“We affectionately call this entire complex ‘Little Pentagon’,” Savannah chirped as she led my mother and me through the long, straight corridor. Her heels clacked loudly, almost antagonistically, against the concrete floor as we passed the doors of about ten other cells – half of which had blurry outlines of faces staring out of the thick, glass windows. One of the faces looked as though it had a crop of white hair on top, making my stomach knot further. I forced my eyes away from the line of cells and instead glared at the back of Savannah’s perfectly-bobbed hair, chewing the inside of my lip until it bled. I felt like a mouse caught in a winding trap, the very well-being of my friends dangling in front of me as the bait.
“For one,” Savannah continued to talk to no one in particular, “it’s shaped like a pentagon, with each of the five sides devoted to one primary Element – this is the Electromantic section, of course, where our Electromantically-inclined guests are kept…”
I rubbed my forehead, doing my best to tune out her droning sermon. A hundred questions were swirling in my head. I desperately wanted to ask my mother about what was going to happen next, but with Strauss and about fifteen guards trailing just behind us, I didn’t dare give her even a sideways look.
“For another,” Savannah added, as we approached the end of the long hallway, “we’re located in the bottom-most level of the Pentagon itself, though only Asterian military and government officials working there are privy to that information.” At that, my eyebrows arched sharply.
“How could you have possibly managed to pull that off?” I demanded. “You told me once that the Asterian Order is comprised of only five-thousand members worldwide.”
Savannah smiled but didn’t answer. She instead took a crowded key ring from her skirt pocket, unlocked the door at the end of the hallway, and swung it open. It led to a separate, tiny section of corridor with three metal doors: one door leading back to where we came from, one door straight ahead of us, and one door in-between, embedded in the narrow wall to our right. Only a handful of the guards were able to follow us inside the cramped area; the rest waited near the open doorway.
“That makes it all the more important to put our most talented members in the most strategic places,” Savannah eventually replied, smirking as she unlocked the door to our right. “Come along,” she said, pulling it open. “This is the inner-pentagon; the safety zone that isolates and separates the outer Containment cells from the central Amphitheater.” We followed her inside a wide, brick-covered corridor that was completely unlit, save for the scattered light from the open door. It smelled musty, like damp bricks and still air. As the last of the guards shuffled in behind us, the door slammed shut, leaving us in total darkness.
“There’s a handrail along the wall,” Savannah said, clicking on a lantern. “Watch your step and follow closely.”
My mother and I exchanged quick glances just before she fell into step behind me. As I stumbled along in the dark, trying to keep up with Savannah’s brisk pace, I did my best to organize my thoughts using some of the calming techniques Sophia had taught me. Everyone you care about will be in there, I thought, forcing myself to breathe deeply. Evelyn and Robert will have no defenses. If things go south, Aiden and the others could be hurt, imprisoned, or worse. Ted… Ted will probably just do what he can to save his own skin. You have to stay calm. Things can’t unravel like last time. There has to be a diplomatic way to handle this… there has to be. Suddenly, I wasn’t the only voice inside my own head.
I’m so sorry they brought Evelyn here, I heard my mother say, as though she were reading my thoughts. Perhaps she was.
Bringing your friends here for the Reinstatement is Savannah’s way of maintaining control; it’s a psychological tactic. It’s imperative that you remain calm. There will be many guards in there, and rather anxious guards at that.
“It’s amazing how just several yards of concrete, tungsten, and brick are all we need to separate our prisoners from the Elements they abuse,” I heard Savannah murmur ahead, as if musing aloud to herself.
Just remember, my mother continued, it’s you they want. Savannah is an Aggregator – her entire role is designed around recruitment. Her success is defined by the number of recruits she signs as well as their Elemental potential. Therefore, she has only two goals in this situation: to make you as powerful as possible before presenting you to the Inner Circle, and to secure your allegiance. The better you look, the better she looks.
I nodded as inconspicuously as I could, letting her know I understood.
No matter how she intimidates or threatens you, remember that you have the upper hand in this situation. As the crowning jewel of her so-called ‘collection’, you hold the power to make demands – not her.
“Ah, here we are,” Savannah said, shining her lantern on a set of heavy-looking steel doors. She unlocked the bolt, then turned to look at me. “Are you excited to see your friends, Rowan? I know they’re dying to see you.” At that, I bit my tongue so hard, I could taste blood – my derisive comeback would have to wait.
