STEWART

Stewart opened his heavy eyelids and let out a small groan. He felt the hard floor, and for a moment he thought he was in the mansion. As he came to himself, felt ropes around his wrists, and saw an unfamiliar ceiling, he remembered what had happened. A chill seeped through him.

Kathryn took me.

Stewart heard footsteps and lifted his head. His eyes locked onto the face of a tall, broad-shouldered man. His face was sharp-featured and clean-shaven, and his eyebrows and smoothed-back hair were a startling white. His eyes were dark and cold, and his mouth was twisted into a sideways smirk.

"Sornione," Stewart said quietly.

The smirk grew larger. "How did you know?" said the man. Before he gave Stewart any time to answer, he let out a short laugh. "Oh, of course you know. That's why I have to kill you."

Stewart shifted, his arm filling with pins and needles. "You know you can just separate the Catalyst from the students, right? You don't have to get rid of me completely."

Sornione brushed the idea away with another short laugh and a wave of his hand. "Of course! But you have your memories back; you know too much. Besides, it is much more fun this way."

Stewart swallowed. Fear flashed through him and sent his heart racing for a moment. What have I gotten myself into? But the feeling faded, and he replaced it with determination. This was my plan, at least a little. I just have to keep my head and figure this out.

"You know," Sornione said, casually picking a knife off a table and balancing it on his fingertips. "I am very pleased that you are the Catalyst...eh.... What did you say your name was?"

"Stewart."

The man chuckled. "Stewart. Fine, I will call you that. I am still pleased to kill you."

"Why?" Stewart hazarded.

Sornione's eyes flashed. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the knife he was holding whistling through the air toward Stewart. He closed his eyes and winced, but when he heard a thunk to the side of his head, he opened his eyes. The knife was embedded in a red pillow lying next to him. The stuffing spilled onto the floor.

"I was aiming for the pillow," Sornione said, smiling. "Now your question. You remember who I am, and who 'Kathryn' is, but you know nothing of your own identity?"

Stewart nodded.

Sornione grinned and sank into a chair, steepling his fingers. "I will tell you, Stewart. But first I must know some things."

What could he want to know?

"Has J. Q. King, or his decoy, played Boards with you?" he asked.

The card game? Stewart had no idea how to answer at first. He had played it when he had been summoned to J. Q. King's office. But it was such an odd question. Why would Sornione want to know that?

"Well?" Sornione snapped.

"Yes," Stewart responded.

The man nodded and continued. "And have the other students started changing yet?"

Stewart remembered what he had seen happening to Julia and Heather just before Kathryn abducted him. "Yes," he said, still not sure where Sornione was going with those questions.

Sornione's eyes glinted. "Grazie," he said. "This knowledge will make killing you much sweeter." He rose to his full height and walked toward Stewart.

"Wait!" Stewart cried, quickly losing his confidence. "You said you'd tell me first!"

Sornione stooped over, grabbed Stewart's shirt collar, and yanked him to his feet. His dark glare bore into Stewart's eyes like a drill, and when he spoke his voice was low.

"J. Q. King," he spat. "I will punish him for what he has done."

Stewart swallowed, still held captive by Sornione's cruel stare.

"He and his friends were always in my way!"

Where is this going?

"But now I am winning," Sornione continued, a mad look in his eyes. "I am the one making him suffer. It is such a good feeling." His grip tightened around Stewart's collar, the cloth pinching his neck.

"Why are you telling me this?" Stewart grunted.

"Don't you see, Stewart?" Sornione said. He grinned. "Or should I call you something different? Perhaps you would prefer Louis instead."

Louis? Stewart felt dizzy. Louis King? "That's not me."

"Oh, but it is!" Sornione exclaimed. "Louis King! The son of my enemy. He thought bringing the witnesses back to PITY would help him find you. But I found you first, and now that I have, I will break him!"

Stewart's heart was pounding, mostly from fear, but also from shock. I'm Louis King? he thought. It made some sense. He had known how to play J. Q. King's favorite card game and win against Kathryn, even when he hadn't been told the rules. The secret compartment in J. Q. King's office had opened for him. But he still he couldn't accept it. "I am not Louis," he said again, his voice trembling.

Sornione shook Stewart suddenly. "Don't say that!" he roared. "You are! I have you! Take a look!" Sornione dragged Stewart over to a desk on the other side of the room. There sat the broken remains of a mirror. Sornione shoved Stewart's head toward it so he could see his reflection.

"Who do you see?" the man shouted.

Stewart stared wide-eyed at his reflection, struggling to believe what his eyes were telling him. The boy who stared back at him had black hair, with only a few clumps of his familiar blonde hair left. Bright spots of amber dotted his gray-blue eyes.

"Louis," Stewart whispered.

"Yes!" Sornione exclaimed. "Louis King! With you I will destroy J. Q.--"

"Why don't you just do it, then?" Stewart interrupted, more boldly than he actually felt.

Sornione opened his mouth to reply, but he was stopped by a sudden noise. He turned toward the stairs. Stewart couldn't see who was at the top, but they slowly walked down into view.

"Kathryn," he said quietly.

"Not quite," she said in a honeyed voice. "I thought you knew to call me Scarlet."

Stewart glared at her. "I forgot."

Scarlet sighed and turned to Sornione. "I have made contact with one of the students."

Sornione grinned. "Good."

Scarlet nodded. "Yes. She has not responded. Maybe J. Q. King has not returned to them yet."

"Yes, yes," Sornione said absently. "Keep trying. I want to know where he is. I want him to know what I am about to do."

Scarlet smiled like her father did, then she turned and disappeared back up the stairs.

"What was that about?" Stewart asked when she had gone.

Sornione turned back to his captive, his face contorted in a look of malevolent glee that would stay in Stewart's memory forever. "I promise I will kill you," he assured him. "But I must make it as painful to your father as possible."