The situation was almost identical to last time. Amy was in a coffee shop, and by her side, she had a friend. It wasn’t the same friend as last time, and they weren’t in the city of Slough.
As Amy thought back to the situation from before, she started to think how similar yet different everything was.
“I guess not everyone is working for the Grey Elephant gang like last time,” Amy said with a smile. “I came here because I want to know what happened to Tyson. He’s not involved in any of this. He has his own family too, a mother and father. If you hurt him, they will be upset, and losing someone... you must know how that feels.”
Opposite them, Raven had a strange smile on his face. They could all tell it was fake, a forced smile in the situation, almost creepy, as if he was about to snap at any moment.
White was also surprised at how confident Amy was, even in this situation.
“And that’s why I’m in this situation,” Raven said. “You know, Hawk and I, we only had each other. Sure, he would do stupid things from time to time, but didn’t we all when we were teenagers, things that we regretted?”
“Do you really think he deserved to die? To have my younger brother, my only family, taken away from me? In my quest to get rid of Gary... I did what I had to. I just wanted an eye for an eye, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
A hiss almost escaped from Raven’s teeth as he spoke those words, and for a moment, a flicker of strange black substance appeared across his eye, but it quickly reverted back.
“You want me to tell you what happened that night, and I told you everything,” Amy said. “Nothing has changed from back then.”
Raven then pulled out a large stack of paper from under his hoodie and placed it on the table.
“This was all the information the Phoenix Gang gave me. Do you know that? It was because of this that your brother, Gary Dem, was able to be put behind bars,” Raven explained. “The cameras had been purposely wiped.”
“Turns out someone did a sloppy job, and the Phoenix Gang was able to find something on them. They continued to search—not the police, not the White Rose, but the Phoenix Gang.”
“They found crushed phones buried in the ground with Gary Dem’s fingerprints, and traces of my brother’s DNA on the phone. It wasn’t as if the Phoenix Gang forced your brother into that jail cell. Your brother did bad things, and he was put behind bars for a reason!”
“And it’s the same for your brother as well!” Amy screamed, slamming the table.
Others in the shop turned to look at them, and White quickly stood up and calmed Amy down, bringing her back to her seat as she told the others in the shop that it was okay.
“I told you last time that your brother tried to force himself on my friend. If my brother hadn’t come back then, I don’t know what would have happened to her. And do you know what happened after all of that?”
“Do you know why my friend Stacy isn’t here today? Because she died,” Amy said. “That’s right, in your little research, did you even know about that?”
“Stacy died after that incident. Our life wasn’t easy either. Do you know, Gary and I, we were just in high school, but we had to go against all of that—all of the gangs of Slough. He had to go against all of that.”
“Our mother was placed in the hospital on top of that, and when the Phoenix Gang attacked, several people died! Do you really think you’re the only person with a problem? All you’ve done is cause much bigger problems!”
Amy was taking deep breaths. She was holding in a lot, but honestly, she thought that even if her brother did kill Hawk, it was justified. She had seen too much happen during the Phoenix Gang’s attack.
Now, the two of them had to wait for Raven’s response to all of this. To be honest, they were surprised that he hadn’t snapped back.
“It’s strange how things work,” Raven said. “I don’t know if it’s because there’s something wrong with me, something inside of me that I can’t get rid of, or it’s just true what they say.”
“Time will heal everything. As time has gone on, I’ve actually been able to accept what happened to my brother more. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate your brother... it’s just that the anger has lessened.”
“Like you said, a lot of people have been hurt in this, and it looks like my own life is now on the line as well. I don’t even have a place to sleep, a place to stay. Because it looks like I’ve made an enemy of every single one of the Kings.”
Raven paused there, almost as if he was reflecting on every decision he had made. When Amy looked closer, she noticed his clothes were remarkably dirty, and he had deep bags under his eyes.
She thought that might have been the look he was going for, but realized it was much more than that. Being an Altered was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but for Raven, he was now someone who couldn’t be accepted anywhere, in any city.
“Your friend from before, he’s alive, and I’ll tell both of you where he is,” Raven claimed. “But only if you do me one favor.”
“This guy,” White mumbled under her breath, “does he really think he has the right to be asking for favors?”
Raven ignored the comment from White and continued.
“I want you to set up a meeting with your brother. I think I have something that might interest him.”
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