Sentry of the Arcane: Engulfed

Chapter Sixteen: Fitz

Once Sophie and I are downstairs, the two of us are met by the Sovereigns and the Altruistics. When both of us step out, I ask, "Um, what are you four doing down here?"

Donovan merely scoffs before saying, "Wallace was being a pain in the neck about us not being here. So here we are." The male Sovereign crosses his arms over his torso before looking over at the conference room doors, which are still closed.

Sighing, I look over at Benen. "Do you have a better explanation?" I inquire, raising an eyebrow.

Smirking slightly, Benen says, "We were all in our own rooms, but Mr. Wallace's voice entered our minds and told us to go downstairs."

"Benen and I came down first, but Audrey and Donovan ignored it," Laurel adds. "But being a sweetheart, Benen went up to get them!" the female Altruistic adds before kissing Benen on the nose, much to the Sovereigns' distaste.

Nodding, Sophie says, "Awww! That's adorable!" Audrey gags out of the corner of my eye as the female Percipient smiles at the two lovers.

Smirking at this, I transmit to her, You know that you're reaction to the two Altruistics will always be hilarious?

Sophie pouts at me, a smile struggling to appear on her face. I'm surprised you haven't done this before with Benen yet, she replies, finally smiling. Girls can't be the only ones who do this.

I laugh out loud. Sure they don't, I say sarcastically, raising my eyebrows at her.

Donovan suddenly clears his throat. "Uh, guys?" he says, earning our attention. Once we all look at him, he points to his head and says, "Wallace's voice entered my mind again. He says to go..." He pauses, pointing at the now open conference room doors. "...in there."

I narrow my eyes at where Donovan's pointing. "How and when did it open?" I ask.

"Wasn't it closed just moments before?" the female Percipient adds.

Audrey nods. "That's what I remember," she agrees.

Laurel's eyes widen. "Is that because of Mr. Wallace that it's open?" she questions. The five of us look at one another before shrugging. Honestly, we didn't have a clue, but it doesn't seem like someone else would. Looking at each other, we hesitantly go inside the conference room.

Inside, the familiar table that the six of us sit at was pushed off to the side again. A large glass cylinder towers over us, causing us to either tense up or back away slightly. We suddenly turn around when the creaking sound of a door closing sounds behind us.

"You all took such a long time to come here," Mr. Wallace says. Walking over to us slowly, he tsks under his breath. "We could've gotten over with this earlier, but some decided to ignore my transmission," he explains, raising an unamused eyebrow in the Sovereigns' direction.

Sophie raises an eyebrow. "This?" she asks. "What do you mean?"

"And what is that?" I ask, pointing at the large cylinder in the middle of the room. Its tall figure practically emitted dread.

"That's actually a scanner." Mr. Wallace walks over to it and opens the front door. "I need to scan all of your memories," he explains vaguely.

Before either Sophie or I can ask, the Altruistics and Sovereigns ask, "Why?"

"Some memories are being developed inside your minds, and others are diminishing, which results in forgetfulness of that event," Mr. Wallace clarifies. "I was originally going to do this with just Sophie and Fitz, since they have the telepathic abilities." Looking at the other four, he adds, "I then remembered how you four were also a part of their memories, and that may result in some developing memories of your own."