August 8, 2022 - 10:07am
Outside Lecture Hall 1, First Floor, Eden Campus Building 8
An eclipse of Machiavelli’s white witch moths fluttered past Kuro harmlessly, but obscured his view. The Korean couldn’t help but flaunt his technique, his freedom from long lasting consequences. It was his flame, his spotlight, and very reason to be. The fumes of his liberty were intoxicating, adding wasteful steps to his stances, and pointless spins to his strikes.
Kuro, meanwhile was being driven back by his opponent’s lackadaisical manner, only managing to parry his attacks while searching desperately for the opportunity to deliver his own. Machi refused to give the boy a chance to even swing his machete to escape. Fatigue strained Kuro’s muscles.
“What happened to all that energy you had?” Machi mocked.
Just then, Kuro noticed a single moth caught between the narrow gap of two lockers, its left wing clipped tightly between the space.
“That’s my chance! But I have to create an opening somehow!”
The anomaly gathered atma into his legs and jumped away, his head grazing the ceiling above him. Machiavelli followed, spawning a cloud of moths from his body as he did so. Kuro swung at the air between himself and the floor directly below him, erasing the space. The Hooligan reset himself with his technique, appearing in front of the boy with his jikdo raised.
He brought the weapon down where steel clashed against steel. Machi’s strength and experience kept Kuro on one knee while the younger boy tried to find an escape.
“When it comes to techniques, some are tools, and some are weapons,” Oliver’s words suddenly came to mind. They reminded him of a few aspects of his technique he hadn’t spent as much time developing.
“Don’t squirm so much, I’m not supposed to kill you,” Machiavelli said.
“I haven’t intentionally tried since that time with Lucia’s barrier, but…”
Brilliant blue atma sparked off the boy’s machete as he cleaved through Machiavelli’s blade, this time focusing so that it wouldn’t repair itself as the space he erased did. He kicked his attacker back, finally creating the distance he needed to get his hands on the moth.
“Now I just have to hope that killing his moth won’t immediately reset him to my position…it’d be counterintuitive if his technique allowed any moth death to do that. Any death creating a checkpoint though? I’ll just have to wager that I’m right!”
Kuro feigned an attack on Machiavelli as he ran past his target moth. Instinctively, Machi summoned another moth, and upon seeing it, Kuro erased the space between his target and his blade, discreetly setting the new checkpoint. Machi crushed his own moth, thinking he’d appear behind Kuro, but instead found the tip of the boy’s machete pointing at him. He coated his hands with atma and motioned to grab the weapon from his target, but Kuro sidestepped, and without thinking, cut off Machiavelli’s arm. The older boy howled in pain as Kuro winced.
Machi lunged at Kuro in a desperate frenzy, but his right hand followed suit. The Hooligan screamed.
“Everyone…I failed you,” Machiavelli sighed, having fallen to his knees. Kuro stood over him, his exhaustion in the form of shaking hands and sweat. He’d used most of his atma in that last series of attacks, and was now using his energy to hold in the vomit. Seeing Machi’s hands on the floor, the disfigured bodies of Javier’s victims, and even Javier’s unmoving body at the end of the hallway filled him with nausea but he had to keep moving.
Kuro tipped Machiavelli over, unwilling to look at him any longer. He knew he should have finished him off, but stood by his resolve.
“Israel! Are you okay?” He called, approached the classroom his friend should’ve been in. Without warning, Capybara jumped out from the corner of the hallway, just next to the classroom door. Before Kuro could react, the man slapped a card across the boy’s face, absorbing him into a playing card.
“Bingo!” Capybara motioned to alert his teammates of the anomaly’s successful capture, but was interrupted by Money’s wraith flying into him. He stumbled back, then shifted his atma.
“You’re one of them…” Money said.
“My job here is already done…I’ve got no interest in working overtime, maestro.”
“That’s okay, you won’t have to live through it for very long,” the farmer replied, his rage seeping into his words.
Angelo’s shoes splashed against the puddles of blood left behind by the dead visitors, alerting Money and Capybara of his arrival. With dark-ringed eyes and disheveled hair, the day had already taken a toll on him, but he gripped his staff, Burning Man, with the same tenacity as before. His gray eyes looked sickly as they bore into the standing Hooligan.
“Another one,” he thought.
Angelo then shifted his gaze to Machiavelli, who was still breathing. Without a word, deep blue, almost purple, flame erupted from the tiger-head carving of his staff as he approached the incapacitated boy on the floor.
