Chapter Twenty-one
Peter
At first I feel like my eyes are fooling me, but the words labelling this building can't be clearer.
A shining diamond with hints of lavender is carved on the glass far up top. The symbol for To Sotos. And a gun, a silver-gray pistol, is placed on one side of the diamond pointing towards it. The symbol for Oi Alloi. They are enclosed in a circle around which it was written: "Ti Sosti Allo". My knowledge in Greek is terrible, but this term can have only one meaning: Oi Alloi and To Sotos are together. Ti Sosti Allo means the Right Others. I have never understood why our two societies were named this way, but now, the legitimacy in Harry's conspiracy theory barges into my mind.
All this while I had thought the theory is just a dream he had one night and wrote down for the world without thinking of the consequences, but no. It made no sense to me, the entire concept of Igetis and Countess Elizabeth, but I flew along with the conversation, knowing I would prove them wrong somehow, but not once about this.
I look at the faces around me. Catherine's back is all I can see of her. Max looks as shocked as me; perhaps he too is drowning in the same thoughts. Harry, Oliver, and William, the people who proposed this entire concept look surprised but satisfied- perhaps even smug. Lucas, Arthur, and Kabir mirror my expression.
Wait till Ester hears about this.
Richard simply stares at the grass. I get back to my senses as Catherine nears the armed men. The rest of the men follow me, our feet shuffling in the grass.
I can hear her laughing with one of the men on patrol and I wonder how much I really know about her- and how much she knows about me, and for how long she has known. By the time all of us catch up to her, the men have shifted into two lines, facing inward, and their guns raised above their heads; for a second, I think they are saluting us. Yeah right.
Catherine walks into the cave they created, her head held high, her chin firm, smiling graciously at them. Freaking Queen.
They aren't saluting us, they're saluting her. One hell of a Queen.
-
The cold air blasts against my body as I walk in, the hair on my bare arms standing straight up. I ignore it and pull my shoulders back, forcing myself to be alert.
In front of me stands Igetis and, from what I recall, Countess Elizabeth. Igetis is wearing his customary black cloak, but his hood is...off. His head displays no hair and his eyes are slanting inwards. He looks young; the only thing giving away his age are the white on his eyebrows.
His nose isn't crooked, his lips are peach, flaunted by his fair skin. On the right side of his neck, a dark tattoo of a gun, the symbol of Oi Alloi, covers up the space. He wears black studs on one of his ears, they start from the top and go on till the end of the flaky skin.
He smiles warmly to us all, his eyes glistering.
Beside him, Countess Elizabeth wears a navy-blue dress- a gown, rather, reaching till the floor and dragging beside her feet. Her hair, as always, is piled on top of her head and her hands are placed in front of her chest, as if she were giving a speech. She wears a truck full of make-up, but they don't cover the dark circles under her green eyes. An emerald necklace drapes around her neck, the shape of a rectangle and they match with her huge earrings, dangling unsafely.
She looks at Catherine and opens up her arms, as if gesturing for a hug. I step out to stop her, my hand stretched out, but I pull it back almost instantly and my gesture is forgotten. To my surprise, Catherine goes happily into her arms, squeezing her as if they were family. As if they were family. I blink. That can't be possible. I contradict myself constantly, but then give up, following the three of them into the insides of the diamond.
"Come." Countess Elizabeth says, her voice dripping with honey. And we go.
-
The first room we pass is practically a glass chamber. There are men dressed in white robes and holding delicate glasses with their pretty little gloves using tiny silver surgical tools and playing around with a maroon-colored liquid. Igetis falls back to walk with me.
"You have a name." I say immediately, sharply. "What is it?"
"I suspected you would want to know."
"Tell me then."
"My name is Andrew Bosa."
"Andrew? You don't look anything like an Andrew."
He ignores my reply. "Your father was a great friend of mine. I moan his death even today."
"How old are you really?"
"Sixty-four." I take this in. Any unusual information seems welcome after the last few minutes of shock, despair, and worry.
"They say the Igetis is more than a hundred years old."
"They lie a lot." He pauses. "Everyone does." He points his finger to the liquid one of the scientists was examining. "That's your blood."
