Without Five, life in the Everglades sucks. Days roll into weeks, training my legacies and exploring the area is about all I do to occupy my time. There isn't much to explore outside; just hot, humid swampland. I'm never alone anymore, despite missing my best friend, there is always a security detail that surrounds me whenever I leave the base, or countless vatborn soldiers throwing themselves at me to aid in the development of my Mind Control.

Setrakus Ra had said that it was a tough one to master, but I felt like I was getting the hang of it. I could now command up to a dozen soldiers at a time, forcing them to do whatever silly gestures that I wanted, or combat each other until only one remained. It was all good fun, but I desperately wanted to hear from Five.

He had been gone for a long time, possibly months. It was hard to keep track since I had been keeping myself busy, doing meaningless things to pass my time. Deltoch had taken me to a few different Mogadorian bases to learn about the different projects and equipment. I'm told that there used to be a base in Dulce Mexico, but it had been destroyed by the Garde before Five and I had ever even gotten to see it.

Some Mogs have talked about another who was responsible for the Dulce assault, Adamus Sutekh, the traitor trueborn son of Andrakus Setekh. There were rumors that he had somehow become one of them, of us; gifted with power after an experiment with our scientists. A Mog with legacies? I laughed it off at first, but from base to base, I overheard different soldiers speaking of Adamus in hushed whispers. Supposedly he could manipulate the earth beneath your feet.

It had given our scientists some ideas, and they immediately began their work. Deltoch had taken me back to West Virginia, he had thought I would be intrigued by the newest project there and he was right.

As we walked through the old halls of the gray compound, I felt a strange feeling overcome me. I had been a weak child when I first arrived here, tormented for my inability to produce any legacies. The other garde who lived here, the ones that were spared by Beloved Leader when they were infants, were now serving their purposes.

"Marvelous, isn't it?" The head scientist beams proudly. I was staring at all of the garde lying unconscious on their own tables, each hooked up to wires and monitors. They looked like they were dead, but the gentle rise and fall of their chests proved otherwise. I notice immediately that there is significantly less garde in the group than when Five and I had left. Guess the others were too weak.

"What are you doing to them?" I asked curiously. Never had I ever heard them so quiet.

"We are extracting their powers," He explained. "It seemed to have worked once before, with the corpse of Number One but the subject was poorly selected and turned out to be a traitor. With our new technology, our soldiers will be unstoppable." He means Adamus.

"Sounds painful," I smirked, peering over at Sabrina's lifeless body. The thought of her power, of all their powers, being stripped from them to make them as powerless as I once was, is amusing. Reaching out with my mind, I feel all of their power, except it's much weaker than it was last time I had done it. Some seemed to be barely holding on. Using all my built up rage, anger that I felt towards them, I sent out one last mental jolt of pain through their brains, and grin satisfactory when their bodies begin to convulse.

"What's happening to them?" The scientist mutters, rushing to his monitors and I can't help but snicker. Deltoch seems to have noticed what I have done, and the tiniest smile creeps on his face though he says nothing.

From the corner of my eye, I see the long, wavy brown hair of Julia, the only garde that I feel a twinge of guilt for. She had tried to stop the others from opening their big mouths, mainly so she wouldn't be forced to suffer their fate, yet here she was anyway. Her healing legacy could be useful. I consider asking Deltoch to spare the healer, but I hold my tongue, deciding that such mercy would be seen as inappropriate.

"Shall we go? This is now boring." I ask Deltoch, and he nods, following me out the door as we begin our walk back to our ship, back to the boring Everglades. I try to push the thought of Julia and her eerily similarities to Melody out of my head. When we are halfway there, a scout approaches us, salutes and pulls a small package from his pocket.

"Commander Ten," He says nervously, holding an object out to me. "I have been sent to deliver this to you," The object is a small box, packaged by brown wrapping paper. Deltoch raises his eyebrows, still remaining silent.

"Who was this sent by?" I frown, turning it over in my hands to examine it. It was surprisingly very light.

"Commander Five," My heart skips a beat when he says Five's name. All I can do is nod and the scout leaves us. Deltoch leads the way back to the ship and leaves me alone while he talks to the pilot. Tearing open the package, I find a small cellphone inside, pressing the small button on the side until it makes a ringing noise, the screen lighting up as I watch in awe. I had never owned a phone before, though I remember my cepan keeping one around for emergencies, and now I had one of my own.

