Chapter Four
Peter
I stop her on her way to school the next morning. "Catherine!" I say, urgently. She turns and nods to me, understanding the emergency of the situation, and leaving her friends, walks over.
"What you saw last night. It was real," I start, trying to make her understand, trying to convince myself that she does not need to be killed like my sister was. Her eyes are wide open, her mouth, following its lead, gaping at me with wonder, "Catherine, that was a Ceremony by a secret community for males." I continue slowly, hoping she understands my foreign words, "I cannot tell you anything about them, except that I am forcefully part of them, that it is a society which one enters through blood." I pause, letting her take this in.
"So you're saying that no one, no one, knows about this?"
"Exactly. And it must stay that way. Okay?"
"Okay." She says, nodding her head in slow motion. I suddenly feel something run up my back- a tinge. There is someone else here.
"You have to go now, and speak to Shailene too. Not a word of what happened must be conveyed to any human soul for as long as you live."
"I get it. I promise." She replies, her hands curling into mine. I step back and lean against the wall. I feel something again.
"Catherine you have to leave now." I push her away from the corner we were in. "Go."
"What's going on?" She asks, trying to hold her own.
"Catherine." I look into her eyes, "You need to go, now. There's someone else here."
"How do you know that? I can't hear anything."
I roll my eyes and groan, my voice sharp but consciously low, why won't she leave! "You know how I know that."
And then suddenly, there is a bang. Catherine's delicate body falls into my arms. "Catherine!" I scream helplessly into her ears, "Catherine!" I look up, "Who's there? Who did that?"
A dark, built figure steps out of the shadows. It says gruffly to me, "You know it had to be done, Peter. And you didn't have it in you to do it."
"Max!" I snarl. Why is everything changing so soon! Just when it felt right! He grunts from the darkness, as if he is doing me a favor by not killing her.
"Peter..." I turn my head back down at the body in my arms. She whispers, "It's okay. Go, before they blame you."
I shake my head in disagreement, "I'm not going anywhere." I pick her up in my arms and not forgetting the hopeless creature that did this, I run to the nearest hospital.
-
It has been two days since that dreadful Ceremony. I will finally meet Igetis today. I have been growingly anxious about the compulsory ritual I will be walking into in the next 15 minutes. I get into my car and leave the house quickly.
The traffic on the streets is nothing compared to the kind of fate that stays lying for me ahead, and once more, with my foot pressing down on the brakes, my mind is cluttered with theories of what Igetis might ask from me, as I make my way to school, the clock reading 6:00pm, for another adventurous evening.
-
"Peter." His voice booms from the speakers "Join me onstage."
Ignoring the mutters of disbelief that makes its way around the hall, I climb up the stairs to join Igetis on the wooden platform. The red curtains are drawn, not giving away a hint of what's happening behind them. I nudge the curtains unenthusiastically and walk through the covered shield. Igetis glides calmly towards where I stand, my back up straight, my chin set in a firm position parallel towards the floor. Don't falter Peter; you are one of the strongest people here.
Igetis looks at me with a mischievous smile on his face, "Tell me, Peter," his voice soft enough just for him and me, "how is your lady friend doing in the hospital?"
Anger seeps through me. My eyes burned. Angry, abusive words stayed stuck in my throat. I clench my fist, digging my fingers into my skin. He continues, comforted with my reaction, "I am sure you have learnt, Peter, over your two years in the Oi Alloi that every up has a down, every reaction has a consequence and-" He leans forward, his dark, covered face inches from mine, "-every power, a weakness."
My eyes glower in the dark. Hold it, Peter. He's just trying to get to you.
"Your weakness," Igetis continues, positively sparkling with my seeping anger, "is that everytime you feel a different emotion- every single time- your pupils change colour." He stretches out his hand behind him and magics himself a mirror.
Show-off.
He brings the unreal mirror towards my blazing gaze. "Have a look."
And he is right. My eyeballs are a bright, fiery shade of red, and slowly as I take in this nauseating flaw, they change back to their newly acquired colour of sapphire. I step back involuntarily. My eyes turned a hint of golden-yellow.
"Ah." says the ruthless voice in front of me, "Now, you're scared, nervous too, perhaps." He giggles under his breath- which was probably the most confusing thing that happened to me all day. Igetis. Is giggling. I didn't know he could even smile, let alone giggle like a child on Christmas morning. "Don't be, Peter. You are one of the best of us. You deserve your powers." Once more, he inches towards me, "But your powers, because of their limitless potential, give you the worst present one could ever imagine- they give you a window to your emotions." He grabs my forearm with unforeseen efforts, and murmurs into my ear, "Examine your next steps very carefully, Peter, you are being watched with more than one pair of eyes." And as suddenly he had held me, he lets me go, pushing me towards the crowd.
I join the stalking assembly of my 'brothers' and settle down, waiting for the ritual to begin. The curtains unraveled in a most ceremonious manner with a thrilling drum beat to add to the drama. A loud chanting began, enveloping the entire hall. I joined them:
"Oi álloi stékontai mazí, me ton pio dynató trópo. Doulévoume mazí, chrisimopoióntas tis dynámeis mas gia to kaló mas kathimeriná. Oi álloi eínai gemátoi me ándres pou théloun na alláxoun ton kósmo.pou théloun na enimerósoun tous anthrópous gia álles dynámeis pou paízoun. Poios thélei na deíxei stous apeítharchous anthrópous óti den ypárchoun mónoi, óti ypárchei mia pio exypnóteri, ischyrí koinótita - Oi Alloi!"
The room is filled with a sudden burst of satisfaction and pride. I ignore it completely. This is not what I want. There has to be another reason for my powers.
A stranger from behind me put his rough hand on my squared shoulder, "Trust me boy, there isn't. We are the born killers- and you, well, you are one of the greatest of us all. You shall murder countless weak humans. Your actions will impress us thoroughly. You are a competitor I would love to fight, as would many others present here."
I look back at him, feeling uneasy and hoping my eyes don't turn into a disgusting honey yellow. "How did you do that?"
He laughs heavily, in his deep, threatening voice, "I can read minds brother. And yours most easily."
I shudder, moving his hand, and turn back to where Igetis stands. He is right. They are all watching me.
"Of course he is right, brother. He is Igetis. And of course we are watching you, more closely now than ever, after the mishaps the first tetrakinita caused for us."
I hate him for reading my mind again, but something he said intrigues me. I turn around and look at him, suddenly interested, "Tetrakinita? What's that?"
"The four powered. You are not the only one!" He laughs his ridiculous laugh again, "Sorry for bursting your bubble."
I smile to myself. I'm not the only one. There was someone before me. Someone I can learn from. "Where can I find him?" I ask the man, with a little more respect in my voice, "this tetrakinita?"
"Nowhere." came the reply, "He is dead."
I walk out of the auditorium in a mist of confusion, my head spiraling with questions. I start the car and put on my seatbelt.
Another ritual in which I left halfway, I can't even imagine what Igetis might be thinking about this right now. It'll have to wait. I think as I turn the car onto the streets.