With twelve high-level Elementalists standing directly behind me – who also carried military-grade weapons out of an abundance of redundancy – I stood at my mother’s unlocked cell door, staring at the rubber-coated handle for an interminably long minute. My hands shook as they cradled the neatly folded rubber suit I’d been given for my own protection.
“You’re welcome to enter now, Miss,” the guard said, nimbly balancing his machine gun in the crook of his elbow as he reached forward to open the door on my behalf.
As he stepped back to allow me to pass, for one long moment, he and everything else appeared to slow down – the dust particles floating in the air, the nearby guards shifting uneasily on their feet, my own shallow breaths; everything unfolded around me like a reel of film that had been slowed to a quarter-speed. As the door to my mother’s cell swung open, I had the overwhelming urge to turn on my heel and flee… but there she stood in the center of the tiny gray room.
“Rowan…” I heard her whisper. As my breath retreated into the farthest depths of my lungs, I could feel the protective suit slip through my trembling fingertips and fall to the floor. Independently of my brain, my heavy feet carried me into her dimly-lit cell, one drawn-out, laborious footfall at a time.
Then, as the door slammed shut behind me, time sped up again, faster than before. My breathing intensified into quick, successive gasps. I could scarcely register my mother’s face before she rushed forward and threw her slender arms around me, clutching me fiercely.
“Rowan, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” she whispered into my hair. I barely heard what she was saying. Instead, I took a deep breath, trying to remember her scent, her touch – something. But nothing familiar came – only the subtle smell of soap and talcum powder.
She took a step backwards to take me in, still tightly gripping my arms in a way that reminded me of Evelyn. Tall and thin – thinner than the woman I’d seen in the photos – she had long, gray-streaked black hair that was pulled away from her high cheeks in a loose half-knot. Despite her pallor and the dingy gray scrubs she wore, she managed to maintain an air of elegance; her midnight blue eyes, though slightly sunken and framed by crow’s feet, shone brightly. And yet, though we undeniably shared certain physical features, she was as much of a stranger to me as anyone else in that facility.
“My beautiful Rowan…” she murmured, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she spoke. “I’m so sorry for everything. You were never supposed to be here.” She let out a quiet sob as her eyes fell to the pendant I wore around my neck.
“Your father gave me that necklace the day we found out I was pregnant with you,” she said softly, brushing her cool fingertips against the stone. “I’m so glad you’ve kept it safe.”
I swallowed, finding myself unable to speak.
“It’s okay if you don’t remember me,” she smiled, motioning for me to sit as she took a seat on the edge of her bed.
I followed suit, drawing the single wooden chair in the room beside her meticulously-made bed. Though her ‘bed’ was actually an air mattress resting inside a wooden frame – with wooden dowels in place of metal nails or screws, I noted – it was comforting to see that she was allowed a warm-looking gray quilt and a pillow. As I sat down, I noticed the large, square-shaped seam at my feet that presumably led to her own underground pit, and shivered slightly, wondering if she’d had to spend any time down there. Unlike the vacant cell I had previously been kept inside, at least my mother’s cell had a small wooden bookshelf that was lined with books and notepads. There was even a current calendar on the wall and one, lone picture tacked beside it – a faded, creased photo of her and my father smiling widely behind a dark-haired, blue-eyed little girl.
“I woke up alone and never knew why,” I murmured, vaguely aware of the accusation in my voice. My mother clutched her hands together tightly in her lap. The gold and purple ink embedded in her arm looked pale and faded.
“We don’t have much time before Savannah comes back,” she said, closing her eyes momentarily. “And there’s so much I need to tell you. Have you… met Evelyn?”
“Yes, years ago,” I replied. “I didn’t know she was family until last week. She gave me your letter.”
“Then… your powers have returned?” she asked softly.
I nodded. “But not my memories. My powers only started showing up a few weeks ago – first a tornado appeared, then the water in my bath heated up on its own. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I met a Pyromancer named Aiden who helped me understand what I am. It’s because of him that I was on my guard when the Asterians first reached out to me – he’s Terry Lawson’s estranged son.”
My mother drew a sharp breath.
“Anyway,” I continued, my voice sounding hollow, “after my powers began to appear – or maybe even before – the Asterians started following me. They tried to recruit me, offered to train me. But I felt like they were keeping things from me – my past, my family, maybe even the reason for my amnesia – so Aiden and I broke into the Denver Chapter last week to try and learn the truth. We found a copy of his father’s file… and Dad’s. But we were caught.” I grimaced. “They forced me into admitting I can manipulate all five elements.”
My mother’s eyes widened as she regarded my tattoo. “So… they now know what you are.” I nodded grimly. “Did they hurt you?” Her eyes trailed to the bandages on my arms.
