Sentry of the Arcane: Engulfed

Chapter Five: Sophie

"Is that all, Ms. Sophie?"

I narrow my eyes at him, replaying the conversation the two of us had for the past half hour or so. Every attempt of me to ask about Jacob or Fitton was fruitless. It was as if Mr. Wallace was trying to avoid any questions related to the two criminals. Frowning, I can't help but seethe, "Yes, that's all."

Mr. Wallace merely smirks, his eyes glinting against his glasses. "Very well then," he states, making me glower at him. "I have some business to attend to, so..." He blatantly gestures towards the pair of doors behind me. "You'll have to go now."

I glance behind me, frowning more when I see that Fitz isn't here. What could he possibly be doing that would take him this long? I think to myself. Giving Mr. Wallace the best death glare I'm able to, I storm to the doors and push them wide open, letting them close loudly behind me. Still fuming inside from the lack of answers, I push the elevator calling button rather forcefully.

When I enter the elevator, I find myself staring at the male Percipient, who looks just as confused to see me. "Where were you?" we both ask at the same time. Still confused, I enter the elevator as well, but neither of us press a button. Shaking my head, I say, "I was in the conference room... Where were you?"

"I went up to my room," Fitz says. "I checked your room to see if you were there, but you weren't. So I just came down here... to see you in front of me."

I raise an eyebrow. "I told Caroline to tell you that I was in the conference room," I admit. "I'm guessing that she didn't tell you?"

Fitz shakes his head. "Nope," he says, confirming my question. "I think she forgot." He suddenly frowns. "Wait- why were you in the conference room?"

"I was asking Mr. Wallace about Fitton and Jacob," I say, not missing how Fitz tenses slightly at how I say their names. I then quickly add, "Caroline said that I wouldn't become frozen like that when his name comes up, so I decided to ask him."

"And how did that go?"

I frown, my anger from before returning to me. "It was awful," I huff. "He kept dodging all of my questions. It felt like he was... taunting me, almost- by evading my questions."

Fitz furrows his eyebrows. Suddenly, he smirks and leans closer to me, not looking when he manages to hit the floor to Level 8 on the first try. As we go up, the male Percipient then asks, "Then we should do our own research, don't you think?"

...

Sure enough, Jacob's in jail. And he did say the words "Hide another secret". But apparently, he's in prison here in Washington, which Fitz thought was a rather ignorant move on his part. I then point out how he caused trouble here, so they'd have to bring him back here as well. Nodding, Fitz says, "That's true..." He then skims through the passage again. "And they found him in... Oregon..?"

I manage to choke on the air. "W- What?!" I ask, my eyes widening to their full capacity. I look down at the computer screen, and Fitz points at the paragraph to make it easier to me to find. And like Fitz said earlier, he was found in Oregon. "Isn't that where..?" I begin to ask before my voice trails off.

"Where we met Leila?" the male Percipient finishes for me. He nods in confirmation. "Exactly... And guess where he was found last?"

I feel dread pooling in my stomach. "Where?" I choke out through my dread.

"The house next to Leila's," Fitz says, narrowing his eyes at the screen again. "The empty one... that hasn't been bought for about thirteen years..."

"Isn't that near the time when Arien and Fitton got married?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows. "When she decide to elope and Leila became... insane?"

Fitz nods. "I think it's safe to assume that he's been staying there ever since he left the warehouse," he says, looking at me. "Benen and I managed to knock him out before we left with the two of you."

I pale considerably as I remember something. Swallowing nervously, I stare into Fitz's eyes. "I don't think you knocked Jacob out..." I say quietly.

"Wait... then who did I..?" This time, Fitz looks just as bewildered as me.

"I don't know," I admit. "But I do remember that he left before you came here."

Fitz narrows his eyes at the screen. "He really does deserve to be in jail," he begins. "But how? If he managed to escape for two years, then he should be hidden by now..!" He runs a hand through his hair, which I've noticed is a habit of his for a while now.

I search up Fitton Galster on the computer instead. "It's obvious that without Jacob's testimony, which he hasn't done yet, we can't find any answers out yet," I say, clicking for the images. "So why not try to find anything about the man who's hideout you infiltrated?" When I don't hear a reply, I glance over to see frowning as he stares at the wall in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"I... can't remember," he says. "I can remember everything else, but for some reason... I can't remember-" Fitz suddenly cuts himself off, his eyes widening considerably. The male Percipient stares at the wall again, but with an expression of realization on his face this time.

Raising an eyebrow, I'm about to ask what he was talking about when the door to Fitz's room suddenly slams open. I scream and jump up before staring at the door. My eyes widen when Fitz asks, "Mr. Wallace? What are you doing here?"

"What do you two think you're doing?" he asks, storming over to the two of us. I notice that he's breathing heavily, as if he rushed here. The middle aged man storms over to us, causing me to back away and Fitz to step in front of me protectively.

"What are you doing here?" the male Percipient retorts, catching Mr. Wallace off guard momentarily. Shaking his head, he places two of this fingers on Fitz's right temple. Sighing in relief, Mr. Wallace then swings his hands towards my left temple.

Fortunately, Fitz throws Mr. Wallace towards the wall behind the middle-aged man with his telekinesis. Holding his hands out in front of me, the male Percipient says, "Don't. You. Dare."

Mr. Wallace suddenly stands up to throw a piece of nebmentia at us with telekinesis. My eyes widening, I don't have time to react. Fitz, on the other hand, gently grabs me and pulls me aside, holding me against the side wall so the piece of nebmentia would hit neither him nor me. After the shattering of the nebmentia echoes across the room, I hear the door open and close loudly. Suddenly, the room is enveloped with silence.

I look up to see that it's only the two of us in Fitz's room. As the silence carries on with each second,

I begin to realize that I'm still leaning against the wall, with Fitz only a few inches away from me. He looks around before transmitting to me, How did he know that we were looking for information about Jacob and Fitton?

This time, I don't jump when his voice enters my mind. Shrugging slightly, I say, Did he hear about it from someone? Or did he spy on us?

I don't know, Fitz transmits after a moment of silence. He looks over at the door again before staring at me. You know what nebmentia is, right? the male Percipient asks me. When I nod, Fitz just stares at me, as if he debating whether or not he should continue with this topic. Sighing, Fitz then transmits, So that means you know that Mr. Wallace just tried to erase our memories from the past... few hours or so, right?

I nod again. I don't get why he'd to erase our memories... did he not want us to be researching the two? I question.

That's a good question, Fitz says, bringing the computer over to us with his telekinesis. He then holds it near both of our eye level, and I forget that I'm still against the wall. I look at Fitz as he scans the text on the computer. I see his eyes widen, and his telekinesis suddenly wavers. He effortlessly regains his mental connection again, but stares at me with a slightly paler face.

I raise an eyebrow, "What's wrong? Did you see something?"

Fitz hesitates before nodding slowly. "Yeah... Apparently, Jacob actually talked to the media again..."

Dread pooling into my stomach, I can't help but ask, "...What'd he say, Fitz?"

"Well..." The male Percipient sighs before saying, "He said that Fitton's in Washington."