Volume 7: Copal

Issue 1: The Principal's Office

Florian Reyes Honeywell

By Roach

“Looks like… metaphase,” Hannah said.

I leaned over the microscope, peering through the lens. The chromosomes of the magnified cell looked like little more than scribbles—but she was right. Even if it resembled macaroni art, the cell’s chromosomes still lined up like during metaphase. “Yeah, it does,” I said, switching out the slide for the next cell sample.

Mrs. Porter had instructed the class to identify the different stages of mitosis from glass slides, so we took turns studying them. As Hannah inspected the next slide, I spoke up, “So, what have you been up to?”

“Oh, nothing much.” She continued to stare into the microscope, adjusting the magnitude of the lens. “Mostly just badminton practice.” As she leaned back in her seat, she tucked a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear. “Anaphase,” she concluded.

I peeked into the microscope. “Anaphase,” I murmured in agreement. I noted it down on the assignment sheet. “You have that tournament coming up soon, right?” Over the course of the last few weeks, she had mentioned it a couple of times. “Who are you playing against?”

She nodded, switching out the glass slide. “Oh, everyone who is… Well, anyone. We’ll be going all over the place.” She peeked into the microscope again. “Telophase.”

“That’s kinda cool. Anywhere interesting?” I leaned over the microscope to inspect the slide.

“Athens.”

“Wow, really?” I looked up from the microscope. “I didn’t know Greece was big on badminton. I wish I could visit sometime.”

“Oh, no, I meant Georgia.” She paused. “Athens, Georgia.”

“Oh. I guess that makes more sense,” I chuckled. “And yeah, you’re right. Looks like telophase.”

She scribbled something down on her sheet. “Anyway, how was your weekend?” she said.

I tensed up. “My weekend was good,” I began, forcing my shoulders to relax. Since our confrontation against Bōsō, we hadn’t really found anything useful on the Dragon’s Teeth. And, after the entire doppelgänger situation, Amber had taken a break from investigating…

Which I couldn’t exactly blame her for. The strange web of cocoons forming in Chapel High’s basement had put us all on edge. Since then, I had routinely surveyed the school with my bees. As far as I could tell, nothing like the doppelgängers had appeared again.

And, while I had attempted doing my own online searches to find out more about Reticle, she hadn’t appeared much on the news in the last couple of months. Aside from her alignment with Dragon’s Teeth and an affinity for technology, there wasn’t much information about her—at least, nothing which would explain why she was interested in a random high school. While Bōsō had branched out his drug operation at Chapel, we hadn’t seen any signs that Dragon’s Teeth could be doing the same. Still, I hadn’t ruled out the possibility that they were just more low-key about it.

Maybe I would have to dig further back in time—look for old forum posts, that sort of thing. Bōsō’s prediction echoed through my mind: You’ll find her eventually. Or, she’ll find you.

At this rate, I worried it would be the latter. It had already been a month since our encounter with the Yakuza, yet we had nothing new to work with.

Hannah still looked at me, her head slightly tilted in a sort of half-expectant way. I realized that she was waiting for me to elaborate. I continued, “Well, I just visited Chinatown.” It was the first reasonable excuse that came to mind. And it was almost true; over the weekend, I had sent my bees scouting the area—searching for any signs of Dragon’s Teeth.

“Oh really? What were you doing there?”

“Well, uh, there’s this park,” I said, recalling the bees’ report. Of course, they didn’t know the name of the park—instead providing me with every detail on the flora. “It had some very nice lavender beds, and I bet the snapdragons will look cool once we hit April… The roses have seen better days, though. Probably could use some rain soon, with the drought… and all… that…” I trailed off, realizing that I was rambling.

“Huh,” Hannah said. “You must really like… flowers, then?”

“I guess… But, what I really like is… Well, taking photos.”

Oh God, what was I saying?

“Photos?” she echoed.

“Yep. It was a nice day, so I thought it would be fun to bring my camera to the park.” I didn’t have a camera, let alone photos to show for my supposed excursion, but somehow the words came without any conscious volition on my part.

“I didn’t take you for a photographer. That sounds nice though,” she said, before adding, “Prophase.”

I looked into the microscope again. “Prophase,” I agreed, relieved that she hadn’t asked anything else about this newly invented hobby of mine.