“We escaped,” I said simply, not wanting to recount the nightmare that ensued. “I went to California to try to find answers about you and Dad, while Aiden looked for his sister in Tulsa.”
“His sister, Sarah?” My mother asked. “But she’s—”
“I know. After I got our things from the safe deposit box, I flew to Tulsa and we broke into the Containment Center there to try to find her – and yes, we eventually realized she wasn’t there. I’m also aware that you’re a big reason why she was contained in the first place.” Her mouth pressed into a thin line, but she only nodded. “Before we fled, we were informed that Sarah had been moved to D.C. Ted, your old friend, confirmed you were here as well.”
“You tracked down Ted?” she asked, eyebrows raised.
“He found me,” I replied drily. “We – Ted, Aiden, several of my friends and I – were on our way to break you both out of here, but Savannah found me first. She says…” my voice cracked. I swallowed tightly. “…She says the rest are still on their way.”
My mother was staring at me with round eyes of disbelief. “You are truly your father’s daughter,” she whispered.
I stood up suddenly, knocking over the chair as I did so. All of this chit-chat felt absurd, somehow.
“What did they do to him, anyway – my father? What happened three years ago? Why did Ted stab us in the back?” The questions were spilling out of me uncontrollably. “Why did you torture all those people? What gave you the right to destroy my memories? Why couldn’t the three of us have run away, together?” The questions kept coming, each one bringing an onslaught of raw emotions that I’d been suppressing for days, weeks… Years. By the time I’d finished my inquisition, I was weeping – deep, shuddering sobs that sprang forth from a seemingly bottomless well.
“Oh sweetheart,” my mother whispered, rising to her feet to comfort me. I took a step backwards, quickly wiping my eyes on the bandages on my arms.
“I wish we had more time.” She glanced at the door to the cell, which remained closed, then sat back down on the bed, rubbing her temples wearily. “What I will tell you is this: Whatever combination of delusion, self-righteousness, manipulation, and ignorance we may have suffered from, when your father and I worked as officers, we believed in what we were doing. We truly believed that we were making the world better. What you accuse me of is true – I did head a department, as it appears you’re already aware of, that influenced people’s memories and state of mind. But most of the subjects were either violent criminals who needed to be emotionally subdued, or non-Elementalists who had witnessed something they shouldn’t have, thereby posing a threat to our Community. For those subjects in particular, we would only erase relevant memories; the next morning, they would wake up in their own beds, completely unaware that they had been affected in any way.”
“That’s a violation of their minds and you know it,” I said, picking up the chair I had knocked over. I gripped the back of it, doing my best not to openly scowl at her.
“I see that now. I do,” she sighed. “But my team and I believed that we were working for the greater good and protecting our cause. As for your father – he primarily apprehended violent or mentally unstable Hydromancers in his role. He saved many lives over the years, while I felt like I was safe-guarding the lives of many others.
“It wasn’t until shortly after you were born that we began to see a different kind of directive begin to trickle down from the Inner Circle. Your father wasn’t just apprehending violent Elementalists anymore. He was starting to receive names of Community members who were committing first-time, nonaggressive offenses: things like marrying non-Elementalists, or revealing their abilities to close friends or non-gifted family members. Until that time, such offenses were handled by local Community leaders, who counseled them at their own discretion. Your grandfather, for example, was married to Grandma Evelyn for many years – the Community in Denver was aware of their marriage and supported him, so long as he never disclosed his abilities or the existence of the Asterians to her.”
Which he did on his deathbed, I remembered Evelyn had told me.
“Sometime in the late nineties, that mentality began to shift,” my mother continued. “It was around that time that it had come to my attention that officers within my own department were performing sanctioned memory modifications on Elementalists who had not yet gone through the proper judicial processes. I myself received orders to alter the memories and feelings of those who I did not personally perceive as direct threats; they were merely people who, for whatever reason, disagreed with the Asterian way or agenda.”
“And did you carry out those orders?” I demanded, finally taking a seat again.
She nodded plaintively. “I did – for a short time. I convinced myself that our mission for peace and stability remained unchanged, that I was somehow still one of the good guys. But over time, my own actions began to weigh heavily on me. Your father, too, was struggling. Still, not even our own consciences were enough to give us the strength to leave,” she said, raising her eyes to meet mine. “You were the strength we needed.”
I stared at my hands, at the Pentamancer’s crest on my arm, which, despite everything, had remained surprisingly unscathed.
“You were beginning to show extraordinary talents, despite your very young age. At just three years old, you could shape Water in the bathtub… By the age of five, you were summoning the wind. And then one day, shortly after you turned six, one of the teachers at the Asterian after-school program called us, exclaiming that she was absolutely certain you made the ground shake when another little girl snatched a toy from you. By then, we had already witnessed your other abilities at home, and we worried what might happen to you if your true gifts were discovered during such a tumultuous time within the Asterian Order.”
