I press my lips together to not make any noise. I then open one eye to make sure that I can wake up without being shot with a prostrator. Sighing in relief when I don't see Mr. Wallace, I sit up and stretch my sore and stiff muscles, a yawn escaping my lips. I realize that I'm in a worn-out cot, a thin sheet poorly keeping me warm.

When I sway to the side, I first think that it's because of the multiple tzanion that was fired at me. But my effort to straighten myself upright fails when I sway to one side so much that I fall off of the cot. Groaning when all of the wind is knocked out of me, I breathe out curses at Mr. Wallace while still on the ground. I then realize that I'm not the reason I'm swaying- the actual room is.

Growling in irritation when the room wavers even stronger, I use my willpower to pull myself back onto the cot. My head beginning to throb madly, I clutch my head and groan from the pain. Blinking a few times to somewhat get control over my headache, I finally begin to orient myself with my surroundings. Well... lack of surroundings. Other than my cot and the metal door, the room's empty. My eyes widen when I remember that Donovan was also roped into this.

Before I can try searching for his thoughts, the metal door slams open. A shadowy figure rushes into the room before the door closes loudly. Jumping out of bed, I stagger a bit from the moving room before finally being able to control the stranger with my telekinesis, which only adds to my headache.

I hear a slew of foul words before I'm slammed into the metal wall behind me. Before I can fall onto the ground, the metal door slams open and two more people in black rush in to grab me. Pinning me against the wall, the first person in black drops to the ground. Getting up quickly, I see a prostrator being whipped out at me. I don't even have to hear the trigger being pulled to know that tzanion is now coming towards me.

Instead of letting myself be in agony from the tzanion, I let myself be in agony from my massive headache. Taking control of the tzanion, I throw it at one of the people who's holding me to the metal surface. The person on the left screams before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

The person on the right grabs my free arm and forcefully slams me into the wall again. I hear the prostrator's trigger being pulled again. But before I can take control of the second tzanion piece, I hear an all too familiar voice ring out, "Fitz! Help!"

Even through the pain of the tzanion, I manage to whisper, "Sophie..? You're not-" I then use my telekinesis to slam the person with the prostrator into the person still pinning me, making the two shadowed people fall in a heap. Jumping over them, I race out through the room and immediately see a stairway leading up to an area of faint light. I'm skeptical about going up there, but only when I hear Sophie's voice again do I rush upstairs.

Once my eyes get used to the difference in light, I only then take in the freezing wind blasting in my face and the saltiness on my tongue. Shaking my head, I take a few steps to the right because of the very strong rocking. After I go through all of my observations, I then realize that I'm on a ship overseas- a navy ship to be specific.

And when I look forward, I don't see the female Percipient in any form of danger. In fact, I don't see her at all. I see two other people in black instead. Anger flows like a flood through my veins as I glare daggers at the two. Before I can ask, though, the person on the left says in a deep voice, "Don't worry, that female Percipient isn't here. She's back in Washington, safe from harm."

"Where the heck am I?" I seethe, my anger still evident. "Where's Mr. Wallace?"

"Oh, so you're the one who's able to withstand the pain of tzanion?" the female asks me. I only glare at her, and she apparently takes it as confirmation. "Well, we'll be getting to the hideout soon, so... yeah."

"We'll have to knock you out again," the man says, pulling his own prostrator out. "You can't see the hideout." Glaring at him, I take a step towards him. Before I can say anything, I realize that I must've tracked people's thoughts. Sure enough, when I turn around, there's a person who's halfway through with pulling the trigger on a prostrator.

So unfortunately, I'm hit with at least two pieces of tzanion. Screaming, I collapse to the ground, my headache unbearable. As I writhe on the ground, the man who shot me bends down and presses my pressure point so painfully that I black out. Yet somehow, my headache still lasted.

...

I manage to wake up when the shadowed figures are beginning to leave. I'm about to shout out after them when I realize that Donovan's beside me and beginning to wake. "How long were you awake?" the male Sovereign asks as he stands up. Cursing madly, he holds his head and says, "How the absolute heck did you manage to survive one of those?"

I laugh bitterly. "Mr. Wallace decided to shoot me with two more tzanion pieces after the first one," I admit. "And then I woke up in an empty room on a navy ship. I then was knocked out with more tzanion pieces." My headache suddenly returns to me at full force, causing me to kneel over and clutch my head for a few minutes. When I straighten up again, I finally notice that we're in front of an abandoned building that's on the verge of collapsing. The ominous fog didn't help make the building any less dangerous.