Savannah pushed open the doors and marched inside. It took my eyes a few moments to adjust to the immense brightness of the cavernous room. Even larger than the training arena I had seen in Denver, the pentagon-shaped Amphitheater – like everything else I had seen the Asterians design – was extravagant and garish. The immaculate ceiling was at least twenty feet high and each of the five walls, which were supported by wide, black marble columns, was at least as long. As Savannah and the guards ushered me to the center of the room, I quickly looked for my friends among the empty rows of plush stadium seating installed along all five walls… But they were nowhere to be found. Instead, about a dozen guards were standing at the front of a raised, black platform in the heart of the Amphitheater – which, like everything else, was in the shape of a pentagon. About five feet higher than the surrounding tiled floor, the stage looked as though it was designed with an operating theater in mind, with two metal chairs on top and nothing else.
Once we got to the base of one of the five staircases leading up to the platform, I stopped to gawk at the ceiling. It was comprised entirely of colored mosaic glass, which was garishly lit from behind by lights – Electrical lights, I realized. Squinting, I could see the stained-glass pattern was actually hundreds of large, overlapping five-pointed stars, each arm a different color of the five elements, each center pentagon a clear piece of glass with a bright CFL bulb buzzing behind it. As my eyes fully adjusted, I saw faint traces of glowing purple lines glimmering from behind the glass – more pomp and flamboyance, I assumed.
As Savannah motioned for my mother and me to follow her up the steps, the guards that had accompanied us through the hallways split away to join the others. In total, there had to have been thirty armed guards on that floor. Strauss, however, followed close behind us.
“Are you ready to get your memories back, Rowan?” Savannah asked. She stood between two chairs in the center of the stage. They looked like reclining dentist chairs – except they were metal, with black rubber mats glued to the back and armrests… and had ankle, wrist, waist, and head restraints.
“Where are my friends?” I asked, doing my best to avoid looking at the Mary Shelley-inspired armchairs.
“They’re right on time,” Savannah replied, just as another set of steel double doors opened on the far side of the arena. My heart sank as everyone – Aiden, Ori, Eileen, Sophia, Ted, Robert, and Evelyn – was ushered into the Amphitheater by another twenty guards. Their hands were all bound by some sort of black rope – even Evelyn’s. Against the backdrop of twenty armed guards, she looked even frailer than usual in her green floral dress and crooked chiffon scarf, which sat askew atop her unusually-frizzy gray hair. I clenched my fists tightly; the lights in the ceiling and all around the Amphitheater swelled brightly.
“Easy,” Strauss warned from close behind me.
“Aspen!” Aiden suddenly cried out. The others whipped their heads around in my direction. Eileen, Ori, and Sophia all looked relieved; Robert look troubled; Evelyn looked utterly terrified. But Ted… Ted looked absolutely livid. Upon seeing me, he immediately pulled away from one of the two guards gripping his arm.
“Elizabeth!” Ted yelled, straining to pull free of the other. “Don’t do this! Don’t let them do this to her! – Hey! Get off me!” Two more guards stepped forward, forcefully pushing him to his knees. A third guard drew his gun, aiming at the back of Ted’s head.
“Don’t do it, Elizabeth!” he shouted again, still trying to twist away from his captors. “She could wind up dead – or worse!” From beside me, my mother could only stare at him helplessly.
“Oh, Ted…” she whispered softly.
Savannah rolled her eyes. “Do not aggravate me, Ted – we’ll skip Containment and go straight to force. After what you pulled this week, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were second in line for Electrocution next week… right after Vivian.”
“Drop dead, Savannah,” Ted spat. Just behind him, Aiden knelt down to whisper something placating, though his eyes, tight and etched with worry, never left mine.
“Please,” I pleaded, turning towards Savannah. “Whatever you do, don’t hurt them – none of this is their fault. I take full responsibility for everything that’s happened!”
“I wouldn’t dream of hurting anyone,” she retorted, mock alarm scrawled across her half-lovely face. “As long as you – and they – behave.” A prim smile spread across her face.
“Before… all this,” I said, gesturing to the chairs. “Can I at least talk to them?”