“What’s with that guy?” Capybara stepped back, put off by Angelo’s sinister aura.
Jump Force, Money’s wraith, shot at the man in the onesie from behind, but was unable to hit him. Money followed after it, with both of them trying to land a hit. It was easy for Capybara to let his technique take control, but he was worried about Angelo and the way he looked at Machiavelli. The boy was like a wolf on its last legs, happening upon an injured rabbit; a man condemned before his last meal.
“Hey, wait!” Capybara’s atma shifted, inverting the effect of his technique. Instead of his body automatically adjusting to avoid any attack, it would adjust to make sure any attack of his landed.
Angelo raised his staff over his head as he loomed over Machiavelli. The Hooligan looked up at him with defiance, and tried to scramble to his feet. It had been a long time since he had to face any sort of consequence, after all. And now that Kuro had gone and taken his freedom, his hands, he was terrified. He roared as the Burning Man, judgment, was brought down on him.
At the very last moment, however, a playing card slapped against his back, exonerating him from the attack. Angelo’s staff shattered the floor where his target sat moments ago. He looked up to see that Capybara and Money were now locked in a fistfight. The Hooligan had managed to flick the card at Machi, a guaranteed hit due to his technique, but now had to evade attacks manually.
Angelo watched the two fight for a moment. Capybara’s swings, as wild as they were, jerked and adjusted his entire body to hit Money no matter what. And from his time spent studying his colleagues, the masked maestro had learned that Money needed to get several consecutive attacks without being hit to use the healing ability of his technique.
“In that case…” Angelo surmised.
He dashed at Capybara and used his staff to separate him from Money, launching the man into the walls.
“Money…I’ll be your shield. People need your help,” Angelo rasped. His white cat wraith materialized.
“Just don’t get in my way,” Money replied.
“I was about to tell you the same thing,” the masked boy grimaced.
~
August 8, 2022 - 10:23am
Classroom 8.2.22, Second Floor, Eden Campus Building 8
Huddled under a sturdy desk at the end of the classroom, Dione had been stripped of her know-it-all attitude, and smug countenance. All that was left was a little girl drowning in fear. The desks she piled in front of the door rumbled and creaked with the constant booms and crashes that shook the building’s very foundation.
Dione had been instructed to not so much as use her technique, or let out a sob, no matter how badly she wanted to cry. She felt atma splashing all over the place, with an intensity she’d never experienced before. Even Naga had gone silent, and curled up around the girl in an effort to comfort her. She remained deathly still, save for counting her fingers, squeezing the tip of each one, just as her mother had taught her.
“Did something happen to Penny? Is Soji dead? Penny wouldn’t leave me…” Dione’s thoughts raced, especially after receiving that text from her sister. Her heart plummeted when she saw the message, and prayed to God, the universe, and whatever else had the power, that her sister was okay.
After nearly an hour of waiting and counting, Penny crept out of her sister’s shadow, her mascara smeared down her face. She, too, carried no smugness with her, and only had relief to share with her sister. The girls embraced, crying silently.
“What happened? What’s going on out there?” Dione whispered.
“We’re being attacked by some group. They’re strong. One of them…one of them can temporarily disrupt our atma. He’s got Monika, and took out Niko and Esme. Everyone on the ground floor, too. The others are still fighting,” Penny replied.
“What about Soji? He got hit by a Genten. Is he…? Can you see him?”
“He’s fine…kind of. I was just in his shadow, he’s passed out in the courtyard. Dropped out of a window I think. What about you, how did you get in here? I’m glad but—”
“Angelo put me in here, told me not to leave. I wanted to help everyone but…I’m really scared.”
“It’s okay Dione, I’m scared too. That really strong maestro…he touched me, and I couldn’t use my atma for a bit. As soon as my technique came back…” Penny trailed off in shame. She ran away. She abandoned her little sister.
“So we’re getting everyone out of here, right?”
“I…I went really far, I only have enough atma to carry one person.”
“Penny…”
“Dione, you’re my sister. I’m putting you first!”
“You can’t leave everyone else here!”
“I don’t have a choice! I can’t even bring Naga…”
Dione recoiled from her sister’s touch.
“Are you serious? You’re gonna run away twice?”
The young girl regretted the words as soon as she said them. It’s not like she’d been running around helping people either.
“I’m sorry,” Dione said.
“I know you don’t mean that. A lot is happening.”
