They completed the meeting at last and Melissa began to greet the dignitaries. She shook the hand of each and everyone of Vance's council members. They all spoke to her like she was a kid, but she wasn't even focused on what was happening. She was too lost in her own thoughts to find meaning in whatever they did.

Richard walked silently behind her, even though he seemed to have entirely withdrawn into his own shell. He seemed to be thinking too. Even the usually hyperactive Margaret was silent. The threat that such an organisation posed wasn't minute at all and they were already at the centre of the game,...