Donovan stares at me in shock. "Seriously?!" he asks. "How long were you awake then?"

I shrug as we make our way to the crumbling entrance. "I don't know," I admit. "But I heard Sophie's voice screaming my name and for help..."

When I trail off, Donovan asks, "And..? Did she somehow follow us?"

I solemnly shake my head. "No, she wasn't there at all," I reply, my anger from before flowing in my veins again. "Someone was mimicking her voice." I sigh angrily. "I was so panicked that she was in danger that I knocked three people out with tzanion that was meant to hit me."

As we enter the barely lit building, Donovan lowers his voice to a whisper, "Dude. You're seriously hardcore." I have to strain to hear the last part, but I think I also heard, "...Especially when it comes to her."

Nodding curtly, I begin to look around to see if I can make anything out with the lack of light. I can feel my body going rigid with the possibility of people hiding in the shadows. In an attempt to regain my composure, I use my telepathic abilities to try to track people's thoughts down. When I only track Donovan's thoughts down, I sigh in somewhat relief before venturing forward.

Before we know it, we've walked to the other end of the building. I frown when my hands touch the cold and dusty blocks of stone.

"Fitz?" I hear Donovan voice besides me. "I... feel something here. Like- writing."

I tense up immediately. "Do you know what it says?" I ask, hoping that he does and it's not those runes that we saw on Arien's locket.

"Hold on..." Agonizing seconds of silence later, Donovan says, "No, I can't. They're like random lines engraved in the stone of this wall..."

I sigh. "Then it's what I think it is," I muse as Donovan moves a bit so I can feel the inscriptions.

"What is it?"

"Some sort of runes," I say absentmindedly as I try to find the area with the runes. "Sophie and I first saw it on Arien's locket. She couldn't read it, but I could. It had a weird saying," I explain to him. After finding the first area of the inscriptions, I say, "But that's not important right now."

"What did it say?" Donovan presses.

Sighing, I say, "I don't know what it means yet, but it said..." I pause, remembering the exact words. "It said... 'Follow the words that are trying to hide'."

"Wow. You guys are really good at being smart," Donovan says after a few seconds of silence.

Ignoring the last statement, I begin to feel and translate the inscription, which seems to be longer than the quote that I just said. "You..." I say out loud so Donovan will know what it says. I furrow my eyebrows and say, "...Shouldn't...be..."

"Be what?" the male Sovereign inquires rather loudly.

Shushing him, I go back to focusing on the runes. "Able...to," I murmur, scowling more. At the next part, I can feel my face paling considerably and my eyes widening. Pressing my lips together grimly, I silently translate the rest. I translate the entire thing again just to double check that I translated it.

And I did.

Finally, Donovan jabs my shoulder impatiently. "What did it say..?!" he questions me impatiently.

I growl under my breath in anger and frustration as I translate it for a third time silently. When Donovan pokes me again, I let out a deep breath before saying, "It says 'You shouldn't be able to translate it'."

I can hear Donovan gasp behind me. "Is there some sort of mistake..?" he asks quietly. "Because you just did exactly what it said you couldn't..."

"I translated it three separate times," I say quietly. "And that's exactly what it says..."

Suddenly, Donovan and I hear something click from within the shadows. I freeze in my spot, now knowing that we're not the only ones here. And it doesn't help when Donovan whispers in the quietest voice I've ever heard, "That was the sound of a latch. Something just got triggered." I then see Donovan's outline take a step to the left.

Before he sinks into the floor.

I then realize that it's actually a hole in the floor, but before I can use my telekinesis to pull him out, Donovan grabs my arm blindly and drags me in with him.

As we fall down for who knows how long, I begin to feel my brain losing connection to my body. I try to move my fingers, but can't do it. I frown at this before one possibility enters my mind. "There's saridian in here," I note to myself.

"What's that?" Donovan asks.

Instead of replying to him, I take a deep breath in when my eyelids involuntarily close. I try to open them again, but it's like I'm trying to lift a building with my bare hands. I can't tell where we are, or who else is with us. I also can't help but feel like we've been set up to fail, like the warehouse from last year.

But one thing I do know is that we're still falling. The wind is still blowing in my face.