Prisoners of Eden

-Chapter 16- Answers

Their father had always been cruel. Every second Rowan spent locked inside that house, isolated from the outside world, he refused to look her in the eye and on the rare occasions he did, it was with a bitter scowl. The twins were aware of their father's great plan to kill Rowan in the womb but this? After everything their father had done to them so far, this took the cake. Even in the afterlife he feasts on their misery. Pluto could be lying, their father would never hire a group like this, even if he was insane. 

"I need answers," Ash was the first to voice his opinion. "We have no reason to trust you but if what you are saying is true, then why did he hire the five of you and what for?" 

Rowan zoned out from the conversation and scanned the area in hopes of finding Flint, but unfortunately there was no one else outside of the two siblings and their enemy. Deus had closed the Western Gate, blocking one of their very few exits. He was a smart man, smarter than Pluto gave him credit for. Rowan could have sworn he had the ability to see into the future because she couldn't fight through him. When he first appeared, he closed and locked the gate behind him as if he expected it to be their first escape. He wasn't wrong. She prayed Flint could find another way inside but even if he did, there was no telling how he would get past Pluto and the others without being caught. He may be silent but he is not invisible. Pluto had ears like a dog with the power to hear the smallest of sounds which includes hearing the leader of the underground, Flint. There was even the possibility that she could hear Ash's heartbeat drumming in his chest like a caged bird longing to break the bone prison surrounding it. 

Pluto tilted her head, grinning from ear to ear. Eris detached herself from her lover's shoulder. She stood beside him, twisting one of her golden curls around her index finger as she hummed quietly to herself in a sad monotone, "your father hired us because we are the only ones fit for the job." "The job of killing you both that is." The man added. 

Ash squeezed Rowan's hand once again. This wasn't the first time he had done this either for he had been scared so many times in one night that he needed the comfort of his sister's fingers intertwining with his. The second he felt her squeeze his hand in retaliation his shoulders relaxed and his breathing calmed as well as his beating heart which pounded against his chest at a million miles per hour. He wanted to scream into his phone and ask Flint what was taking him so long but that was until he saw him lurking beyond the Western gate. Hidden in the shadows was Flint, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He also took this as a rare opportunity to gather as much information as he could, they were bait. Their leader was using them as a sort of bait to lure Pluto into his web only to gather information from her. His eyes locked onto Ash and it was as if time had stopped. Go on, his eyes ordered sternly, make her talk. Ash gulped, already regretting his next moves. He felt like the loosing side in a game of chess; all of his allies had fallen or been captured by the other side while his opponent stood strong before him with more valuable and powerful pieces than he ever had at their finger tips. It was almost like no matter where he moved his pieces or what pieces he used, there was no way he could win. he began to shake, weakening under Flint's piercing gaze. 

Deus moved closer, blocking Ash's view of the other second child, "why would he want you to kill us?" Rowan uncurled her hand from Ash and his tight hold. Ash frowned. Deus chuckled lightly, "he didn't want you to find the underground but we see you already have. You have done everything your father had feared that you would do: meet others like you, start a war-" he paused for a moment and looked at Ash through the corner of his eye, "and even convinced your brother to fraternize with such a filthy place." 

It all made sense now. Their father had planned this very moment like a bear trap. He knew that if Rowan ever came in contact with the underground and the other second children, she would change the world. In fear of this, he hired Pluto, Miss. Mortem, Eris, her lover and Deus to kill his children if they ever made it that far. The irony of it all was that they were all too late. Together Rowan and Ash were in the process of fixing Eden so that everyone was an equal. No matter how hard they tried, their father's hired puppets would never succeed with their plans to assassinate them both.  

Behind the larger group of adults, Flint emerged from the Western gate after taking his time while Ash asked questions to lock pick the gate open with a bobby pin he had stolen from Rowan's collection. "I'm afraid I cannot let you do that. She, as well as her brother, play important parts in plans of our own." Flint pocketed the bobby pin, frowning at Pluto. It was only then that Rowan wondered why Flint had asked for information on the woman in red. The limited information they found was the scrolls from Miss. Mortem's class and the scrolls from Pluto's dressing room which matched perfectly and had the names of second children who disappeared in their sleep written on the old papyrus. In that moment, Rowan remembered fragments of the conversation Pluto and Lachlan had before she set off the toxic gas:

'Take the children before sunrise.'

'Marvelous eyes.'

'Aaron Al-Baz created a machine.'

'You are Eden's lies.'