I look over the corner to see that there's a swarm of guards near two large holes in the wall in front of them. "That's the area we came from," I whisper to Donovan. "But we can't go through it with the saridian lining it. We wouldn't be able to open our eyes and they could catch us."

Donovan nods. "We could try to search for some stairs or an elevator," he says.

We both nod before running down the way we came, looking for any doors leading to the stairs or the metal doors of an elevator. We see some guards turning to face us as we dash down the hallway. Before Donovan can throw a tegalla star, I quickly shoot two of the four officers. Smirking at me, Donovan throws two tegalla stars at the last two guards.

I look forward to see the closed doors of an elevator. Nudging Donovan before pointing at the elevator, the two of us run faster towards the elevator. As the male Sovereign presses the button and waits for the elevator to open, I turn around to find that a crowd of five guards are holding prostrators behind the two of us. "Donovan," I whisper, nudging him again. "We have company."

He turns around and begins cursing as he grabs a few of his tegalla stars. I hold my prostrator up, eyeing each of the guards when they pull their weapons up as well. I quickly recognize the three guards that had caught me earlier. I narrow my eyes and quickly shoot the one who threw me to the ground, making him black out. At the same time, Donovan throws a tegalla star at the guard besides the first guard, making him drop to the ground.

Suddenly, the loud ding signalling the elevator's arrival sounds. Donovan and I exchange a glance before quickly running in, but not after making two more guard collapse onto the ground- conscious or not.

Once in the elevator, I look back to see two pieces of tzanion flying towards us through the remaining space the closing doors had. The first one hits me, and my mind throbs with agony. Before the second one can hit me and knock me out, I use my telekinesis to stop the tzanion, Narrowing my eyes at the guard, I hit him with the small, teal crystal and render him unconscious before he can pull the trigger for a third time.

The elevator goes upwards at a normal pace before it suddenly stops.

Then it goes up at an unnaturally fast pace. Way too fast for it to be automatic.

Donovan then points up to a security camera. "They've already spotted us," he mutters. "And they've increased the speed of this thing."

My eyes dart around the small area until I see the outline of a door on the roof of the elevator. Before I say anything to Donovan, I use my telepathic abilities to rip the camera away from its corner before slamming it on the ground of the elevator. After I'm sure that the camera is broken, I turn to the male Sovereign. "There's a door on top of the elevator," I say hastily. I then lift myself up to try and pry the door open. "We'll try to get out this way."

"Use this," Donovan says. I glance down to see the male Sovereign on his toes, holding out a metal rod with what I can assume to be the star-shaped shards of a tegalla star at the upper end. "Try prying it open with this. If it doesn't work," he says, pointing to the outline. "Just cut out that piece of metal with it. Or you know what? Just do the second thing I told you."

Nodding, I take the blade and quickly cut out the piece of metal out rather easily, much to my surprise. I then use my telekinesis to slowly place the piece of metal on the ground next to Donovan's feet. Looking up at the darkness above, I levitate myself out of the elevator through the open area.

Other than the light that shining in the elevator, I'm met with complete darkness. The wind blows on my back violently as we rush upwards. I glance up to see the outline of the roof coming closer and closer. I then carefully scoot to the side before lifting Donovan out. Just as I do, a beam of light shoots out of the hole and shine against the wall, revealing multiple closed doors that lead to different floors.

"The camera lense," the male Sovereign states vaguely. I nod and look up again- the roof is still nearing fast.

And as I'm staring upwards, I notice a pair of doors opening near the top.

"Do you think that's somebody waiting for us?!" I shout, the wind now blowing in our faces.

"Who freaking cares now?!" Donovan yells back. "And besides, the person that we need to worry about is out cold!"

I prepare to jump off of the roof and into the room. "He may have woken up by now!" I shout. When we're close enough, I say, "Get ready to jump in three... three!"

I then grab Donovan's arm and rush forward. When my feet leave the ground, I use telekinesis as a boost to propel us through the open doors. Just as we crash onto the ground, the doors slam closed, and the elevator collides into the roof loudly, even though the closed doors muffled some of the sound.

Groaning, we stand up. "Wow, that move was so unlike you," Donovan comments. "That's like something I'd do."

I shrug. "It was either that or go down with the elevator," I say truthfully. My eyes then widen when I remember that someone must've opened the doors and turn around quickly, holding my prostration up again. When I see who it is, I let my arm fall to my side. I see Donovan lower his tegalla stars from the corner of my eye.

"Steven, right?" Donovan asks, raising an eyebrow.

I shake my head. "What are you doing here?!" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows. I point to Donovan, "I didn't want to endanger him or you."

The pathologist shakes his head. "It took me a while to find this place, especially since it's underground," he admits. "But I went another way once inside the deserted building and found a hidden shaft leading down here. I already know that you two translated those runes and fell into their trap."

