A wave of applause flowed through the room, threatening to drown me. I faked a smile as Eliet continued. “Elias, for the past two months, has been held captive by a small group of rebels. The knowledge that the rebels have gained the strength necessary to accomplish something like this is disconcerting, to say the least. So we need to do something about it. Fast.” A quiet murmur started in the room, with people whispering to the person next to them about what the plan should be. This was how I could sabotage the Elite and help the rebels. “You won’t want to attack the north side of the base. Instead, you should focus on the southern edge. Most of the weapons and security are on the northern quadrants,” I said. That was the exact opposite of the truth. Everything was spread evenly, but the rooms in the southern quadrants were mainly housed by security personnel. “Thank you, Elias. And can you tell us where this base is, exactly?” Eliet asked. This was it. “It’s built inside of Mount Antider.” The lie hung in the room until Eliet nodded. “Wonderful.” I breathed a sigh of relief. Now that I’d said that, the rebels were safe inside Bayforte Mountain. “So we’ll organise an attack on the south face of Mount Antider. Eelti, can you prepare the demons for the attack?” Eliet asked. My head shot up. “Why are you having the demons attack?” I asked. I wanted to keep Logan as far away from this as possible. If what T.R.I.B.A.U.M.’s leaders said was true, and a war was coming, I didn’t want Logan to be a part of it. After this was all over, maybe he could go back to the way things were. T.R.I.B.A.U.M. could do the same thing for him as they did for me. They could get rid of the demon inside of him.
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“Well, why wouldn’t we use them? That’s what they were made for, to fight,” Eliet said, his patience thinning. “But they are basically machines. And they’ll make mistakes. If we used actual people, we could get this over faster and more efficiently,” I argued. I didn’t care what it took. I was keeping Logan out of this fight. “Elias, I don’t think you understand. The demons are to be used for what they were made for. They are the perfect soldiers and will be sent out as soon as possible. Now, be quiet and let us talk.” I shut up, glaring at Eliet. “Eelti, please continue with attack protocols,” Eliet said. Eelti nodded and left the room, grabbing a touchpad as he did. Eliet continued talking. “The next order of business. I would like a search team put together. There is a short list of people that must be found and taken into custody as soon as possible. Mariah Barnet, Melissa Roswood, Margaret Bates, and Samuel Tye.”
“No,” I whispered.
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“What was that, Elias? Something else you’d like to share?” I started slowly walking through the room, towards Eliet. “I said, no. You can’t take them. They haven’t done anything wrong.” Eliet stepped down from the podium. “Are you defending the rebels, Elias? What have they done to you?” He reached out to touch me, but I jumped back. “Don’t touch me. You want to kill them, and I can’t allow that.” Eliet looked around the room and then started to laugh. “You can't be serious.” I raised an eyebrow. “I can’t allow that,” he said, imitating me. “What would you possibly do to stop me?” I stepped back, distancing myself from Eliet. “I’m going to step out for a moment,” I hissed. Eliet shrugged and walked back up to the podium. As I stepped out of the door, I looked back. I wish I hadn’t. Eliet said, “Oh, can someone add one more name to that list? Jay Keeth. Oh, wait.” Eliet looked directly at me, and in a monotone voice, he said, “He’s dead.” I closed the door with a bag and started walking down the hall, a face flashing behind my eyes. The face of one of my closest friends, laying on the forest floor, dead. Dead at the hands of a demon.
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I fled down the hall, the image of Jay’s bloody body in the front of my mind. Why did he have to be killed? Why did the demon have to kill him? I sat down on the ground, holding my head in my hands. I slowly rocked back and forth, back and forth. Then, I started whispering, barely audibly, a poem I remembered. I don’t know how I remembered it; I’d only heard it once. I sniffed and took a deep breath. Jay had written it a few weeks before he died. I wiped my eyes and stood up. I was ready to get out of here.
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I started to hold up my fist, and my body started to dissolve. But then I heard the click of shoes on the floor. “Wait!” I shouted. “Wait, stop.” I brought my hand back down, and the hologram reappeared. I ran a hand through my ‘hair’ as Eelti rounded the corner. He stopped short when he saw me, then turned around and started walking back the way he had come. “Hey!” I called after him. “Where’re you going?” I ran to catch up to him. “Eelti!” I shouted. He stopped and turned to face me. “Hello, Elias. How can I help you?” I gulped down air, out of breath. “Where are you going?” I asked. He looked around, before saying, “To the holding dock. It’s where all the demons are being kept until they’re ready to go back out.”
“Take me there,” I said firmly. Eelti’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “Oh, no. No, I can’t do that. You don’t have clearance to go in there. Only the highest ranked Elite are allowed inside.” I raised an eyebrow. “And that includes you, but not me? You’re barely even one of the Elite. Eliet only keeps you around to do the stuff he doesn’t want to. I’m Reaper, so you’ll let me into that room or I’ll force you.” Eelti laughed quietly. “You’re going to regret saying that, Elias. You may be Reaper, and you may think you have control of the demons, but in the end, it’s always the Elite. The Elite control you, and you can’t do anything to stop that. There’s nothing you can do to fight it, or change it, despite what your rebel friends seem to think. Now, please excuse me. I need to get going. I actually have a job to do here.” He brushed past me and continued walking.
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With a groan, I followed him. “Eelti, my man, can’t you just help me this once? I need to talk to Logan. That’s why I want to get into the demon’s room. I don’t like that, but it’s true. My brother is a demon, and I need to see him. He’s my family. Can’t you just let me in? Just this once? Eliet will never find out, and even if he did, it would be fine. He wouldn’t care. I would know, we know each other really well.” Internally, I was shouting at myself. What was I saying? It didn’t matter, though, because Eelti actually seemed to be considering my proposal. “Fine,” he caved. “I’ll give you ten minutes with Logan. After that, you’re out and you go back to the meeting.” I smiled. “Thank you, Eelti. This means a lot.” Finally, I was able to speak the truth. I could tell Logan what T.R.I.B.A.U.M. was planning, and we could figure out a way to break him out of here. 173Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHNS0E9AlH