Of course it's my blood, "Why do you need it?"
"You are the tetrakinita and have powers and genes we can only dream of owning. I have convinced Eliza to-"
"Eliza?" I yelp in astonishment. This is a new development. It explains the hugging at the front door.
"Yes, Catherine's Aunt Eliza." The She in the conversation suddenly flips over, "Don't blame her, Peter. She knew how important this secret is- all of these secrets. She often came to us, crying, begging us to allow her to tell you. But we couldn't till you were ready."
"Did she feed you information about us?"
"Never. And we didn't pursue her. We are not against you Peter; instead, quite the opposite: we need your help."
I hear the silent tapping of feet corridors away from me and I realize, all of a sudden, that it is just the two of us here.
"Why?"
"You'll know very soon."
"Do any of the other members of Oi Alloi know about this?" I shoot.
"No."
"So they believe we are completely against To Sotos? When clearly we aren't."
"Yes. But I have paused all their assignments for the time being." He turns around to start walking.
"Igetis," I say, "About Catherine, who did that to her parents? It obviously wasn't you or Countess Elizabeth- Aunt Eliza, whatever her name is."
"They're the reason you are here Peter- you and your team. Come along, there is not enough time to explain it twice." I nod and we walk forward, faster, to catch up with the group. The blue lights are soft and they hum silently through the gaps between the walls and the floor and ceiling. I still have a dozen unanswered questions, and apparently 'not enough time.' He seems to guess that and looks at me, waiting for my queries.
"What are your two powers?"
"My element is the sky and invisibility." So that's how he managed to hide himself behind the cloak.
"What do you give us to drink during the ceremony."
"Highly confidential."
"Andrew."
"Pomegranate, orange, and mustard, all mixed up together." I frown in disgust.
"Then how do we get our powers?"
He sighs. "It is said humans use about only 10% of their-our- brains. By making you believe in yourself to such an extent, I help you open up about 74% of your brain- at least for normal members. For the tetrakinita, you can open up to 80% of your brain."
"What happens if we can open up almost all of it?"
"Then you can reverse time and still not change anything. It'll be like everything happened but no one, except a few selected, would know about it."
"I don't get it."
"You will die, but save the world of an unnecessary episode of drama and death."
"But what's the world without drama and death?"
He sighs, smiling cautiously, and I continue to ask, "The light that comes, that allows us to hover above the ground, what about that?"
"That's part of my power. The voice, everything, becomes part of the Igetis once he takes his place as leader."
"Why the drink?"
"For the crowd's satisfaction- and my entertainment." He smiles smugly and I laugh. "Peter, Catherine's parents were killed when you were here. That day, there was significantly less security at the diamond because we sent guards over to your house."
I stiffened. "And they all died?"
"No, some of them did. But they left too early. The others had a back-up team sent over after the first attack, which was just a distraction. Unfortunately we didn't get back in time."
"Oh." I think of something to say. "Thank you for sending them anyways." I pause. "Does Catherine know?"
"She doesn't." He pauses, shaking his head, "This way, the others would be seated by now." He turns and walks down the hall and I keep with his pace diligently.
"Peter," he says to me after some steps. "We selected you, and this group for a reason. You'll are the chosen ones. I only hope I can help you live up to it."
-
After a few minutes of silence, we enter a huge room with one big table, shaped like a rectangle, in the middle. The same symbol from the outside of the structure is imprinted here on the table and the wall on one end of it.
There are chairs placed all along the table, most of them already occupied. The boys' seat themselves on one side of the table- exactly seven chairs on each side.
Catherine sits exactly opposite them, fidgeting nervously on her seat. It's almost scary how I don't feel anything against her right now, nothing to argue about, nothing to reply back to rudely. I understand, as a member of a society myself, the important of keeping secrets- and keeping them well.
Countess Elizabeth sits on one head of the table, her arms leaning on it. I smile and take a seat beside Catherine, much to the unspoken astonishment of everyone in the room. Igetis takes his place on the other end of the table, opposite Elizabeth. He stands up after a moment and begins talking.