“Wait! What about Tamara Cain? You can get to her shadow, let her know what’s happening! She’d be here in a second, she’ll save everyone!”
“I can’t access her shadow, y-you know, because of her technique,” Penny replied, the guilt dragging her eyes away from Dione’s. Before the girl could protest, both sank into the world of shadows.
Dione was always creeped out by how it looked; an abyss littered endlessly with doors. She could feel some other presence deep, deep, down, watching, waiting. The only upside was that it always seemed to only take a second to swim through the black waters and end up back in the normal world.
Back in her room, Dione angrily searched for her sister, ready to protest and yell that they go back at once, but Penny was nowhere to be seen.
“Penny!”
Meanwhile, back in the abandoned classroom, Naga nudged at the cracks in the wall until bits of it gave way to a hole small enough for her to squeeze through. She emerged on the other side of the wall, pushing through a damaged locker door to continue her journey.
As she slithered towards the end of the hallway with a smashed window, Hyeseong Lee hopped through the hole in the floor that Soji had made earlier.
“Huh…a snake?”
Lee continued to make his way to the floor below, lost in thought about something Soji said.
“Are you uncomfortable with your confusion? I’m not confused…I’m not confused…I’m not confused…”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Unconcerned with the man, Naga dropped down from the broken window onto the warm stone of the campus’s courtyard. Had she been human, she’d have been proud of her resilience, but the shimmering white snake took no time to gloat and continued towards her goal.
It didn’t take her long to find Soji’s unconscious body with blood pooled around him. He’d survive, and his recovery would speed up once the barrier was taken down. But that was none of her concern. Naga opened her mouth to eject a small, insect-like plant animated by atma. The creature flew directly into Soji’s nose and made its way towards his brain.
A moment later, his eyes opened. He moved awkwardly as he got up, as though unfamiliar with his body. His mouth widened into a crooked smile.
“I did it,” Daisy whispered, puppeteering him as she touched his face. The boy looked down at Naga and caressed the snake.
“Good girl,” she cooed, “we’re so close…I just need to walk this body to me and it’ll…it…it…” Soji slapped his head as the bloom side of him fought against Daisy’s control.
“I-I-I d-don’t get…g-get it…this shouldn’t be…” Soji’s body began vibrating while he continued to punch his head, each hit more aggressive than the last. His body temperature crept up as his skin darkened once more. He reached around to the back of his head, and stuck a clawed finger into it, fishing around for something.
It didn’t take Soji— rather, the entity controlling him— long to find Daisy’s bug and pull it out of his head.
“Stay out of his head, imitater,” the boy said in a voice and tongue that was not his own. It was a deeper, raspier, voice muttering to himself with an old Yoruba dialect, one that would not have been easily recognized by modern day speakers.
The false Soji stood up and took in his surroundings, ignoring a panicked Naga slithering away. He tore off his shirt, reveling in the wind’s gentle touch against his skin. He breathed in deeply, unbothered by the metallic tinge in the air, or the scent of sweat and fear, and flipped through his host’s most recent memories.
After a moment, he opened his eyes, irises crimson with marigold rings around them.
“Rose…” he growled.
~
August 8, 2022 - 10:29am
Outside Lecture Hall 1, First Floor, Eden Campus Building 8
Angelo and Money made a surprisingly good team, for the grouches that they were. Had this been a training routine, it likely would have been peppered with arguments and irritation, but the desperation of the situation called for a level of coordination they’d never executed before. They cornered and battered their opponent brutally, creeping towards their goal slowly.
Capybara, meanwhile, struggled to keep up. The main limit to his technique was his emotional state; as long as he had no desire to fight, he couldn’t be hit. And as long as he did want to fight, he couldn’t miss. Due to the death of his brother, Penguin, and the near loss of another Hooligan, his mind craved retaliation, a line of thought that made it hard to evade the Eden maestros’ endless assault for long.
Angelo’s staff was a lethal defender against Capybara’s punches while Money’s wraith racked up a large count of consecutive attacks, sometimes earning items every eleventh hit.
Suddenly, Lee kicked open the door to the emergency staircase, announcing his presence. After seeing Penguin’s bashed in skull, his anger had grown to the point of no longer caring about looking for interesting maestros or letting his Hooligans have their fun. He intended to put an end to their assignment in the next ten minutes.
Capybara jumped away from a distracted Angelo and Money, finding himself next to Faithful Rebound nestled among the bodies of the deceased. Without hesitation, he grabbed it.
