The room was like an auditorium, round and massive with towering glass windows carved into the walls. Hundreds of chairs were arranged in a semi-circle and every seat was occupied, except two; one in the centre, and one off to her right. Leah was silent as Seth and Riley moved across the empty floor to the vacant chairs. She could feel all the human breath in the room rolling at her, like an ocean swell, or a gust of wind, or a fire.

"Leah Azemar."

The voice came from the centre and Leah followed it until her eyes settled on the broad, dark-skinned man Seth had sat next to. His face was coldly expressive, the face of a man not easily influenced by sentiment. Leah swallowed down her panic and met his gaze head on, fighting the urge to scour the room for moving shadows.

"Welcome back," he said, gesturing to the middle of the room. "Please, come forward."

Leah did as he asked, moving until she stood in the centre of the semi-circle, her guards following behind. The silence pressed down on her like a physical force and she felt acutely aware of her every action.

"I'm sorry about the formalities," the man continued. "I hope you understand the predicament we're in. If you care for your brother's safety, like you claim you do, I'm sure our caution won't come as a surprise."

Leah's eyes flicked around the room, taking in the hard, stoic faces and guns that protruded from many jackets. The S.I.S were almost silhouettes against the glare of blue skies behind them. She suspected they'd planned it that way.

"Of course," she said. "Seth's safety is more important than anything else."

The man smiled.

"We'd like you to answer some questions. Would you be okay with that?"

Leah glanced at Seth. His face was strained, his knuckles white on the arms of his chair.

"What would you like to know?" Leah asked.

The man smiled once more.

"Your memories were erased when you moved to the world of the dead, yes?"

Leah nodded, shifting her weight self-consciously. She felt every eye follow her action.

"Would you agree that it's suspicious you remembered to come back to this world then? Given you'd forgotten everything?"

His question was asked with an air of detachment, of objectivity, but Leah could see there was something impenetrable in his gaze.

"I didn't know about this world at first," Leah said, trying to convey a strength in her words that she didn't feel. "But I was different down there; I was stronger and faster than everyone I'd ever met, and I had dreams where I saw Seth and Danny. I spent my entire life trying to hide what I was. It wasn't until Jared kidnaped me that –"

"Jared Caldwell?"

Leah looked towards the woman who'd interrupted her. She sat straight, her gaze sharp. There was nothing unique about her, but for a moment Leah stared. The light seemed to treat her differently than it did the others, it went through her, and Leah realised in surprise that she was a hologram.

"Yes," Leah said quietly. "Jared Caldwell."

"He kidnapped you in the world of the dead?"

Leah glanced towards Seth. She knew what she was about to say wouldn't be received well. "Yes."

Seth flinched at her words, his eyes going wide, and a murmur raced around the room. The woman stood up, her mouth curled up into a victorious grin.

"You're lying already," she said. "Jared Caldwell's alive. Our men saw him at the stronghold where they kept you."

The woman turned to face Seth and the man beside him.

"She's as good as confessed her betrayal, Andrew. It's too dangerous to have her here, we need to send her away."

"I didn't say Jared was dead," Leah said, raising her voice. "Just that he was there. He can move between the worlds whenever he wants."

"Please," the woman scoffed, "that's impossible."

Leah straightened, her eyes glinting dangerously. "If you're narrow-minded enough to think that something's impossible because you haven't heard of it happening before, then you probably should consider changing jobs."

The woman's cheeks flushed. "How dare you –"

"Karina, calm down."

The man seated next to Seth, who Leah now realised was named Andrew, raised a hand to silence the room. He was looking at Leah curiously, a stark contrast to the muted panic that covered Seth's face.

"How do you know he can do that?" Andrew asked.

"He told me," Leah said simply. "And I saw him do it once. He can talk to the dead and bring their knowledge back here."

"Why would he tell you that unless he trusted you?" Karina asked, her voice chipped. "No rebel would tell an S.I.S member something like that."

Leah bit back the urge to snap back and tried to keep her voice level. "I was his prisoner. He didn't think that information would be going anywhere. He was only bringing me back because Brenton decided it wasn't useful having me there anymore, not when I couldn't remember anything. Besides, Cassandra told me to befriend him, to try make him change sides. She knew how dangerous his abilities could be."

Leah could feel the atmosphere in the room changing. People were leaning forward in their seats. Some looked curious, others remained suspicious, but Leah could feel a weight lifting, cracking.

"You met Cassandra there?" Andrew asked.

"She found me after the news reported my disappearance," Leah said. "She explained everything that happened to her, and the war that was going on here. I never would've gotten away from Jared if it weren't for her and Danny –"

"Cassandra betrayed us." The words were spoken softly and Leah turned to a man sitting off to her right. His face was lined and his voice full of pebbles. "Danny should hate her. She was the reason so many were captured or killed, including you."