We worked through the rest of the lab sheet. At the end of class, we walked up to Mrs. Porter’s, who had situated herself by the desk at the front of the room. The teacher didn’t even look up as I placed my assignment sheet on the pile with the others.

However, as I turned toward the door, I heard her voice behind me, “Florian, Hannah. One thing before you go today.”

We both stopped in our tracks, exchanging a glance.

“Principal Perez wanted to speak with you. Please go see her.” Then, Mrs. Porter turned back to her pile of assignment sheets, continuing to grade them. She didn’t say anything else.

Hannah and I looked at each other. She seemed confused, her delicate brows furrowing slightly. I felt confused as well. I couldn’t think of a reason why the principal would want to see me…

Unless, she somehow found out that I was Hive.

A ripple of unease passed through the swarm. I reassured myself that it couldn’t be the case—otherwise, why would she want to see Hannah as well?

We left class, heading for the stairs. As we continued up to the third floor, I said, “So… Do you have any idea what this is about?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Hannah shook her head. “Do you?”

I shrugged. “Not really.”

If she had any inklings about why the Principal wanted to see us specifically, her expression didn’t give it away. Besides, I had a hard time imagining her being the kind to get into trouble. I didn’t really know her outside of class, but she seemed to take biology seriously enough.

And, as far as I knew, I hadn’t missed any classes or assignments either. So, if there was no reason for either of us to be in trouble, what would this be about?

I couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with Hive. But the only way it would make sense to bring Hannah into it, would be if she knew something… Maybe she had somehow found out about me, and alerted the principal?

But what? And how? Was I just being paranoid?

But what else would it be?

Was it something I had said to her? Had I given myself away, told her the wrong thing? Like how I came up with the stupid photography excuse in class today?

The walk through the corridors dragged on like a funeral march. We reached the principal’s office without exchanging any more words. The door was closed—but, to my surprise, Camilo stood outside. He was alone.

“Oh,” he said. “Hi, Florian. What’s up?” His voice was a little uncertain.

“Umh… We were told to come here,” I told him.

“You in trouble?” he chuckled—a bit nervously, I thought.

“I… I don’t think so.” I looked at Hannah, who shrugged in turn. “I didn’t think the biology test went that badly,” I said, in a half-hearted attempt at a joke.

But the swarm twisted inside of me. If both Camilo and I had been called to the principal’s office, the possibility that this actually could be about our extracurricular activities suddenly seemed like a valid suspicion…

But still, why was Hannah here? I couldn’t get it to make sense.

Then, I heard footsteps down the hallway. I turned to look.

Amber turned the corner, with Jazmine following after her. Were they also part of this…? Then, moments later, Jay came into view. Had Mrs. Porter sent the three of them as well? Amber looked at Camilo and I with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything to us.

While the appearance of the other students didn’t alleviate any of my confusion, I started to worry less about this having anything to do with Hive, Spindle, or Stagehand. There were too many other people involved…

Right? Or did everyone know?

Slowly, a small gathering of people formed outside the principal’s office. I recognized Lucy and Gabriel, but aside from them, most of them were strangers to me—people I had passed by in the hallway, at most. The group of students—maybe twenty or so—murmured amongst themselves, all seemingly unaware of what was going on.

Finally, Mrs. Perez opened her door.

“Hello everyone,” she greeted us. “Looks like we have quite the crowd here. Hmm… Follow me, okay? We can use the teacher’s lounge.”

Her heels tapped rhythmically against the floor, and the group of students followed her through the hallway before flocking into the teacher’s lounge.

I hadn’t really seen it before. It was a modest space, but had a light feel—decorated with potted plants and motivational posters, along the lines of Making Leaders for Tomorrow or Be the Change. I tried to imagine Mrs. Porter sitting here during her lunch break, reading those lines as if they meant anything to her. If they did, she didn’t act like she took any of it to heart.

I positioned myself between Hannah and Camilo, at the back of the small crowd. “This is… odd,” Camilo whispered to me, as a few more students trickled in.

I nodded in agreement. I was about to say something, but when I looked at him, I caught him glancing at Jay. I still didn’t think they had spoken much, if at all, since the birthday party. I held my tongue, just as Principal Perez spoke up again.

“So, I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’re here.”

People nodded vaguely, waiting for an explanation.