“Took you long enough,” Lee said, “Where’s Machiavelli?”
“He lost to the anomaly. I carded them both.”
Angelo stared warily at Lee, whose lack of atma was a cause for concern. Money, meanwhile, fell to one knee, terrified to see the man who tore through his friends so easily.
“I see,” Lee rubbed his chin, “Then we can leave. We’re not taking the bloom, and the shadow girl is missing. Take Rebound and get everyone out of here. Start with Dee, I’m going to get Alina and Xander. Then, we’re taking our dead.”
“Yes, boss,” Capybara sighed, relieved. Now that Lee was here, everything would be okay.
Before anybody could move, however, a being whose presence was a malicious emptiness appeared. It stood on the inside of the hallway’s broken window’s sill, right behind Lee. The false Soji brought with it an aura of cold air that alarmed even the leader of the Hooligang.
“What is this feeling?” Dread dragged its clammy fingers down his skull and into his stomach. Slowly, he turned to face the bloom, causing Angelo and Money to do the same.
Soji’s black locs floated upwards, their ends leaking even blacker wisps. While his hands maintained their coal-colored fingertips, the rest of his body was seemingly unchanged.
“Rose,” Soji extended his hand towards Lee.
Faithful Rebound teleported away immediately, taking Capybara with it. Without thinking, Lee bent into a fighting stance, thoughts racing as he tried to wrap his head around the boy’s sudden shift in presence.
“Are you Soji? Or someone else?’ He asked. His eyebrows furrowed when he noticed his condensated breath hanging in the air.
“Cold?”
The false Soji leapt at the man, a trail of cold air following after him as Lee braced for the impact. The two clashed with tremendous force, generating a shockwave that staggered Money and Angelo. The maestros distanced themselves away from the fight instantly. Whatever was going on with Soji was something neither wanted a part of, especially when their friends still needed help.
“He’s absorbing the heat from my body while getting hotter himself!” Hyeseong observed.
Conflicting temperatures, both extremes, ravaged Lee’s hands as he locked with Soji. He spread his arms wide while maintaining his grip on Soji’s hands, bringing him in close enough to headbutt him. Cartilage and bone cracked under his forehead, sending the possessed boy reeling. As Lee tried to follow up with a kick, Soji dug his hands into a locker and flung its liquefied metal at his opponent.
Lee ignored the familiarity of the sound and smell of sizzling skin, even though it was his own face. The situation had suddenly changed, and it was the how that bothered him. He’d learned over the years to trust his instincts, as they’d yet to betray him. And as he and his target continued to fight, they told him that this wasn’t the same boy he’d fought minutes ago, that there was no way he’d grasped this level of strength that quickly, and that he absolutely had to get his Hooligans out of there.
~
August 8, 2022 - 10:34am
Outside Lecture Hall 3, Third Floor, Eden Campus Building 8
Money inhaled deeply, gathering atma in his core, and unthreading it slowly. Angelo watched, sweat dripping down his temple as he tapped his feet anxiously. Esme and Niko’s unconscious and broken bodies remained unmoved, though he desperately wished to rush them to the hospital.
“Where is Penny? Where are the Elders? Where the hell is Tamara Cain?” In such a fast-paced environment where bodies littered the halls and blood gelled their steps, watching Money meditate stressed him out, especially when the building shook with the heavy bass of conflict. According to the farmboy, however, this was his solution to be able to help as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. And considering what they’d just seen, that was the most important thing right now.
Finally, Money exhaled.
“Genten: Black Market,” he whispered.
The hallway darkened, the sunlight forced to an abrupt halt, and the fluorescent bulbs hushed into a flicker. Rows of shelves seemingly replaced the lockers, with an assortment of glowing items decorating them. Angelo was awed by the strange flowers, mushrooms, shells, and leaves that floated atop the shelves.
“This’ll only last a couple minutes,” Money nudged him, “grab as much as you can.”
Angelo nodded as he picked up a nearby blue mushroom with white spots. It reminded him of a game he’d played a long time ago.
“What is this?”
“My Genten allows me to bring out all the stored items I’ve gotten from my technique. I’m no longer limited by using one at a time, and I can let other people use them,” Money said, strolling into the darkest depths of the hallway.
“Where are you going?”
“The healing items are that way…but I’ve only got three left. I don’t have any more one-ups either. If anyone dies…I won’t be able to save them.”
