Ravela walked down the street with a skip. Setting up Laena’s education fund had taken two days in the end, but now that it was done, she felt relieved.
She walked out of the bank in Pliada City after she opened a smaller account there. It couldn’t hurt to have accounts in different banks. With this bank, her assets were spread over seven different regional banks. The biggest chunk of it she had stowed away at the biggest commercial bank in the country.
Sirens blared through the streets as the police were again busy with the chaos gripping the city.
Ravela got into her car. This chaos would soon enough be her daily business. She flipped on the radio and was greeted with yet another special news segment.
“...and our reporters on scene tell us that Inkmore Prison has just witnessed its worst prison break in recorded history. It would seem that a great many of the recent superpowered criminals might have escaped. I do not mean to alarm our listeners, but the outside walls of the prison look thoroughly breached. To the extent that our man on the ground doubts that the prison as such will remain operational…”
Ravela switched the station while rolling her eyes. She was trying to stay out of trouble and finally make some progress on her plans instead of chasing down ghosts just for someone else to swoop in and ruin it by taking shots at her.
The new station chimed to life, but instead of music, she got another breaking news report.
“…paired with the recent prisoner convoy attacks that busted out vigilantes and left the criminals dead at the scene, paints a grim picture. Folks, we might be steering at full speed for a war between these freaks of nature. It wasn’t enough that the criminals were having an open war in our streets. Now the law-abiding citizens of our city have to deal with a potential…”
She shut off the radio. Pinching the bridge of her nose while waiting at a traffic light.
‘This isn’t our problem. Let them deal with the situation themself.’ Her companion reinforced her choice to keep out of the affairs of Pliada until she was prepared to deal with things properly.
“Yeah, I know. I know. Not our fight.” Ravela said, rolling her eyes while checking the rearview mirror. The true female form of herself lounging across the entirety of the backbench.
‘Exactly.’ Came the nonchalant agreement.
“Ugh,” Ravela revealed her exasperation with her companion’s attitude.
The mirror image shrugged off her opinion with ease. ‘If you struggle with it, you can always let me take control. I would even flinch at letting the humans deal with their problems themselves.’
“Like that’ll happen.” Ravela mocked her companion.
‘If it does, I won’t waste a second trying to save humans or meddle in their affairs. It’s beneath me, ' her inner voice proudly declared.
Ravela scoffed. “I suppose that’s already a step up from where you would have been upon arrival in this world.”
The mirror image’s mouth of her mouth twitched, and a dangerous smile appeared on her face. Then she disappeared without responding.
“Aw, I hurt her feelings.” Ravela mocked her vanished companion.
The grin slowly left her face. The police academy came into view, and with it, the results of her work. Ravela parked her car in one of the few empty spots. The results were posted early in the morning, but Ravela had used the morning to organize her affairs and had forewarned Kahli that she wouldn’t be in the academy before noon.
She wondered if Kahli had waited for her or couldn’t stop herself from checking her exam grades early.
On her way to the front entrance, she spotted Kahli’s motorbike, which answered her question.
Ravela entered a relatively empty lobby at a leisurely pace. The big board with the results posts stood where the instructors used to take their morning positions. She walked straight for the results, as she figured Kahli would make herself known soon enough.
Standing in front of it for a while, she tried to figure out where her name would be. The results weren’t posted in alphabetical order, which led to her searching from back to front. She didn’t bother checking behind the thick red cut-off line, as she knew her name wouldn’t be on that side, at least of that much she was certain.
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Kahli spoke up from behind Ravela while she read her way up the second column. “Cold.”
Ravela turned around. “Blessed morning, Kahli.”
“It’s noon, Ramiel.” Her former partner responded with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, well, I guess some of us enjoyed their free days much more than you,” Ravela said with a throw-away gesture. “So, what do you mean by cold.”
Kahli looked at Ravela with skepticism. “Seriously? You telling me you never played hide and seek with anyone. And friends helped you find a particularly well-hidden kid by saying hot or cold?”
Ravela made a face because she had not. “It’s not that weird. So, you didn’t just check your own results, huh?”
Kahli laughed, gloating. “What do you mean, ‘It’s not that weird.’ I’ll be the judge of that.” The woman paused, pursing her lips a little and narrowing her eyes. “I’ve come to the terrible conclusion that it is indeed that weird.”
