Chapter Fifteen
Peter
After Ester is done marking the way on the map, it all goes ahead like clockwork. It is decided that tomorrow, at precisely 2:00am, the three of us- Ester, Cathy, and me, would leave for the hideout. We would reach there in approximately thirty minutes, leaving us with enough time to distract the guards and any possible security threats, and then let out Max, Richard and the rest of them.
Finally content, we all take to our rooms early and fall into a restless sleep.
-
I work hastily, rummaging through my bag, checking and rechecking, my eyes flickering a confusing shade of gold and then green and then blue and they hurt due to the constant changing.
Catherine grabs my arm, perhaps realizing the stress I am unnecessarily putting myself through and it helps. I puff my chest up and blow out, ready, now that I am finally done. We scutter into the car, guns laying ready, and take off.
-
The path narrows down to a small, bumpy lane. Trees branches get into the way and leaves that are left unkept continue to disturb the motion of the car. I check my wrist for the time. 2:22am. The car goes on, grumbling disdainfully as the road continues to punish us. Hardly a few minutes later, Ester pulls the car over into some space between two shrubs. He turns to the backseat. "Hereon, we go on foot."
-
Our little trio treks on, not a single human life visible since we started. 2:30am.
And then, as if a fairy waved her magic wand and went "bibbidi bobbidi boo!" a small triangle leans out of the cluster of leaves, breaking into the sky. It is shining, reflecting the sunlight, and soft rays of dark blue emitted out of it into the surroundings. We have reached.
Catherine, who hadn't spoken a word till now, makes a small gesture with her head in Ester's direction, as if to apologize for doubting him earlier, and then, returns her eyes to the top of the trees, "a pyramid. That's a lot like them."
Ester then stops in front of us and spreads his legs out shoulder length, as if he was barricading us from going forward. I sigh and step ahead, my palms already in a ready position to attack him with some bolts of fire. He frowns, confused, and says, "you can put your hands down, boy.
"Okay, here's the plan, we can't use the front gate, it's too risky, even with Sir Fancy Hands over here, there's probably way too much security. Max spoke about a way from the backside. Here's the exact route to the dungeons, it's pretty straight forward from behind," he places a small smudgy lined paper in my hand, "I'll stand at guard out here. You'll won't take long to reach the prisoners. He claims that there's about 4 men blocking them, easy shots," he removes two small pistols from his bag and passes them onto both of us, "Good luck then."
"Wait, Ester," I remember something from the last time I visited To Sotos, "these guys must be having really good security- and not just personnel, specifically not just people. If we go in, there's no doubt that it's going to get caught on any one of their hundreds of cameras."
Ester looks at me like I am a five year old child, "Boy, you are the Tetrakinita, and I managed to hypnotize you in seconds, these guys are just men with guns. Stand by for exactly four minutes, and you'll be clear to enter. I swear." I ignore his comment and his praises for himself and we begin walking ahead briskly.
A sudden clearing, a field the size of probably one-fourth of a football stadium, leads to the giant pyramid, almost identical to that of the house of the To Sotos, except the grey here is actually silver and the royal shade of purple is changed to a nightly blue.
Very few men stand guard on this side, not expecting any visitors from this side-or perhaps, any visitors at all. They are wearing a sharp metal guard and shin pads. No part of their body is left flesh-open to any possible attackers. Igetis did a really good job with the clothes.
Behind them, a single door, with no lock that we could see from here, is enclosed behind a fence of barbed wires. The door camouflages with the rest of the structure and a single knob is seen. They must be really good men- high in the ranks- left alone to support an entrance to this place.
A single ochre path, perhaps big enough for a bike, makes its way done right to where the men stand. The grass is cut low, reaching up to our ankles. There are no weeds, or flowers, in sight.
Not a single blow of wind highlights the scene, not a single bird, not a single animal makes a sound- the only noise we can hear is that of the soldiers marching up and down in their heavy boots, four of them matching each other perfectly.
I suspect them to be from To Sotos- Oi Alloi guards wouldn't need this kind of protection.
Ester jogs on to the grass like a king, his hands moving up and down, his mouth shaped like a fish, huffing and puffing towards the warden. I roll my eyes and smile.
One of the guards puts out his hand in front of Ester's jiggling stomach. Ester looks straight into his eyes and says something. That's all it takes. The same man, his face covered, ushers his other commanders in with him and Ester follows them. My watch showed 2:39pm.
I crouch down behind the bush, as does Cathy who is right next to me. We haven't communicated with words since we left home- there was nothing to be said. I take her hand in mine and hold on to it helplessly. Four minutes pass.
We get up from our rigid position and sprint quietly into the now open gates. I cautiously turn open the door with the knob, gloves keeping the secrecy of my fingerprints. The door opens swiftly. I walk in with Catherine behind me, a loaded pistol in my pocket, my wrists attentive, my ears perked up for the slightest of sounds.
We arrive at a wide interception, one heading straight in front, one going towards the right, and the other towards the left. It is dark inside, the only source of light radiating from the bottom, right at the walls, and the ceiling, spreading slightly onto the sides- and predictably, they too are a uniform colour of Prussian blue.
I glance down at the sheet Ester had handed me some time back and then start down the passage going straight down to the heart of the pyramid. The two of us make our way nimbly through the blindly, the slightest of interruptions asking me to stop and wait.
The corridor, as I had thought, leads straight to the core of the pyramid, literally down to the core of the pyramid. After moving in the same direction for about three whole minutes, we come to a stop, seeing that the route goes down. I consult the map once again and we dart down the stairs.
