Zara, Bree, and I walked down a hallway along with the other kids within the compound towards the dining hall. It was late at night but we had all received an announcement from Silas for everyone to meet for a mandatory meeting. Once the three of us entered the dining hall, we noticed that all of the tables and chairs had been pushed off to the side, creating a gap for everyone fill in. With all of the kids and guards in the same room, it was crowded and hard to walk without brushing shoulders with someone else.

"I wonder what this is about," Bree spoke, more to herself than anyone else. Unfortunately, I already knew and it wasn't anything good.

The boys that were apart of our group found us within the crowd and stood with us now. I noticed that Henry went over to talk with Bree and Zara, while Asher remained off to the side by himself.

Leo stepped up to stand beside me. I glanced up to meet his eyes but she didn't pay any attention to me, so the two of us just stood next to each other in silence, besides the chatter amongst everyone else of course.

"Silas said that you chose me to go on the first mission with you," Leo finally spoke up. I was glad he decided to say something because the uncomfortable tension between us was almost unbearable.

"What about it?" I asked him. I crossed my arms over my chest defensively, but I had a feeling that this conversation would be civil.

"Why?" Leo replied. He turned towards me and met my eyes. "You could've chosen anyone else, but you chose me."

"You're right," I replied. "I chose you because you're a good fighter." Though the answer wasn't entirely incorrect, that wasn't the real reason I picked Leo.

"I'm not an idiot, Blondie," Leo muttered. I gave him a look that said otherwise, so he sighed and I saw a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Don't even comment on that."

I put my hands up in surrender. "Wasn't gonna say anything."

"You could've chosen Bree," Leo stated. "Or even Zara for that matter." He rolled his eyes and stared at the back of her head. "Not sure why you'd want her to come along though."

"She's not so bad once you get to know her," I chuckled. "Which kind of reminds me of someone else." I sent him a side-eyed glance.

"You saying I'm not so bad?" Leo asked. I couldn't tell if he was joking or genuinely asking.

"Depends on the day," I joked nonchalantly. Leo breathed a laugh. "Besides, is it really that hard for you to believe that I might just wanted to hang out with you?" Leo turned his head over towards me and I did the same. Both of us slowly started smiling until we burst into laughter. I swear, sometimes Leo could be a pretty decent guy.

Suddenly, the lights above us on the ceiling dimmed and our laughter halted. Everyone around us was silenced as a spotlight shined onto Silas, who was stood in front of the the crowd of kids. He was surrounded by guards. I noticed a moveable, medium-sized fireplace that burned beside him. There were red coals and a blazing fire inside of the pit. Embers sparked out of the cracklings furnace every once and awhile.

"Good evening everybody," Silas greeted the crowd with his classic smile. God, how I hated that damn smile. "Before we continue on with this meeting, I'd like to congratulate our doctors and scientists for their successful lab experiments." Silas, along with everyone else in the room, started clapping and cheering. I stood still as I watched the scene play out. I almost couldn't how happy all of the kids were. It was like everyone here was brainwashed except me. "Now, as each Subject is called from every Section, please make your way to the front, so we can officially make you all part of the Horror Order." Once again, everyone clapped and cheered in excitement.

A woman, who I recognized as our former tour guide, Michelle, stepped up from where she was standing behind Silas. She held a clipboard in her hands and began reading off Subject numbers. "A1," she projected. No one answered the call or moved. I could feel my heart breaking with every fleeting moment that went by. "A1," Michelle repeated. It was almost like a cruel trick. How could the Order's own employees be completely unaware that A1 was the Subject they deemed crazy and decided to rip her away from the group? I was even more upset at the fact that some of her own friends seemed clueless that Eleanor was in fact A1 and has been missing for weeks now. Bree was probably aware and maybe Henry too, but no one else seemed to notice her disappearance.

It kind of reminded me of the time that Klaus had gone missing and then sudden showed up again. No one even noticed he was gone though. As I was standing there in silence, watching a guard whisper into Michelle's ear—probably about how Eleanor was killed off unapologetically—I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't let something like that happen again. I would never forget her for the rest of my life.

"Moving on," Michelle spoke, more to herself than the crowd of kids. "A2." All eyes turned to Henry, who happened to be the first Subject called up to the front.

He kept his head hung low so he could avoid the pressuring stares of everyone around him as he pushed through people. When Henry finally got to the front he was greeted with warm smiles from Michelle, Silas, and a man in a guard uniform, who would be the one to give him the Horror Order's signature skill brand.

The guard patted the black, leather cushion of the chair, motioning for Henry to take a seat. I could see the fear in his eyes. I think a part of Henry knew that something wasn't entirely right about this. I could tell he was afraid to go through with this because he knew that once he did, there was probably no going back.

Henry took a seat and held onto the arms of the chair as if it was about to take off. The guard pulled a long, metal rod out of the blazing fireplace. He asked Henry to roll up the sleeve on his right on and Henry complied. Then, he slowly but carefully pushed the rod onto Henry's forearm. The brunette boy screamed as loud as he could to limit the pain, until finally, the guard removed the rod from his skin.

Henry stared at his forearm with eyes full of fear. He stood up from the chair immediately and was about to walk back over to us, but Silas halted his strides. He grabbed Henry's hand and held it up for everyone to see. His skin was burnt to a bright red crisp with the imprint of the skull and his Subject letter right below it.

Much to my surprise, no one cried out in shock or even fear.. Everyone just began to cheer again. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Everything about this was wrong. How could no one else see that too?

As soon as Silas dropped Henry's arm, he was escorted out of the dining hall. I waited nervously within the crowd of children, shaking slightly every time another one was called upon. "A2." The sound of screams and sizzling filled the atmosphere, and even though I already lived through this before, I was beginning to panic. Subject after Subject was called from my Section, and I knew that it was almost my turn to go up.

"A7," Michelle stated. Her eyes wandered over the crowd, probably looking for my familiar face. My heart plummeted as soon as she spoke my name. I knew I shouldn't be this scared or nervous again, but I couldn't help the feeling. I froze and felt the eyes of my peers on me all of sudden. "Subject A7!"

Slowly, I began to walk towards the chair at the front of the room. The other children stepped back, creating an aisle for me to walk through, which made this whole experience even more stressful. I thought about turning around and planning my escape now, but there was no way I'd make it out of this compound without every guard chasing me down. I wanted to run away but I knew that wasn't an option right now. Even though I knew that Silas had taken a liking to me, I'd be dead as soon as I stopped walking.

Finally, I made it to the front of the dark room. The guard's face was stern and cold as he repeated that same patting motion on the chair. I sat down and began tapping my left index finger on the arm of the chair nervously. I braced myself for the amount of heat that was about to be forced into my skin.

At first, I felt nothing. The pain was almost too intense that I couldn't feel it at all. Then, after a brief moment of the blazing, hot rod pressed into my forearm, the smell of burning flesh filled my nose and the pain became unbearable. I let out an ear piercing scream. The man pressed the iron into my skin harder. The pain was so intense that I thought I was going to pass out. He pulled the metal out of my forearm and placed it back into the fiery furnace. A single tear rolled down my face as I looked down at the brand. My skin had been glossed over with a ruby red burn, and a skull with the Subject number, 'A7,' etched into my right forearm.

As I stood up from the chair, Silas sent me a curt nod and a victorious smirk. In that moment, I knew that this was the last straw. I had been trapped in my past for way too long, and I desperately needed to escape and find my way back to Five.