I never thought that the so-called Atlantean Secret Society would be some of the few people I could trust.

This time, we didn’t meet at the warehouse. Turned out that we were there only for my benefit. Kent Smith had an office in the Isle of Heroes.

I was sitting on the couch with Birgit and Ahmed–neither of whom remembered the other–while Beatrice and Will were sitting on the chairs in front of Kent Smith’s desk. And Maria was also there. She was pacing around the room, looking everywhere except my direction.

We were all waiting for him to show up and it was safe to say he couldn’t get here fast enough. Between me and Maria, Birgit and her brother, and the whole situation, there was enough tension in this room to fill an ocean.

And when Kent Smith finally arrived, it didn’t get better. He wasn’t alone, Sofia following behind him. Almost immediately I shot up, left hand over my right glove, ready to defend myself against her. After the last time we fought, I knew not to underestimate her.

Everyone else looked confused. Maria flinched slightly.

Sofia held her hands up. “No book. No items. No powers. But you knew that already, didn’t you? Since you have his memories too?”

“Enough,” barked Kent Smith. Once again, I didn’t know what it was about him, but we all turned to look at him when he spoke. “I understand that there are a lot of…personal issues between you all, but for now we must focus on stopping our enemies.”

Will signed something as a response. Kent Smith nodded wearily.

“I’m afraid so, Will,” he said as he sat in his chair.. “Multiple enemies. The first one, you all know. Charles Morris. Our dean. Alex, you want to talk about the second one?”

“Paragon.” I let out a long sigh. “He was once a hero. I don’t know how or why, but he has been forgotten, erased from history. But he’s powerful, and real. He almost took over the world once, attempting to bring a twisted order to things.

“He was taken down, imprisoned, but he’s now out again. It sounds crazy but-but I was there when we fought him too. In another life.”

It wasn’t easy to talk about this in a matter of fact way. Especially since Paragon had done–he had just done so much to me in both my lives. I took a deep breath. Instinctively I also searched for Birgit’s hand, but to no avail. She was still sitting down with her arms crossed.

“And there is also a third villain,” said Kent Smith. “He goes by Frankenstein. We don’t know much about him. Rumour across the criminal underworld is that he and Paragon are preparing for a sort of war. Apparently Frankenstein is a potential threat to Paragon–who now goes by Order. So he wants to strike at him before Frankenstein gets too powerful. Lots of people could be hurt in that conflict.”

“And you want us to stop them?” Maria scoffed at him. “Why should we even listen to you all–why should I trust Alex? Other lives? Conspiracies to change history? How stupid do you think we are?”

“You’re right,” Kent Smith said patiently. “It is insane. I’m not asking any of you to take this as an absolute truth. What is an absolute truth though, is that Charles Morris has deeply hurt most people in this room as well as countless others. I firmly believe that stopping him is what a hero would–what a hero should do.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Charles has made three mistakes.” It was Sofia who spoke this time. She sounded apprehensive, almost anxious. She turned to me. “You have his memories too. Was I there?”

“No.” I was shocked to find out that she really wasn’t. There was only Sofie. She had no family. Dead parents and no siblings.

“I don’t know how it works exactly, but when he transfers a person’s consciousness, it can’t be random. You can’t just-just put a person’s mind, their powers, their whole soul in someone else. You have to-you-” She put her hand over her mouth, like whatever it was that Charles did was so horrible it hurt to even think about it.

Kent Smith got up, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Miscarriages, stillborn babies. That’s where he strikes. The couples never find out that their children are dead. That Charles replaced them.”

I looked between the two of them. So that was what had happened to me. What I had been. A failed pregnancy. What would the real Alexander Adamos have been like? I shook that thought out of my head. I was the real Alexander Adamos. No matter how I came to be.

But Sofia, how did she come to be?

“When Sofie was to be reincarnated, he chose a woman in Spain who had a miscarriage. She lost one of the two. That twin became Sofie. But her memories–they bled into the other one. I could never have a life of my own.

“I was Sofie’s extension. Whenever I would branch out, the flashes would come again. It hurt. It hurt so much until I just…gave in. Until now. Mister Smith agreed to help me move on. And I will. Right after I put them all away. For good.”

“The second mistake,” said Kent Smith, squeezing Sofia’s shoulder, “was telling me about Frankenstein and Paragon. So I did a little digging. Used every resource at my arsenal to find out where and when Frankenstein will strike.”

“Which is?” asked Beatrice.

“The Isle of Heroes, during the InterSchool tournament. And if Frankenstein is here…”

“Then chances are that Paragon will be as well.” It was Ahmed who spoke this time, for the first time since we came here. “Charles’s reputation will go down the drain if two villains manage to break in simultaneously.”

“Exactly! Not to mention that it won’t be the first time. You’ve all forgotten about it, but Paragon has attacked one before.”

Again, everyone looked at him, confused about what he was saying. I just rubbed my neck, the memory still too fresh in my mind.

“Charles tried to get rid of all the documentation, but he couldn’t. I managed to salvage some footage from the attack. If we release this at just the right time, then we'll have him out of any position of power in no time.”

“Fighting Paragon won’t be easy,” I said. “When I last fought him, I managed to win because he underestimated me. And because he had fought a dozen heroes before me.”

“Still, you have an idea of how to do it, right?”

I looked around the room. Everyone was looking at me expectantly. I didn’t know what Kent Smith told them to get them to agree to this, but they were all here. A part of me wished that Iraklis would be here. And not just him, but all of my friends from my previous life.

But a part of me also liked to think that I had a part in bringing these people here. At least Birgit and Ahmed. For whatever reason they, and Kent Smith, trusted me. And I couldn’t let them down.

“I would need someone on the level of Alpha Surge,” I said quietly. “If not that, then I’d need most people here to take him on. Will and Birgit. Maria and Beatrice.”

“What if you did have Alpha Surge?” asked Kent Smith. A small smile was on his face. “What then?”

“Then he and Birgit should be enough. I think that the-the secret society could handle Frankenstein on their own. I’ve seen all four of the ones here in action. They’re all incredible.”

“So that is what we shall do.”

Again, Will signed something and Beatrice sighed.

“I don’t like to say this, but Will’s right. This is insane. We agreed to join you in order to stop these villains. This is insane, but we trust you enough Mister Smith. But how can we be sure this will work?”

“No plan is a guaranteed success,” said Kent Smith. “Alex has had a lot of run-ins with Paragon. I realise that I’m stretching all the goodwill my name brings me, but I must ask you to trust me.”