If Igetis had excelled in making perfect clothes, he had most certainly failed at illumination. It is pitch black and I have to keep straining my eyes to watch out for the next step.
To make things worse, our feet continue making a terribly loud sound as we descend into the Earth, and it echoes around the place inevitably. I squint, finally, to check the time. How long had we been here for? Is this a trick? A trap? I move my hand closer to my eyes. 2:58am. We might be at least 200 feet underground now.
I hold on to the railing by my side, Catherine's breath hissing at my throat behind me, and continue, not as eager as before.
I climb down not more than three or four steps when suddenly I felt a sharp, cold metal pressing against my temples. I stand still, thinking of what to do.
"Don't move." A thick, deep voice fills the stairway. I listen to him, waiting, how did I miss this? I ignore it and strain my ears. A little cluttering, a few faulty steps, a few more rough voices. At least 5 people.
I grip the guns at my side, hoping Catherine sees me and does the same. I pull it out of my pocket slowly. And then, I act fast. I slam the gun off my head and push my knee up at the man's face in front of me. His ginormous beard saves his jaw. Oof.
He hits back, I duck. I punch him on his cheek, he hits me back like a mirror. I spit out blood on the side, hearing him do the same. And then, the hearing stops. The man is on the floor, his body sprawled in an uncomfortable position. I frown and turn to Catherine, "You've got a thing with hitting old men in the head haven't you?"
Catherine smiles back at me, her hand holding a rifle. Why didn't she just shoot him?
"Yeah." Cathy replies, beaming, "I think it's my new hobby or something."
"Quick, we need to move, there's more of them coming." I reach out and take her hand in mine. Smirking, I point the cold gun in my hands down at the man's chest.
"You don't have to, Peter."
A haunting memory comes creeping back into my head, pulling at my emotions. Sara.
"Shhh..." I murmur, looking at his strong, flushed, body one last time. I shoot at his chest. Then, I turn, pulling a shocked Cathy with me, and stride away from the dead man, my gun safely tucked inside my pocket, filled to come to my aid another time.
-
I bang the traditional lock against the frames. Why isn't it opening! We had fought our way through the rest of the guards and made it alive to where the seven unholy men are locked up.
I recognize them all: Max, obviously, Richard, James, and the other three from the Ceremony, and my friendly mind-reader- the one who preached me about the entire concept of 'Tetrakinita' -is inside too.
"How much longer will it take Peter?" Catherine askes from behind me, keeping a lookout, "I don't think Ester's hypnotism lasts this long."
"Two. More. Minutes." I struggle hopelessly with the ancient artifact in my hand.
"Stand back." A familiar voice from behind the bars speaks up. Richard. What is he going to do? With one big swing, Richard bangs his fists hard on the lock. It shatters open ridiculously. Super strength. I step back to let them out. 3:14am.
"Seven of you'll. 14 powers. Why didn't you'll just break out?" I ask as they walk out.
"For one, we don't know where we are." One of the other boys replied, walking out, "and for another, no one stands up to Igetis." I grin, remembering my days. He outstretched his hand, "Lucas Royce. Super speed. Element: Water." I nod. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Nice tonne. Soft muscles. I glance at Catherine.
She was already figuring out a way to explain to the reader man from the assembly, who had said his name to be Albert, that he needs to somehow connect to Ester and figure out the best way to get us out of here in case the guards are already alerted. I switch my attention back to the men I had defeated not a very long time back.
Just then, Max walks out. His dark skin slowly came into view, his hair is shaved off completely, his muscular body just fitting through the doorway, his shirt sticks to him, shaping his abs, a trail of blood flowed down the side of his face through a haphazardly put bandage and as he walks out towards me, his face coming closer, I see, that even after all this, my friend still resided inside this bulky body.
That my funny, soppy friend is still alive in this tough, trained exterior. As we stand parallel to each other, his forehead a little higher than mine, I can hear, from behind me, the rest of the room suddenly stop to hold their breath. There's no need to cry over spilt milk.
Max seems to agree with me as he opens his arms wide and shows me his teeth happily. I grin and step forward, putting my arms around him carefully. We let go.
"I see you finally got her!" He says mischievously as I smack him lightly on his back. Cathy beams.
"Okay boys, Ester reckons we got about ten minutes to get out of here and on the road. "Albert announces.
I walk to the front of the group. "Rule No. 1: Listen to what I say. Rule No.2: Don't act smart- kill him if you see him. Rule No.3: Stay with the group. Rule No. 4:" I look at Catherine and then the rest of them, eyeing Lucas, "stay the hell away from her. Are we clear?"
They nod courteously and follow my lead back up the stairs, Catherine's hand locked in my own. "Albert, when's Ester joining us?"
Albert replies in puffs as we run up the stairway, "He's, oof already ugh there."
Already there? That means those men are with him too. What is he thinking?
As we ascend, I check the time. 3:21am. That took us 7 whole minutes. "Okay we're going to pick up the pace now!" I yell back to the others. Not much time left. We sprint back down the hall, covering all those meters in just seconds, looking back rarely. Each one for themselves.
I thrust open the door to the outside world. 3:24am. Just in time. Ester is waiting at the far end of the field, gesturing madly with his hands. I take a quick attendance. Everyone's here.
And then, we run. Pacing each other, laughing, racing across the open lawn towards Ester, the reality of this escape hitting us only just now. We squeeze into my car and ride joyfully out of the forest, my eye secretly on both; Lucas and Catherine.