Cecelia Ahern - Flawed

“Before we begin, do you have any questions? Any questions at all.”

The way she’s looking at me I know I have to sit up and listen. I know it has begun. It’s time to take control of myself now.

“Tell me about Enya Sleepwell.”

She smiles for the first time. “Excellent question, kiddo. You’re going to be an A student, I can tell. Tell me what you know about her.”

“She’s a politician. She has a pixie cut. She came to my trial every day. I remember seeing her. She always stood in the back, near the Flawed. She’s a member of the Vital Party. She’s on my side.”

“Two corrections.” She holds her fingers up. “She’s now leader of the Vital Party. She managed to stage a coup against the party leader. He was sweet but stupid. Enya played him, his own fault, really. He should have watched his back as soon as that girl was voted in. She was voted in as leader just last week, and she has you to thank for that.

“Second correction, she’s not necessarily on your side. She’s a politician, a fast riser at that. I believe she cares, and she cares hard, but she leans whichever way the wind is blowing, and she’s noticing that the Flawed problem is a rising concern with people, some people anyway. But there’s enough growth in that area to get behind it, so she can surf the wave to victory.”

As she tells me about her, she flicks through dozens of photos of Enya, many of her caught by cameras standing among the crowds at my trial.

“If you make one mistake, she’ll drop you like a hot potato, but so far she sees you as her poster girl, her shortcut, freeway to leadership. Power. It’s all about that, don’t you forget. People want money or power. Which do you want?”

I frown. “Neither.”

Alpha frowns as she studies me.

“Wait.” I try to think clearly. “But Enya is already leader. What more does she want?”

“She’s leader of her party, sweetheart. She’s gunning for leadership of the country .”

“She thinks that I can help with that?”

Alpha smiles again, liking my naïveté, but I’m learning fast. “No, she’ll use you to get that; and if you fail, she’ll find something else to get behind, like package holidays to Mars.”

“So I shouldn’t trust her.”

“That’s not what I said. You can trust her as long as you’re aware of where she stands. She’s using you, you use her right back. I’m surprised she hasn’t made contact yet.” It’s a statement, but I know she’s questioning me.

I shake my head.

“Soon, I imagine.”

The idea of this scares me.

“Don’t worry, I’ll coach you. Anything you need to know, you ask me, okay?”

I nod, but I’m unsure. At this point, I don’t feel like I can trust anybody. Alpha is no different, and she senses this.

“Yes, I’m using you, too,” she admits. “I’ve an agenda, too. I’ve opinions and beliefs that I want to see come through. You’re the girl of the moment. With a bit of guidance, you’re the one who can make it happen.”

“Why do you believe in this so strongly?”

“My husband is Flawed. His temple and tongue.”

Bad judgment and a liar.

“He made an ethical mistake at work. Got caught. He was a rising man in the ranks, with great prospects and a bright future, so they put a stop to that and made an example of him.”

“Why was the Guild so threatened by him?”

“Interesting, Celestine. You asked why the Guild was so threatened .… You recognize that’s what’s happening. That’s good. Let’s continue.”

She continues showing me the landscape, which she believes has been opened up because of my actions on the bus and my responses on the stand.

“Compassion and logic. I loved that,” she says, banging her hand down on the table and grinning. “Did it take you long to come up with that, or did someone else write it for you? Was it that Mr. Berry? Some believe that, but I don’t. It’s not his style.” She moves in, hanging on my every word to come. “Who wrote that line?”

I frown. “No one wrote anything. It just came out.”

She shakes her head, incredulously. “Marvelous. We need more of that. You know word is that Enya is going to use that as the Vital Party’s campaign logo. Compassion and Logic: The Perfect Partnership. Vote Vital Party .”

I shake my head in disbelief.

“I know. It’s a lot to take in, but we need more of that stuff; and if you think of any more like that, just write it down. I can find a way to use it. So what else … you’re looking a little dazed, maybe I’ll move on to math, something you’re familiar with. For now, anyway…” She rummages around for the schedule. “We better do something on this list today, to help you out with dear sweet Mary May’s lie detector test.”

“You know her?”

“She was responsible for my sister-in-law and her husband going to prison for aiding my husband. They helped him break a couple of rules, and they’re locked up for four years each. I wouldn’t mess with her. She looks like a bird, but she bites like a lion. They mean business when they place her with you. She’s the most senior in her position. She eats, sleeps, lives being a Whistleblower. Knows more than any of them put together, which isn’t a lot, but she’s the control center.”

This is the first I’ve heard of people going to prison for aiding. Before this, it was just a threat. And it was a very real threat to me. Two years for aiding Clayton Byrne to his seat, or Flawed. “I’m sorry to hear about your family.”

She waves her hand dismissively again and doesn’t even look up from the paperwork.

“Is there a reason why you tattooed your stomach?”

This unsettles her a bit, but she rises to the challenge. “I’ve had six miscarriages in four years. My womb won’t carry a baby, not full term anyway. Believe me, we’ve tried. And don’t say sorry again, it’s not your fault.” She looks at the schedule again and then drops it and slows down. I know she’s going to open up. “The tattoo is there not because I believe there is something wrong with me. It’s there to remind me that our flaws are our strengths. It was this that made me start my foundation. Not being able to conceive my own, I looked into adoption. Specifically, I’ve tried to adopt an F.A.B. child over the years, but I have been unsuccessful. But I’m not telling you anything you don’t know,” she says. “You know all about this from your Flawed At Birth friend, I’m sure. Carrick, isn’t that his name?”

Now she has my attention.

FIFTY-FOUR

“HOW DO YOU know about Carrick?” I ask, suddenly suspicious.

I begin to question my instincts again. Is this a setup to try to find Carrick? Crevan has managed to somehow make Mr. Berry and the guards disappear, and now he’s searching for Carrick? Are they using Alpha to find out the information from me? I can’t trust her. This all could be a trick, a trick to catch Carrick, to catch me. I’m not as gullible as I once was. If anything, that attribute was my main flaw. My eyes are open now, wide open to everyone around me, but I also know I need to be smart and try to learn as much about Carrick from her as I can.

“You’re right to be suspicious,” she says. “That’s good. You’re wondering how I know all this. Carrick didn’t receive much, if any, coverage in the wake of you, Angelina Tinder, and Jimmy Child, and it’s safe to say the Guild doesn’t like stories of Flawed At Birth children searching for their Flawed parents.”

Flawed At Birth children? I try not to react to this news, when inside my mind is whirling, my stomach churning.

“I’m sure you know the children are not allowed to search for their biological parents. First, they’re taken away from their Flawed parents and locked up in an institution for eighteen years to ‘teach’ the Flawed out of them. As soon as they reach eighteen years of age, they are released. If they search for their parents, even so much as think about it, they’re branded Flawed. Loyalty to their own flesh and blood is seen as disloyalty to society.” She shakes her head, the anger causing the veins in her neck to pulsate. Despite my fear that this is a setup to locate Carrick, Alpha’s anger on this subject is certainly not fabricated.