“You can talk to Evelyn right now,” Savannah replied lightly, motioning to one of the guards standing at Evelyn’s side. He took her arm and led her across the floor, then up the short, metal staircase closest to them. Robert shot Aiden a look of alarm.
Evelyn shook the guard’s arm away the moment they got to the top of the steps. “Take these ropes off me,” she snapped at him. “I’m not a zoo animal.” Savannah nodded at the guard, who hastily untied Evelyn’s wrists. She rubbed them crossly.
“Evelyn!” I cried, running towards her. In a brief role-reversal, I took her face in my hands, inspecting every inch for the slightest scratch. “Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head free of my hands. “They wouldn’t dare. And anyhow, I don’t give a hoot about me, it’s what they’ve done to you that I’m furious about…” As her eyes fell upon my mother, Evelyn trailed off, her hand rising to her mouth as though she were seeing a ghost.
“Elizabeth,” she whispered. “It really is you, isn’t it?”
My mother, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, could only nod.
Evelyn reached forward to pull my mother into a tight embrace. “I never doubted that we’d all be together again,” she whispered. “Never.”
Savannah tapped her foot impatiently. “We don’t have time for a family reunion. The Inner Circle will be here shortly. Rowan, kindly escort your grandmother to a chair and then have a seat yourself. So long as you continue to be a good girl, I promise she won’t be harmed.”
Rowan, something’s not right with Savannah, I heard my mother’s voice. She’s far too anxious about the others’ arrival. And none of the other officers are here.
She’s right, I realized, looking around the room. It wasn’t just Savannah… all the guards looked… uneasy. An anxious feeling hung heavy in the air.
“Come on Grandma,” I said, taking Evelyn’s arm gently. “There’s no need to be frightened. They’re just going to restore my memories.”
“Oh sure, sure, I’m to believe everything’s totally fine, is that right? That’s why the gestapo has been brought here, clearly,” she muttered, jerking her head towards the black wave of guards standing below. “By the way, is that the man who spewed nonsense to me while he drank from my good china?” Evelyn asked, pointing at Strauss, who was standing near Savannah on the other side of the stage. “What in the world did he do to his face? He looks like a newborn possum.” Strauss gave her a menacing glare. Despite the fact that her bravado was clearly a façade for my benefit, I couldn’t help but admire her courage.
“Oh, sweet Lord, that metal is cold!” Evelyn winced as she took a seat on the chair to the right.
“Evelyn – Grandma – I need you to listen to me,” I said, kneeling in front of her. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, okay? We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Sweets, I am seventy-one years old and not getting a second younger,” she replied sternly, taking my hand in hers. “I need you to worry about yourself now, so you and that gorgeous man behind you can get out of here and make me some beautiful great-grandbabies, you hear?”
I glanced over my shoulder at Aiden, who was watching me intently along with the others on the floor. His eyes were glued to mine as Ori leaned over and whispered something in his ear; Aiden nodded in response. Poor, gentle Robert was watching Evelyn as he clasped his bound hands in front of him anxiously, while Eileen and Sophia were helping a momentarily-subdued Ted to his feet. Guards surrounded the six of them on all sides. I gave Evelyn a quick kiss on the cheek, then rose to my feet.
Remember that you have the upper hand in this situation.
“Savannah,” I said quietly, coming as close to her as I could bear. “Whatever you want from me, I’ll do it. Just don’t hurt Evelyn or my friends.”
“As I’ve told you, Rowan, you’re really in no position to be making demands,” she answered coolly, examining a broken fingernail. From this close, I could see her bloodshot eyes, the slight tremor in her hands. The reek of coffee and alcohol on her breath somehow smelled stronger than it had before.
“I think we both know that’s not true,” I answered, my voice low enough for only her to hear. “I think we both know that your reputation, your success, your very place in this Community, all depend on how things go this afternoon. If you let everyone go today – my mother, Vivian, and Sarah Lawson included – I swear to you, I will do anything you ask of me. I’ll jump when you say so; I’ll speak when you tell me to. I’ll…” I swallowed tightly, knowing full well the implications of what I was promising. “I’ll stay right here in D.C… and I’ll publicly swear my allegiance to you and the Asterians.” Her eyes narrowed at me, her left eyelid drooping even lower than her right.