She glanced at the door again. “Suffice it to say, we decided we had to leave. And we had help.” She gave me a meaningful look, which made me scoff.
Why is she still protecting him?
“I know most of this,” I said, crossing my arms. “What I don’t know is why your friend turned us in, the reason you guys abandoned me, and what happened to my father.”
“After we were… discovered,” she said carefully, clearly avoiding my first question, “We – as a family – decided on our next steps. It’s true, Terry Lawson had a personal vendetta against me, because of what happened to his daughter. But it was clear that the Inner Circle wanted you – because of your suspected Polymantic abilities as a child. Elementalists who can wield more than two Elements are exceedingly rare – they are held in the absolute highest regard. It’s why we were so relentlessly stalked. You knew this – you said yourself you didn’t want to be a pawn. You wanted the chance at a normal life. You wanted to get married, have a family, have ordinary children who would be ignored by the Asterians…”
“With Wes?” I asked softly.
My mother nodded. My eyes brimmed with tears that I didn’t bother to brush away.
“You wanted things that our choices, and your abilities, had made all but impossible. And so, I erased your memories as well as the neural access points to your abilities – that way, the Asterians would have no use or interest in you for the time being. Your father and I fled, believing we could escape somewhere they’d never find us. Your grandmother was waiting for our signal, so she could help you get back to us when the time was right… But we were apprehended. During the ensuing interrogation, I disclosed what I had done to you to ensure they would leave you in peace. They… punished me for that. Your father did not handle that well. They had to…” She took a shaky breath. “…subdue him.”
I clenched my hands together to keep them from shaking.
“They took me out of the room as it happened… Weeks later, a guard told me he did not survive the interrogation…” Her voice broke. I was overwhelmed by a wave of profound sorrow just then. But, I realized with a start, it wasn’t my sorrow. That’s when I regarded my mother’s face, creased with pain, and I knew… It was hers.
“His file says ‘presumed deceased’,” I finally managed to say.
“Presumed deceased?” she echoed, raising her head. “Why ‘presumed’?”
“I don’t know,” I said, leaning back in my chair in growing frustration. “And Ted? Why did he do it? Why did he betray his best friend?”
Ted didn’t betray us, she said softly.
“But Dad’s file—” Suddenly my voice trailed off. My mother’s lips hadn’t moved.
My hand flew to my mouth as the sudden realization hit me. From the moment I awoke on the floor of my grandparents’ cabin, I had heard a woman’s voice in my head, like a recording: Don’t attract attention. Don’t let them find you.
I gasped.
My mother nodded at my reaction, seemingly pleased. He never betrayed us, her voice came again, as clear as though she were whispering in my ear. He helped us for many years, putting himself and his daughter in grave danger while doing so. She gave me one more measured glance, then spoke again, this time out loud.
“Shortly before Ted turned us in, the team in D.C. discovered that he had been hiding a daughter, whom he’d long ago conceived with his ex, a non-Elementalist. After she gave birth, the woman didn’t have any interest in being a mother, which was for the best, so Ted raised Jenny alone.”
“How was that for the best?” I asked, appalled.
“There was a decent chance Jenny would inherit Ted’s Elemental abilities,” my mother replied. “And if she was an Elementalist, those abilities would take several years to develop. Due to the increasingly-strict Asterian laws, Jenny’s mother was forbidden from knowing such things… If she ever found out, the penalties for everyone involved would be severe. But Jenny never developed any Elemental abilities, so Ted kept her a secret from the Order, fearing that he’d lose her if they learned of her existence. For many years, they didn’t know about her, but she knew about our world.”
Her eyes locked on mine. Jenny was a few years younger than you, and a close friend. When Ted travelled for work, she’d stay with our family. Even after you went to college, she opted to stay with us when Ted was gone for long periods. The last time he visited, Ted had warned us that Terry had reopened our file after many years of inactivity, because of Sarah’s incarceration. We moved to the other side of town as a precaution, but couldn’t bear to uproot you during your last year of college.
“So, what happened?” I asked carefully. My mother stood up and paced, as though she were trying to find the words.
The day everything fell apart, Terry intercepted a blocked call that Ted had made from D.C. to check on Jenny. When she slipped and mentioned our names, it was not difficult for Terry to put two and two together.
“When the Asterians discovered Jenny’s existence,” she said out loud, “they threatened to take her away if Ted didn’t disclose our whereabouts. His hands were tied.” But, she added silently, he still found a way to give your father a head’s up, giving us just enough time to escape. Even under duress, he told Terry he was only recently made aware of our existence in Sacramento, and had been trying to convince us to do the right thing and turn ourselves in – hoping that explanation would be enough to spare Jenny.