“I have some really good news for you. As you probably remember, IMAGO helped out at the Science Fair back in February.”

How could I forget? Dr. Morris, the visiting judge—not to mention my mom’s coworker—hadn’t exactly kept himself hidden.

Mrs. Perez continued, “And, as it turns out, they were so impressed by your work that they offered to sponsor a field trip for all of you. I would like to extend my congratulations once more to Hannah, Florian, and Jay for placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, respectively…”

Wait, what?

“But you’ve all done some amazing work. In fact, IMAGO selected the twenty best students for this field trip. That’s an incredible achievement, and I’m proud of all of you.”

I hardly registered the second half of her statement, as I was still trying to figure out if she had really said my name or if I misheard it. I hadn’t realized that I placed at the Science Fair at all. Since I had left early, I must have missed it…

Camilo looked at me, his eyes widening in surprise. I shrugged slightly in return, relaying that I was just as caught off guard as him.

I remembered Jay’s poster—a survey about anxiety and power events—but I didn’t remember seeing Hannah’s. I had been too wrapped up in figuring out what Amber was up to. I knew it really wasn’t that long ago in the grand scheme of things, but it somehow felt like an eternity since the Science Fair happened…

“So, IMAGO has invited all of you to their Extinction Refuge. It’s a four hour bus ride, but all travel and food costs are covered for. You’re also excused from any homework you’d be expected to do over the weekend. The trip is scheduled for this coming weekend.”

Excited murmurs spread through the group of students, especially about the homework. I had never visited the Extinction Refuge, but my mom had told me a bit about it. Although her work in IMAGO’s pollinator program had nothing to do with the Refuge, I remembered that one of her coworkers had contributed to the Refuge’s flora composition.

Of course, IMAGO’s research spanned beyond my mom’s insects or even the field of ecology, as the Extinction Refuge proved. From my understanding, it was a glorified zoo of sorts. The refuge harbored once extinct species, which had been resurrected through IMAGO’s cloning technology. If you ever wanted to pet a dodo, look at a Tasmanian tiger, feed a kangaroo… the Extinction Refuge was the only place to go.

Principal Perez raised her voice to regain the student’s attention. “Now, I’m going to hand out your permission slips, so please make sure that your parents sign them by Friday. We’ll be leaving Saturday morning, but you can find all the travel information on the permission slip.”

She started to distribute papers between the students. Once I received my paper, I folded it and put it in my backpack.

“Now, I’m really proud of all your excellent work. You’re free to go, but—if any questions come up—please reach out to me.”

Slowly, students filtered out of the teacher’s lounge. The chatter grew as people started speculating about what we would be doing at the Refuge, growing into an indistinct cacophony of excited voices. As I left, students dispersed across the hallways, migrating to their respective classes. The few I recognized—Hannah, Jay, Gabriel, Jazmine—disappeared among them.

I looked for Camilo, just as I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was him.

“Ladybugs, huh? Who would have thought?” He grinned.

“And pigeons, apparently.”

“Yeah, I pulled that together the night before… I have no idea why they chose me. And I didn’t even know you got second place!”

“Me neither,” I admitted. Then, I noticed that he was holding a cup of coffee. “Where did you get that?” I could have sworn he wasn’t holding it earlier.

He shrugged. “There was a coffee machine.” As he took a sip, I saw that the cup had the text “World’s Best Teacher” imprinted on it, alongside arrows pointing up.

“Did you just…” Before I could finish my accusation that he had used his illusions to loot the teacher lounge’s coffee supply, another voice intercepted.

“Who cares!” It was Amber—I hadn’t realized she was waiting just behind us. “We’re going on vacation, losers.”

“I’m not so sure it’s meant to be a vacation,” I muttered. “It sounds more like an educational trip of sorts…”

“Oh, Flory-worry. It’s basically a vacation. Besides, after everything we’ve been through, we’ve more than earned a break.”

“And who can resist petting dodos?” Camilo added.

I smiled, their excitement beginning to infect my own mood. Maybe I was being too pessimistic about it. Considering my mom’s work, I couldn’t help but associate anything IMAGO-related with research. But, more than that, Amber was right. From the monster in the theater, to the mind-controlling plant, challenging Bōsō, then the doppelgängers… We had been through a lot this semester. It would be good to get out of the city for a while.

“I guess it will be a nice change of scenery,” I said.