

"Nobody notices and you know why? Because profit is all that matters. Profit is king. These companies are making huge profits and employing tens of thousands of people. So we let them get away with murder. And I first heard about Nightrise about six months ago." He produced a clipping, cut out of a newspaper.

"This was sent to me by a friend. He thought I might be interested in the story of a twelve-year-old child working in a toy factory in Indonesia who got burned by one of the machines and died. The kid had been working ten hours a day for twenty cents an hour and he was exhausted. I call that murder.

"He was making parts for a shooting game and the company that employed him just happened to be fully owned by Nightrise. But did they pay any compensation? Did they care? Of course not. And you could buy that toy in any mall in America…"

"You said there's is not much you can help us with in regards to them" Jamie cut in.

"Here's why. The current vice president and the chief of staff both used to work for Nightrise before they went into politics. When they leave the White House, whoever wins the next election, they'll go back on the board. Nightrise has about three hundred companies all around the world and many of them do work for the US government. There's one that manufactures bombs. The bombs are dropped." John explained,

"Which is why we chose to send two of us as felons," Angelica said all of the sudden,

"Correct, in that way I can assist you all to enter Silent Creek and search for your son and brother. However, I have to say that after your in I can no longer help you. What happens after that I can't get involved in any way, otherwise, Charles would use this against me" John explained.

"No need to worry, we only need to get inside and everything else would be our responsibility," Sakura said with confidence.

"Angelica, I have been wondering for a while now. But isn't John going to make a speech tomorrow morning?" Everest whispered to Angelica,

"What's your point?" Angelica whispered back,

"Won't Nightrise use this chance to do something to him? an Open speech in public with many spectators, won't it cause a massive impact?" Everest whispered,

"This----" Angelica narrowed her eyes,

"We can stay here for another day," Sakura said as she glanced at the two of them, "getting into Silent Creek will take time"

"That's true, I will be grateful if you can patiently wait" John added but he did not understand why Sakura was looking at Angelica and Everest when she said that, yet still felt relieved that they were not in a hurry since he could only do so much.

"It wouldn't be easy for me to send you in since first of all only the worst kind of criminals are sent to that jail, if it's in Nevada it isn't even in my jurisdiction. ---" John began to speak but was interrupted.

There was a knock at the door and, without waiting for an answer, Warren Cornfield burst in. John's security man was looking furious. He stood framed in the doorway, which was almost his own size.

"Excuse me, sir. I'm sorry to butt in…" Warren said with a stern expression,

"What is it, Warren?" John asked. He didn't seem concerned.

"Nothing Sir, I just wanted to ensure that you are safe sir" Warren explained while standing behind John while glaring at Angelica and the girls, he feared them the most out of the rest.

John sighed knowing that their talks could not continue with this man here, so he turned to Sakura. "You all best get going, but I have Alicia's cell number and I'll get in touch. It should be possible to arrange what you've asked for. I have friends…"

The six of them left the office, Warren frowned "Sir, Jamie should be reported. If anyone knows that he had been here it will implicate you"

"No one will know" John said with a smile, he already experienced the sight of magic and Angelica gave him her word that she will remove this meeting from everyone's memories except for him. He finally believed in magic

>\/<

Meanwhile, Angelica who was the leader of the group told everyone about the speech tomorrow and Everest's intuition.

"Then Sakura is right, it's best we stick one day here," Alicia said nodding her head,

"But my brother..." Jamie moaned,

"We have to wait for John to arrange for us to infiltrate silently, we might as well stick close where he can get in contact with us sooner," Stephani said,

"I just hope nothing happens" Alicia muttered,

Shortly the night came, they book a few rooms at a nearby motel to stay at.

It has been a long, long day for them.