My hands were gripping my thighs so hard, I must have had bruises beneath my jeans.
“So,” my mother continued, “Ted did what he had to do. But they ultimately took his daughter anyway, because the guidelines about non-Elementalists knowing about the Order are clear. Because of Ted’s help in eventually tracking us down, they promised to do right by him and put Jenny back in touch with her mother.”
“How do you know all this if you had already been captured?” I asked, frowning.
“Because they first had to erase her memories of anything related to the Asterians, including those of her own father,” she replied. A cold shiver ran down my spine. “And the Electromancer who attempted it inadvertently left her brain dead.”
“No…” I whispered, horror-struck.
“After my capture, they asked me to try and fix it, because of my abilities, but more importantly, because I had ties with the girl. The more familiar you are with someone, the better you can access and navigate their mind…”
“So what happened to Jenny?” I whispered.
My mother sat down again, suddenly appearing much frailer than she had a moment ago.
“I did everything I could, but I couldn’t reverse what had happened to Jenny. She was taken off life support hours later. Ted, left with nothing and no one, remained with the Order. The day she died was the last day I saw him.” Another wave of shared emotion hit me, nearly making me double over in my chair. I shook my head to try to clear the feeling, suddenly registering that there were voices just outside the door.
“Rowan… they want me to reinstate your memories today,” she said softly, “so you have full access to your powers before being presented to the Inner Circle.” My breath caught in my throat. I begged them not to attempt it, given the risk involved, she said, tears gathering in the corners of her deep blue eyes.
The lock on the door clicked open.
But if I don’t attempt the Reinstatement today, Savannah assures me that someone less capable will.
The door opened then as the Devil herself stepped inside the cell. Still, I remained in my seat… until he entered the room.
Strauss. At the sight of him, my entire body broke into a cold sweat.
“You—” I started, scrambling to my feet. Strauss gave me a sneering look of such contempt, such vitriol, that I nearly staggered backwards.
“Rowan,” Savannah said primly, “I see you remember my associate, Mr. Strauss. He’ll be accompanying us into the Amphitheater this afternoon.”
I gave him a level look, though my stomach threatened to turn itself inside-out. Strauss wore his usual khaki-colored trench coat and spectacles, though his brown fedora hat was nowhere in sight. Instead, his bald scalp – and most of his face – was covered in gnarled, shiny pink scar tissue, where the boiling water I had doused him with had ravaged his thin, pasty skin.
“Savannah, I implore you to reconsider this,” my mother said, rising from the bed. “There are other ways – non-Electromantic neuroplasticity exercises, for example – that won’t pose any risk to Rowan…”
“Elizabeth, we’ve discussed this,” Savannah replied, her smile unwavering. “The Inner Circle will arrive within the hour and they expect to see the world’s first Level-Three Pentamancer – not some brainwashed, half-witted amateur. If you’re unwilling to do the job, my associate here is more than willing… By the way, Rowan, I don’t think you’ve ever been properly acquainted with Mr. Strauss, who is one of the very few Empathic Electromancers in existence.” I looked at Savannah in horror.
Strauss is an Electromancer? I thought, feeling an even heavier wave of nausea.
“I’ll do it,” my mother said firmly.
“Wonderful. We already have a large audience gathered for the Reinstatement,” Savannah continued, “as several dozen of our guards will be there for the special occasion, as well as your friends, Rowan, who I thought you might appreciate seeing. We apprehended them just a few moments ago, hence my delay.”
No! I thought frantically.
“Elizabeth,” she smiled at my mother, “You’ve been such a well-behaved guest during your time in D.C., so we brought in a couple old friends of yours as well – Ted Nichols… and Evelyn Fulman. Won’t that be a lovely reunion?”
My mother gasped.
“No!” I cried out. “Please, Evelyn has nothing to do with any of this!”
Savannah smiled at me as my stomach threatened to empty itself onto the floor. “Now, now, Rowan,” she said gently, “we talked about this. You know non-Elementalists are forbidden from knowing about our Community. We spoke about that in my office just earlier this month. Now, Mitch here was just awarded dear Tom’s old job as Head of Denver’s Security and Containment Division, not only because of his relentless work ethic, but also due to his remarkable talent for Corporeal Electromancy – that is, stopping hearts using electrical impulses. He’ll be overseeing your procedure today, as well as your grandmother’s, to ensure everyone continues behaving appropriately.”
She glanced at her watch. “It’s time to get a move on. We have a big day ahead of us and we have to make sure everyone is ready for the arrival of the Inner Circle! Come, ladies. Your friends await you.”