"Correction- he translated them," Donovan says, pointing at me. "Fitzie's the only one who can apparently read those scribbles."

Steven's eyes widen. "Wait- Sophie can't read them?" he asks, facing me.

"No, just me," I say, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

As if he ignored my question, Steven points to my chest, making me realize that because of my ripped shirt, the dark blue scar is visible. "So that's the scar..." he murmurs. "You got it from nebmentia."

"What happened?" I ask, glazing over the fact that Steven knew what the dark blue crystal was before either of us could find out. "What does the scar mean?"

"Well, Fitton actually told me about it," Steven admits. "And you got that scar because, according to Fitton, he hit you with about seven pieces of nebmentia. But apparently, you're allergic to nebmentia. That's why you got that scar."

Donovan frowns. "What bothers me is how the enemy contacted you about Fitz's new 'allergy'," he comments. I nod in agreement.

Steven looks at the male Sovereign. "He sounded very reluctant to share that piece of information in his message," he admits. "But he said that if they were going to succeed with anything else, they'd need to keep you alive..." He trails off, looking at the scar again. His expression makes him seem like he has more information to share, but he doesn't.

Instead, I ask, "Do you know where the ships are? We're still far away from Washington, right?"

He nods. "That's right," Steven nods. "But I didn't come on a ship."

"Submarine?" Donovan suggests.

Steven turns to him, mildly surprised. "Correct, Donovan. Guess your technological powers are far more powerful than I would've expected," he says.

Now it's our turn to be surprised. "How'd you find out?" Donovan quickly asks, his face pale. "Did someone tell you? Does Mr. Wallace know?"

Steven chuckles softly, gesturing us to follow him. As we do, he explains, "No, no one told me. And Mr. Wallace doesn't know about your abilities. For how I found out... that's for another time." He then presses a button, revealing another elevator. When Donovan and I step back considerably, the pathologist chuckles again. "We're not going through here, based on what happened last time. Instead, he slides a large, bright green bud inside, the "petals" made of metal.

"Dude- are those addlexers?!" Donovan almost shout in excitement.

I frown. "I don't know much about it, but.. don't those use large pieces of aceis?" I ask.

"Which aren't as hard to find as you think," Steven confirm, smirking slightly.

Donovan turns to me. "Addlexers are motion-triggered," he explains. "If someone triggers it, the metal petals open up like a real flower, revealing a large aceis. It basically distracts someone from doing or thinking something. In this case, it distracts them so much that they have to move at least six feet away before they remember what they're supposed to be doing."

I nod in comprehension at the male Sovereign's explanation, laughing softly at his smile. "And that's going down to the floor we came from?" I ask Steven when we step into a rather dimly lit room.

"Exactly," he says. After a moment of silence, Steven says, "Well, this is usually the part where I should be saying that I'll have to knock you out, but-"

"Don't you dare," Donovan cuts him off. "Mr. Wallace already did that to us- that jerk."

Steven rolls his eyes. "Of course he did," he hisses under breath. A bit louder, he says, "But I'm not going to. But you might want to run some more- I'm going to leave another addlexer here."

My eyes widen when Steven pulls out yet another addlexer. Before he slides it into the middle of the room, I ask, "How long do we have before we trigger it by being here?"

"Five seconds," Steven says. "But it'll only start counting down when I place it on the ground. By the way..." The pathologist points to the wall behind us. "That's a wall made of plastic- I checked. I parked the submarine behind it, but you'll have to use your telekinesis to get through it."

I nod, then frown. "Wait- then how did you get through?" I ask.

Steven smirks. "You'll think of it soon enough," he says, making Donovan more confused and me more skeptical. He then slides the addlexer towards the center of the room and yells, "Go, go, go!"

I pick all three of us up and force us to break through the fake wall. Before I can comment on the slight pain of the plastic slamming into me, I find myself tumbling towards the ground, resulting in more pain. Once I get up, I then find myself staring at a black submarine with green stones scattered all over it. "Aceis?" I ask out loud.

Steven opens the door at the top. "Yes, but they won't affect you so much to make you forget," he says. "Hopefully."

I sigh. Turning to Donovan, I pick him up with my telekinesis and only let go when he's halfway down the entrance of the submarine. As he climbs down, I walk over to the ladder on the side. When I grab it, I can feel some sudden doubt enter my mind as I begin climbing. Forcing myself to focus on getting into the submarine to go back to Washington, I finally make it to the top. I then quickly descend the interior ladder, before Steven goes up and closes the upper hatch.

After my feet touch the ground, Donovan smirks at me. "Should I take offense or be grateful that you used your telekinesis on me instead of letting me climb into the submarine?" he asks, jokingly raising an eyebrow.

I laugh. "Both."