"Let me get straight to the point: we, Oi Alloi and To Sotos, have been under threats since the last ten years. The prophecy claims that only when a four-powered man rises, can we over power this enemy. A four-powered man, or otherwise known as tetrakinita."
I cringe in my seat, of course I have to be the tetrakinita. "Not too many years back, another man of such sort was found. He was told of this threat against us, and he was- no doubt- at first as confused as you all are now. But, after being explained the prophecy, he agreed to help us. He returned home that night to his family as a happy man with a heavy heart. He knew he might die. He was killed that night." He pauses, looking lost for a second. Then continues, "We know that we need your help, and we also know your life maybe in danger- no, it is in danger. But they are going to kill you anyway, knowing that you are the tetrakinita, and so you either die for the world or you die for, well-"
"Andrew." I butt in, "I will fight for us, and I'm pretty sure so will everyone else here. Please, tell us about the enemy." He smiles and nods.
Then he says, "We don't know what they are called. They may be anywhere, dressed anyhow. All we know is that all of them have this tattoo on some part of their body, and no matter where it is, the tattoo, or part of it, will always be seen."
All eyes turn to the projection Andrew forms in the air in front of him. It looks like a snake coiled up into a spiral.
"It's a black mamba." Harry murmurs in awe at the vile creature.
"Indeed it is. One of the scariest possible creatures alive. We believe these 'people' are deprived from them. It's absurd- they keep hissing. They kill with their tongues, wrapping the fork end around their victim's neck. And worst of all, they always come in large packs."
"Igetis, how can we recognize them from a normal crowd?" Max questions him.
"Apart from the tattoos, and the tongue, they normally wear greens or yellows, brown boots, stuff like that. Many of them have pierced their skins too." He turns his outstretched hands projecting the image, and it changes to a group of boys and girls laughing and leaning onto black bikes. "They are either exceptionally short, or so tall that you may have to lean back to get a glimpse of their faces."
Oliver asks, "Do they spit venom or something?"
"Only some. We are yet to figure out what causes the difference." A sigh follows around the room.
Of course they spit venom.
"Do they have a weakness?" Richard asks, frowning, an expression thoroughly imitated throughout the room.
"Yes, they do, but just one." He flicks his hand once more and a new image appears. What? "Metal. More specifically, Iron."
Opposite me, Harry leans onto his elbows gazing at the piece of iron in front of him. "Iron. Fe. Atomic Mass: 55.845u. Atomic Number:26. Melting Point 1,538 degrees Celsius. Density: 7.874 g/cm3. Group 8 of the periodic table. By mass the most common element on Earth and forms most of Earth's outer and inner cores."
"Correct, Harry."
"Andrew, if only Iron affects it, then what use are our powers?"
"I can't be sure if your powers don't harm them at all. It's only now that you'll are here that we can start some tests."
"How can we use it against them? The iron, I mean." Max asks.
"Well for one, we cover ourselves, our clothes, with a very thin layer of the metal. It may get a bit heavy at the beginning, but you'll get used to it, and it is necessary to your survival. Now, if you will, do join me in taking my rounds of some of the weapons we have created using this." We stand up. I take Catherine's arm and force her to wait back.
"We'll be with you in a second." I say to Andrew.
As they leave the room one by one, I turn to Catherine. Before I even begin saying anything, she misinterprets my action and starts rumbling on.
"Peter, I'm sorry. I really wanted to tell you about all of this, but I couldn't. I have come here before, quite a few times, and have constantly asked Andrew and Aunt Eliza to give me permission to welcome you guys, or at least you, here and explain everything to you but they wouldn't-" I cut her off and lean into her face, my mouth at her ears.
"It's okay." I whisper, and I can feel her muscles relax, her hand loosen up, wrap itself around me. I pull my head back, resisting the constant urge to kiss her, and leave my arms around her waist.
She looks down. I remove one of my hands off her waist and lift her chin up to me and put my forehead against hers. Everything fades away.
"You guys! You need to-" Arthur barges into the room, and then seeing us, grins, "Oops. Sorry. I'll leave."
"No, no," I say regretfully and turn towards the door, "we're coming."
Catherine smiles as I take her hand.
"It's not time for kisses, it's time for war."