“I see…so then these items are to help us fight back?”
“So who do we save? Alex, Otta, Anish, Niko, and Esme are down…what will we do?” Angelo remembered Dione in the classroom he’d left her in. Perhaps it would be a good idea to give her something.
“Items first,” Money called out.
As Angelo pocketed all the items he could, the floor beneath him shook. A moment later, Lee came crashing through the floor and hit the ceiling with enough force to shatter the lights. Money’s Black Market dissipated as Soji leapt through the hole in the floor to punch at Lee. It clung to the ceiling with its claws then threw Hyeseong at Angelo, who stepped in front of Esme and Niko. Holding his staff out with both hands, he redirected Lee’s body to the lockers next to him.
“What the hell, Soji!?”
The impostor looked at Angelo as it walked towards its target. The creature nonchalantly placed a hand on the boy’s chest and gently pushed. Angelo rocketed into the other side of the hallway, heat searing through his windbreaker and leaving a burn mark on his chest. He cried out.
“Angelo! The blue flower!” Money yelled, holding three bright red glass hearts.
Soji turned back to Lee, unconcerned with any organism that wasn’t in possession of Monika’s card.
“Rose,” he repeated.
“This new Soji is different…he’s in full control of his heat abilities, not even his surroundings burn up unless he wants them to. And the strength…if we continue in this building, Dee and the others will be in danger.”
Soji lunged at Hyeseong who dropped down to grab the boy’s waist. With as much strength as he could muster, he twisted back to throw Soji at the window behind him, away from Bonnie’s unconscious body. He grunted in pain from the resulting burns, as the impostor stopped just short of the window, using its claws to slow its momentum.
“I’m having fun, but is there any chance we can take this outside?” Lee huffed.
The creature extended its hand again, sending a wave of heat that liquefied the floor and lockers. Lee flinched in anticipation of a hellish flurry. Unexpectedly, a frigid blast of air hissed from behind him, cooling the approaching conflagration. Angelo stepped ahead, staff pointed at Soji. The pale blue power from Money’s flower twisted around it, frost coating its tip.
Soji glanced at Angelo, slightly irritated. Money ran towards Niko and Esme, dropping two glass hearts on their chests.
“Òtútù kìí ṣe ọ̀rẹ́ rẹ,” Soji growled, crouching to lunge at his opponents.
Niko’s eyes fluttered open first as atma threaded her a new leg. She cried out in pain as she sat up, tears welling up. She saw Soji, or something like Soji, standing before her and instinctively her wings appeared on his back, launching him out of the already shattered window.
Lee followed after the boy, jumping out of the window, and hoping to land an attack before it could recover.
“What the fuck?!” Niko shouted.
“What happened?” Esme asked, regaining consciousness as her ribs were sewn back into place.
“Something’s wrong with the kid,” Angelo replied, “and we need to get everyone out of here.”
“This is like that time,” he thought, thinking back to the Orchestra.
“Where’s everyone? Where’s Monika?” Niko panicked, looking around.
“I don’t know…Soji kept saying Rose over and over again…I think they took her,” Money replied, “they have Kuro too.”
“We need to get them back!” Niko stood up, looking for her Cloud Diamond.
“No, we need to get help,” Money replied.
“So we’re running away?”
“You two almost died. And if I’m not mistaken, it was that cabrón that just jumped out the window that did that to you. My brother has been fighting one of them this whole time, and they have a maestro that can use Genten. This is a losing battle.”
“Why aren’t we helping your brother, then? We can team up on them,” Esme asked.
As though summoned, Miguel stepped out of the lecture hall, bruised and bleeding. He carried Dee, slung over his shoulder as she beat against his back like an angry child.
“Do any of you have something for this?” He gestured at the young woman.
“I do,” Esme walked up to the girl and punched her in the face with as much strength as she could draw up. And just like that, Dee was silenced.
“We stick together from now on,” Miguel commanded, “we’re evacuating and getting help.”
“I agree, we’re outmatched,” Angelo chimed in, “we need to call an Elder.”
“Better yet, we need Tamara Cain,” Money sighed.
~
Lee hit the ground and started a light jog, but was confused when he didn’t see Soji anywhere. He closed his eyes to listen to his other senses, then turned his attention to the top of Building 8 when he smelled the impostor on the roof. The creature shot towards him with a grin, but was promptly interrupted by a flash of lightning and the smell of ozone.