I spent the whole trip back to the Everglades examining the cell phone. The screen reacted when I touched it, allowing me to open and close different features. When I clicked the icon with a phone, it brought me to a screen with a single contact. Five. There has to be a reason why Five has sent this to me. I doubt he just wanted to have a good chat. I'm about to click on his name to call him when I feel the familiar shift in the ship's turbulence; we were back at the Everglades. Slipping my phone in my uniform pocket, I join Deltoch as we disembark the ship.

"You'll want to see to that," Deltoch tells me, gesturing towards my pocket. At first I didn't understand, it took a few moments to realize that he was talking about the cell phone in my pocket. He knows. Of course he knows.

"Of course," I nod, turning away quickly so he doesn't see how red my face must be. It was dumb to think that this was some sort of secret between Five and me. Of course they all know about it, they know about everything. I wouldn't be surprised if the phone was bugged so they could hear everything we say. Keeping a mental note of that, I stride casually over to my room, ignoring the salutes from various soldiers that pass me.

After collapsing onto my bed, I contemplate taking the phone out or waiting till later. It's been so long since I last heard Five's voice. My brother. Is he doing okay with the Garde? Have they realized what he is? Did he successfully infiltrate them? My curiosity overwhelms me, ripping the phone out of my pocket, I quickly find the screen with Five's name, click on it, and bring the phone up to my ear.

My heart skips a beat on the first ring, and I wonder if Five even wants to talk to me. What if he is happier with them, the ones that are like him? I'm not one of the garde like he is. When it rings three times, I hold my breath and think about ending the connection when the line crackles, a familiar voice breaking through.

"Hello?" Five's unmistakable voice crackles through in a hushed whisper. "Andy, you there?"

"Hey," I grin happily, though I know he can't see it. "I'm here, Five. It's great to finally hear from you."

"You too, dude." Five says. "I've missed you." He adds after a moment of silence.

"What's it been like?" I ask, unable to control myself. I want to know every detail but I don't press any further than that. He'll tell me what he needs to tell me.

"Awful," he scoffs. "I'm attending school right now, posing as a human with the others." This surprises me, I hadn't pegged Five for the knowledge type. "We're in Canada though, so that part is cool. I liked Canada when I lived here as a kid."

"Why are you posing as a human?" I retort, laying down on my stomach with my elbows propped up on my pillow. "What's the point in that?"

"We're looking for someone," he replies. "The others think it's Number Ten."

"But I'm Number Ten?" I mutter, my mind racing. I have the pendant. Setrakus Ra told me himself, and I have the legacies. I have to be Number Ten.

"They seem to think there is another," he tells me. "It's actually what I'm calling you about,"

"Another Ten?" I scoffed, trying to wrap my mind around. I had become comfortable with the thought of being Number Ten; it made everything clearer. "How can there be two of us?" I think back to when I found out that I wasn't actually Number Two, that same disappointment sinking in. If I am not Ten, then who the hell am I?

"There can't be," Five's voice says softly. "They're wrong, dude." he adds. "You're the real Ten."

"So then why are you guys in Canada?" I scoff, rolling onto my back so I was staring at the ceiling. Am I really not Number Ten? After all this?

"They have some sort of locator tablet that can pinpoint our locations," He explains. "A pin showed up in Canada."

"Am I one of the pins?" I ask curiously.

"I'm not sure," he mumbles. "They haven't shown it to me. But that tablet seems like it could be useful, so maybe I can steal it after all this."

"So what's school like?" I ask, trying to change the subject. How can I not be Ten?

"Boring," he groans. "Malcom is making me go by the name; Farid Green."

"Farid," I mutter, testing how it felt to say it. "What a weird name." I don't bother asking who Malcolm is.

"Right? And Nine saved me from being crushed which I had to pretend to be grateful for, but like he only did it so we weren't exposed to the humans so he is still a fucking asshole" he scoffs. "But listen, there was an important reason I sent you this phone and needed to talk to you."

"Which is?" I asked, sitting up to dangle my feet over the edge of the bed.

"I'm going to send you a photo," He explains. "I want you to take a look at it and tell me what you think." The phone vibrates and a message from Five appears. I click on it and an image covers the whole screen.

It's a photo of Nine, who I recognize from the folder that Five used to keep in West Virginia, he's older and not as beat up but it's not him that my attention is drawn to; it's the girl sitting beside him. I dropped the phone on the floor in surprise, my heart racing. That's not possible.

"It can't be," I whimper, staring at the phone on the ground. The girl had long brown hair that flowed past her shoulders, her grin exposing her bright teeth. Looking at her was like staring at a ghost.

"I talked to her not long ago." Five continues to explain after I bring the phone back up to my ear, although I don't need him to. I already know who the girl is. I could never forget her face, no matter how many times I had tried. "Her name is Melody, and she told me she lost her brother Andy,"