{Invasion Day | April 2006}

“Come on, Nikki!” Rayne continued to shout. John and Kyle gathered closer in case they could help.

Kyle asked, “A panic attack?”

Rayne nodded, unwilling to look away from Nikki.

“It’s been two years since she’s had one, right?” John pointed out.

Nikki came around. Her pupils shrank from the dilation during the attack.

“Are you with us?” Rayne checked her vitals.

“I want to be with you,” Nikki finally answered, her voice quiet.

Kyle and John stepped back out of Rayne’s line of sight. She appreciated the privacy. She spared a sad smile and pulled Nikki into a hug, saying, “I can’t let you break down on me right now. We have to get through this together.”

Nikki clung to Rayne tighter than expected.

Sagan shouted from the kitchen area, “There’s two people alive back here!”

Andrew shouted back, “I don’t want to know your definition of ‘alive!’”

Rayne gave Nikki a reassuring smile.

Nikki let her go, and Rayne knew she was lying when she said, “I’ll be all right. Go to her.”

She, Kyle, and John hurried to Sagan while Tameka and Andrew stayed behind to search for their sanity. Nikki recovered on the floor.

Two students sat upright on the linoleum near one of the warming stations. As far as Rayne could see, they showed no signs of external damage. She asked, “Are they injured?”

Sagan shook her head. “They don’t appear to be.”

Kyle knelt and snapped his fingers in their face. One of them stopped trembling long enough to focus on his eyes. Kyle asked them, “What happened?”

Rayne groaned. “What kind of question is that to ask on today of all days?”

Sagan reprimanded them, “Be quiet both of you.” She turned back to the students. “Are you able to walk?”

The trembling freshman nodded.

Sagan said, “You know the Med Lab? Try to help your friend up and head that way. Two people there can help you. Okay?”

There was no response this time. The boy just put his arm around the girl and staggered away.

Sagan and Kyle walked back to the open area. Sagan chided him, “What kind of question is ‘what happened’ in the middle of an invasion?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“C’mon, I was asking for specifics, sheesh,” Kyle answered. The two carried on around the corner.

Rayne glanced around the kitchens, her frown deepened with confusion. Why was there no blood back here?

The chatter stopped.

The panic in John’s voice broke her concentration. “Hey, Rayne?”

Music played over the school’s intercom system. Not just any music. After the quiet electric guitar intro, the lyrics to Sweet Dreams played. Marilyn Manson performed the soundtrack to her worst nightmare.

Only one Icarus would make this kind of entrance.

Rayne stepped around the corner, sword in hand. She looked up and contemplated how much she wanted to lose her shit on this dude right now.

Apparently, Sagan and Kyle made it only this far from the kitchen before they, too, realized they had company. They both stood only one meter away from Rayne in the lunch line doorway.

The bad guys turned the lights on in the cafeteria. The contrast of the bright blood across all the white walls, white floors, and white table tops overwhelmed Rayne at first. She caught herself counting the bodies before she forced herself to quit.

“Celindria,” an elegant voice said.

At the mention of her ancestral designation, Rayne went empty. No movement. No response.

The elegant voice belonged to none other than General Korac. His long white hair was pulled tight from his face and held by an Asian hair pin, letting the ponytail cascade down his back in silver waves. His stark pale eyes, even lighter than Colita’s, held absolutely nothing as he faced Rayne down. No rage, no searing hatred. Just business.

But when he looked at Sagan, several emotions crossed his face. Passion, obsession, hunger. It shone in his eyes and pulled his lips into a secretive smirk. Whatever turmoil churned under the surface of Rayne’s self-control, his eyes on Sagan, crested the waves.

Korac brought his friends with him. More Icarean soldiers, without their cloaks, holding tools from the janitor’s closet in their hands—broomsticks and hammers—one or two of them wielded swords like their fallen brethren. Twenty-two warriors total. Did they bring a small army to attack the school? How the hell did they get this many Icari in here during the day? Three stood sentinel at each entrance to the cafeteria, and three flanked their General.

Kyle muttered a soft, “Shit.”

Rayne checked, and Sagan’s eyes darted anywhere, trying to avoid Korac’s gaze. The more uncomfortable she seemed, the more loose and relaxed he became. He was a very insistent stalker.

Andrew spoke gently, “Rayne, are you with us? Come on, we have to finish it.”

There was no need to reply once Rayne finally looked into the Icarus’ face. He switched his focus from Sagan to her.

“What say you, Celindria? You and Sagan come with us, and we’ll leave. No more of this…” he spread his hands, indicating the entire room, “…carnage. You and I both know this is pointless. All this fighting—Nox will take you, anyway. But if you go now, no more innocent people will have to die.”

“Why did you say Sagan goes, too?” Nikki spoke up. She stepped forward with a cobalt coated knife.

Korac observed Rayne’s reaction as he replied, “His majesty promised her to me, and I have waited a very long time.”

Rayne must not have reacted the way he wanted. He frowned in disappointment at her unchanged expression.

Sagan turned and inspected Rayne behind her.

The lyrics droned on about submission and abuse. Rayne gripped the sword tight in one hand. So tight her knuckles mottled white. She clenched her free hand so hard she wrung drops of blood from the glass in her wounds. Rayne didn’t feel a damned thing. She just wanted the fucking music to stop.

The lights flickered above.

“What the fuck?” John asked.

Andrew called softly, “Rayne?”

Everyone in the room glanced up except Korac. No, Rayne held his undivided attention. Likewise, she never moved her gaze from his, but that anger in her swelled with every line of that song. His lips stretched into a gruesome smile. He knew.

The intercom speakers crackled, the music distorted, and eventually everything stopped. Korac’s smirk never wavered. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to find decent music on Cinder?”