Victor crashed into Soji midair, laughing with excitement as they landed. Soji kicked the maestro off of him, scrambling to his feet.
“You’re all grown up…” Victor said.
“I made the right choice by coming here!”
He hardly had a moment to behold the object of his obsession when Lee slammed into him, sending him flying into the ground floor of the building through its massive glass doors.
The false Soji looked back at Lee, and the two resumed their fight, throwing punches that would’ve wrecked concrete and torn through steel. With each passing blow, Hyeseong accumulated more and more damage, slowing down his movements.
“Alina’s barrier slowing down my healing has never been a problem before today,” the man silently cursed himself for not taking this mission seriously. Each assignment was a playdate for his Hooligans, and he was their watchful guardian, but things had taken an unexpected turn with these Eden maestros. A myriad of emotions, excitement, regret, and worry, warmed his chest with each strike he landed on Soji. After all, there was a selfish part of himself that reveled in the fun to be had in seeing a worthy opponent bring out his full potential.
“I only wish this was actually you, Soji,” Lee teased.
“Rose.”
“Yes, yes, Rose.”
Suddenly, Capybara reappeared between them, Faithful Rebound in hand.
“I always thought Javier was weird for arguing with a ball,” he said, tossing it to Lee.
“What?”
“It’s really stubborn, but I finally got it to agree to take one person back to our hideout. I left the anomaly there.”
“What are you saying?”
“It has to be you, boss. We’ll figure ourselves out.”
“Wait—” Lee motioned to throw the ball as he finally understood, but was teleported away before he could.
“Rose!” Soji roared. The entity possessing him lunged at Capybara.
~
Victor held his bleeding side as he limped through the dark and bloodied hallway on the ground floor. He was unfazed by the bodies of the maestros decorating its floors, but was mildly grossed out by Otta’s squirming octopus body.
“What did that fucking monkey do to me? It didn’t even have atma!” His thoughts further darkened his vision.
The emergency exit at the end of the hallway behind him opened, drawing his attention. As Miguel walked out, trailed by the other Eden maestros, the boy couldn’t help but smile when his atma returned to him.
“Everybody run!” Miguel bellowed, as he brought his hands together.
“Battle Arena: Formation L”
~
August 8, 2022 - 10:48am
???, ???, ???
Vera Fadel Habib and Hedeon Cain strolled leisurely down the gorgeous park that was their backyard. This was their haven that not even the Institute knew about, purchased through layers and layers of shell companies. Neither of them were particularly extravagant people, but Hedeon Cain felt that his wife deserved nothing less than acres of whatever view she desired.
He’d dotted the golden-yellow grass with matching beech trees, and carved out a stream of crystal-clear water to create this sanctuary. Flowers whose names he’d forced himself to learn were gathered in bunches all over the property, emanating a fragrance that could only be matched by Vera herself.
She’d finally shed her medieval armor in favor of a deep purple abaya. She let her black and silver hair flow freely, enchanting her casually dressed husband several times over whenever the wind would blow feathery strands into his face.
“When can we get married, sólnyshka?”
“We’re already married, love.”
“You know what I mean…we only signed paperwork. The actual wedding is supposed to be a couple weeks after that. It’s been much longer than that!”
“I know,” Vera sighed, “but it’s been busy. First Victor, then Hadi, and now all this bloom nonsense.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Hedeon squeezed her hand, “we can put it off for one night. I’d take care of all the planning. Can I not celebrate my moon and stars?”
“Alright,” Vera chuckled, “but—”
A shrill ringtone cut her reply short.
Hedeon quickly pulled his phone from his white sweats, and answered with the device several inches from his face.
Vera smiled at the bizarre sight, always amused by the strange behaviors his hypersensitive hearing brought about. Her amusement, too, was brief when she noticed the expression on his face. It was bad news.
“Understood,” he said, cutting the call.
“What happened?”
“Victor was spotted in Eden City…he was headed towards the campus.”
Vera’s face fell, weighed by a deep sadness.
“Let me go, I’ll—”
“Don’t. I need to be there.” Her abaya unfurled into the Charon’s Thread she usually wore, revealing her leggings and compressive shirt. The cape practically swallowed her up, shimmering in the light that filtered through the leaves. With one hand, she held the cloth out for Hedeon to enter. As he disappeared into the cloth, bits and pieces of her armor flew at her and snapped into place. With a deep breath, she stepped into her cape, ready to face Victor once more.