“But if you hurt them, or keep them locked up, I promise you, I will fight you every step of the way. I’ll crumble every cage you put me in, I’ll counter any type of Electromantic manipulation you try to put me through, I’ll resist you and the Order every waking moment of my life, until you’re forced to kill me – the first and only Pentamancer to walk the earth in three hundred years. Will you find another, more willing, Pentamancer to recruit in your lifetime?” I shrugged. “Maybe… But the odds aren’t exactly in your favor.” While I spoke, a small smile had begun to creep across Savannah’s face.
“You understand that if you break your promise, I will personally round up every single one of your friends and family members and kill them myself, yes?”
I nodded, doing my best not to lunge at her throat. “Do we have an agreement?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a large white pill, knocking her head back to swallow it like a shot of liquor.
“We have an agreement, Pentamancer,” she said, clearing her throat roughly. “Now kindly get in that chair and do try not to squirm too much. I need as many of your neural connections restored as possible for our big reveal later on.”
“Fine,” I replied, keeping my voice as polite as possible. “Before I do that, would you please untie my friends and let them know that no harm will come to them? I’d also like you to release Sarah Lawson from her cell before the procedure.”
Savannah’s eyes narrowed. “I… can’t. I need additional authorization to do that,” she muttered, glancing at the guards on the floor.
I took a step closer to her, until our faces were no more than inches apart.
“I think you’re doing plenty of things without proper authorization right now,” I whispered. “And I’d like you to release Sarah Lawson.”
A muscle in Savannah’s jaw twitched. I expected her to argue, but she instead stepped forward to signal one of the guards standing below. “Peterson, go retrieve Sarah Lawson from Cell 14-P and inform her that she’ll be heading home with her dear brother today. The rest of you – remove the others’ bindings. But if any one of them makes a single move to interfere, use whatever means necessary to subdue them. Shoot them if you have to.”
My eyes caught Aiden’s for a fleeting moment. As a guard stepped forward to remove his wrist restraints, his eyes grew wide with disbelief, then shock, as though he suddenly understood what must have transpired.
No! he mouthed.
“Come,” Savannah said, roughly leading me by the arm. “It’s time. Elizabeth, get in position. We don’t have time to waste.” My mother, looking rather tired, turned to stand behind the vacant chair. As I sat down in front of her, Evelyn reached out her hand to take mine.
“Everything is going to be okay,” she whispered, squeezing my fingers.
“I know,” I lied, as Strauss knelt to tighten the restraints across my ankles and waist.
“Remember,” he murmured, rising to secure the strap across my head, “I can stop a person’s heart in an instant, so I do recommend you and your mother don’t pull any tricks.” I tried to twist my head away from his stale, sour breath, but he abruptly tightened the restraint, forcing me to look straight ahead. He put a thick rubber mouthpiece between my teeth, smiled savagely, then stepped aside.
Don’t be frightened, Rowan, my mother silently spoke, placing her fingers on my temples gently. I won’t let them take anything more from you, I promise.
“It’s okay, Aspen!” Eileen echoed from below, her hands no longer bound. “We’re here! We’re not going anywhere!” Sophia watched me with frantic eyes, tightly gripping Eileen’s arm.
“Be brave!” Ori yelled, clutching Eileen’s other hand. “It’ll just be a tingle!”
Robert stepped forward to clasp Aiden’s shoulder, giving me an encouraging nod as he did so. Ted stood a few feet away from the others, arms crossed, watching my mother and me wordlessly. I wished I could say something to him – how sorry I was about his daughter’s passing, how grateful I was for what he did for my family. Instead, as I held his steely gaze, all I could do was pray that there would be another time for that discussion, another opportunity for forgiveness.
As my mother’s fingers pressed into my temples, my eyes met Aiden’s one last time. Save for the ragged rise and fall of his chest, he stood like a statue; his fists held stiffly at his sides, his tight, smooth expression appearing to take a great deal of effort to maintain. A muscle in his jaw clenched and Robert tightened his grip on his shoulder. Just then, I saw movement by the far door; my eyes darted just above their heads as a small, dark-haired woman was being led into the Amphitheater, unbeknownst to the others. Her long hair fell in tight, chocolate curls that looked just like Aiden’s.
I smiled then, my two-toned eyes glued to his, like tanzanite on topaz.
“I love you,” I said softly. “I always will.”
Then came the pain.