“Morning boys!” Nana greeted the next morning before they even entered the kitchen.
“Morning,” they replied in unison.
“Hey, can Nana see through walls or does she have some kind of 360 degree vision or something?” Gerard whispered to Frank as they sat down at the table.
“No,” Frank snickered quietly. “She can sense souls. That’s why she’s the Keeper.”
Before Gerard could ask what he was talking about, Nana placed two plates in front of them and told them to eat up. He spent all morning trying to figure out what the Keeper could be, but without any success.
The three of them entered a coffee shop where they were greeted by a blond, muscular guy not much taller than Gerard.
“Gerard, this is Bob,” Rae introduced them to each other.
“Nice to meet you,” Gerard said, shaking Bob’s hand.
“Welcome to Una,” Bob smiled. “How do you like it so far?”
Gerard thought about it for a few seconds before saying, “I’ll get back to you and that one.”
Bob chuckled heartily, “Fair enough.”
The foursome then proceeded to find a table and order coffee.
“I just have a random question,” Gerard stated, looking at Bob. “Do any of you work?”
Bob laughed again before answering.
“We do actually have jobs. Rae and I are Seekers and little Frank here still goes to school.”
“Hey, I’m not that little!” Frank retorted feeling insulted. “I can beat your ass any day!”
“By running away?” Bob teased.
Frank smiled guiltily, “It’s something.”
“Wait a second. What exactly are seekers?” Gerard asked, ignoring the two’s squabble.
“You’ll learn everything in due time,” Bob said before turning his attention back to Frank.
Gerard could feel his blood boiling. Rae noticed his face go slightly pale.
“Fuck it!” he exclaimed angrily, slamming his fist on the table and jumping up.
The three still seated at the table stared at him, eyes wide with surprise at his sudden outburst.
“I am sick and tired of this shit! I am sick and tired of not getting being told the truth. I’m supposed to accept my fate and settle into my new life, but how the hell am I supposed to do that if no one would give me a straight damn answer???? It’s always just a riddle or vague reply or ‘You’ll learn everything in due time’ and I’m sick of it!! Tell me everything, the whole story right now or I’m out of here!”
“Gerard, please sit down,” Rae asked calmly.
“Are you ready to tell me everything?” he wanted to know.
“Just tell him, Rae,” Frank urged.
She turned to look at Bob uncertainly. His face was stern, but he slowly nodded his approval.
“Okay,” she sighed, turning her gaze back to Gerard. “We’ll tell you everything.”
Gerard slowly sat back down, keeping his eyes locked with Rae’s.
“What do you want to know?” she asked him.
“I want to know what a seeker is. I want to know what the keeper is. What do they all do? And I want to know what a damn Rebellion or whatever it’s called is,” he stated firmly.
Rae took a deep breath and started, “The Keeper is the person in each city on Una that’s in charge of Souls. When you think about it logically, that’s what you are, a soul aka a new arrival. The Keeper is in charge of getting new Seekers and helping new Souls to adjust to their new lives. Nana is our Keeper. The Seekers, that are Bob, Ray and me, are in charge of finding the new souls. You see, Nana can sense when someone new arrives on Una then it’s our responsibility to find that person and bring him or her back to Nana. We then proceed to inform them about life on Una and how things here work. Rebellions are people who are unable to adjust and then go into seclusion. They only come out at night and they rebel against everything Una is and represents. They tear things down and kill whatever living thing they find. They’re not exactly human either. They don’t just kill people they come across at night. They completely obliterate their unfortunate victims.”
“How?” he asked shocked.
“We don’t know. People just disappear. We never find the bodies,” Bob admitted.
“Don’t you have some kind of law enforcement?” Gerard wanted to know.
“No one dares go out after dark and no one is stupid enough to try and stop these things,” Bob stated. “Don’t worry about it though, if you stick by the rules you’ll be fine.”
“That’s real comforting,” he mumbled sarcastically, causing Bob to burst out laughing.