"She was tortured!" Leah said angrily. "And she's trying to atone for that. I wouldn't have made it back here without her."

"Surely you understand how suspicious this looks, though," Karina said. "We all know Jared Caldwell isn't a fool. Cassandra and Danny shouldn't have been able to get anywhere near you."

"Well they did!" Leah exclaimed. "They knew how important it was to get me back here. I know things about the rebels that'll help you!"

"Like what?"

The voice came from a tall dark-skinned boy sat next to Riley, and for a moment Leah stared at him. His resemblance to Andrew was obvious but there was something oddly familiar about him, something soothing.

"I know Brenton," Leah said quietly, staring at the boy. "He made my time in the world of the dead a living hell. He split his soul trying to make himself immortal and I had to deal with the backlash of that. I lived with his dead half and every day he directed his disappointment and anger at me. I know him, and his fears, in a way no one else here ever will. And the same goes for Jared. If you want the upper hand, you need my help. You need to know where to hit them hardest."

There was a stunned silence. A grin slid across the boy's face and he gave her a small nod.

"We should end this here," Karina said suddenly. "Just because this girl has Leah's face doesn't mean she's the person we all knew. She's going to manipulate us if we let her. She's doing it already!"

"I think she should stay."

The voice made everyone stop and Leah turned to find Riley staring fixatedly at Andrew, her gaze hard. Her tone of defiance almost made Leah collapse in relief.

"Riley," he said with a sigh. "You know we can't let our decision be emotional. We can't trust her unless we have proof she's telling the truth."

"My decision isn't emotional," Riley said. "Danny wouldn't have sent her back if she was a threat. There's your proof. I believe her, and I know Seth does too, he's just too used to all of you ignoring him that he's stopped trying to speak up."

Leah glanced at Seth to find he'd flushed red.

"She could be a spy," Andrew said.

"Then don't let her communicate with anyone outside the S.I.S. No one does anyway," Riley said, her eyebrow raising into an impressive expression of disdain. "We all know what this last year has been like. We've lost too many people and we need a new advantage. Leah is that advantage."

No one spoke and Leah could see several eyes shifting. Riley's statement had clearly hit close to home and Leah allowed herself a small explosion of hope until someone towards the back of the room spoke.

"I disagree. We can't risk trusting her."

The words were like a blow to her chest and Leah found herself gasping. She knew, even before she saw the speaker, who that voice belonged to; it sung out memories like a rusty musical box.

Patrick Azemar was sitting at the very back, his face only half discernible amongst the many others, but she recognised him instantly. He was looking at her like she was something epic and terrible, something sent to torture him.

"What?" Seth stood up, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at his father.

"I'm sorry," Patrick said, his eyes shining. "But this is bigger than any of us. We can't know what other side effects that machine Brenton used on her might have. She might be able to move between the worlds like Jared can and then we wouldn't have any control over who she talks to. We can't endanger the world because you want your sister back, Seth."

Leah felt like her lungs had collapsed.

"But I can't," she said softly. "I promise you, I can't do what Jared can."

Her father's expression hardened and she knew instantly that her promises weren't good enough. She could see it in his dark eyes, could see the regret that was already there.

Seth was glancing back and forth between them, his face going white.

"She's telling the truth!" he exclaimed. "I'm sure she is. I was with her this whole afternoon and she didn't try anything."

Leah barely heard his words through the fog in her brain. She felt like an earthquake had rocked through her system, cracking open something inside her.

"You're –" Leah's throat closed up. "You're going to send me away, aren't you?"

The room was silent.

"We'd like you to live with one of our members, in isolation from the rest of the S.I.S.," Patrick said, unable to meet her eyes. She could hear the unsteadiness in his voice, the pain. "You'll be able to start your life over again, you won't have to be part of all of this."

Something dark and swirling was hovering in Leah's peripherals, creeping across her vision as her confusion and grief dissolved into rage. The emotion was overwhelming, as if an entire worlds worth of fury was pouring into her.

"Leah, this isn't anything personal," Andrew said. "You have to understand that –"

"Nothing personal!" Leah roared. She saw both Patrick and Andrew flinch back.

"I went through hell to get here. I gave up everything. I –"

She cut off as a sudden ticking filled the room, a rhythmic pace increasing drastically in tempo. It only took her a second to spot the red lights that were flashing at the tops of the windows.

"Get away from the walls!" Leah screamed, but it was already too late.

The windows blew inwards, shattering over the people in the back rows and Leah watched in horror as ropes dropped and black clad figures, backlit by smoke and sunlight, swung inside with their guns blazing, and the room exploded into chaos. 

...

Hey everyone!

Tension is already rising! Get ready for a reappearance of Jared in the next chapter ;) 

What do we all think about Chapter 2?!

Next chapter out in 2 weeks :)

- Skylar xx