Ravela looked at her. “You know, humor looks odd on you, but I am so glad that you finally decided to take it out of your wardrobe for a change. So, mind pointing me in the right direction?”
Kahli put her hands on her hips and said. “Nah, I decided it’s funnier if you keep searching.”
Ravela put on a forced smile. “Guess I better get back to it then.” Turning around, she continued to search for her name. She was now in the upper half of names that had passed, which put her in a good mood.
“Really, you going to search for your results from the back to front? And at your speed, this will take forever, too.” Donna called out from nowhere.
She stopped searching for her name to turn around once more. “If I get interrupted every three names, it may take a while.”
Kahli looked angrily at Donna. “Why would you ruin my fun, Donna?”
Ravela was about to say something to Donna and paused to look at Kahli with a raised eyebrow.
The woman crossed her arms in front of her chest. “What?” She dared Ravela to say something.
She chose to let it go and turned to Donna. “I search from the back because that way, no matter where I am on the list, it is not a journey ever downward. Simple, really.”
Donna thought about it for a moment. “For others, this might make sense, but why would this be necessary for you? When have you ever not been in the top bracket?”
Ravela shrugged and looked at the top spots. She was indeed in the first spot together with point equal Donna, Jocul, and Kahli.
“Would you look at that? We are all in first place.” Ravela drily announced. “Good work, everybody.”
“Four recruits get a perfect score, and that’s your reaction?” Kahli said with a sigh. “Really, Ramiel, you are something else. Even I shouted happily when I had a perfect exam. What kind of person reacts like that?”
Donna joined Kahli in shaking her head at Ravela. Ravela just stood there, confused.
“What? Should I be celebrating or something?” She said confused.
Kahli threw up her hands. “I don’t know, Ramiel, people would. Are you people?”
Ravela wrily smiled at the exasperated women. “Of course, We should go out and celebrate. First lunch and then hm…” She cheekily smiled at the two women. “What do humans do for fun?”
She waited for the two perplexed faces to fully settle on a reaction before adding, “Asking for a friend.”
The expressions from Donna and Kahli were both surprisingly different, leading to Ravela bursting into laughter.
“Come on, you two. Let’s eat, and then maybe I can finally have a fun day in the city. Keepers aren’t the best source of learning how to have a good time. I sure hope you’re better at helping me with that. You know I worked my ass off to be up there on the list.” Ravela played off her supposed joke while whipping a tear from her eye. Lying with the truth truly gave her an odd sense of satisfaction that she couldn’t explain with words.
Jocul had silently stood by while Donna and Kahli hassled Ravela but joined them on their way to lunch. Today was cause for another well-deserved and now justified celebration.
It was not a day for heroism or foolish expeditions.
----------------------------------------
Vallery had waited for her parents to leave the house.
The end of the school year gave her a lot of liberties. For example taking the bus to her hometown and waiting for her parents to vacate the house to sneak in.
Naturally, her father had left the house long before the break of dawn. Her mother, on the other hand, busied herself for most of the morning with lounging about and leaving for her ‘book club’ only after she had consumed the right amount of wine to put her in the mood to sit with her mean friends and spend all of the money her father brought home.
Vallery didn’t much like her mother, and she pitied her father. He had made a terrible choice for a partner, which made his genuine care for her mother so much harder to watch.
She was currently walking through the house, just preparing her room for her long break from Central School. Her new ability had given her a very easy way in and out of places, and she planned to finally use her new-found power to explore the world in a manner that she had yearned for all school year. Others had idiotically shared their abilities with a friend and were soon found out by the school, and their powers promptly became known to the state and all other students.
Vallery didn’t suffer from such idiocy. Among the many things her father had taught her was the smart choice of playing her cards very close.
She was looking around the house, passing through walls as she pleased. Finding out what had changed in her absence had always been fun. Vallery paused in front of her father’s garage/ workshop. It was always locked, and she wasn’t allowed in. That was until now.
Walking straight through a closed and still-locked door never felt more empowering. Not even sneaking about in the principal's office at night had felt as exciting. She inwardly scolded herself. She was seventeen and not twelve; snooping around in her father’s little private workshop shouldn’t been this exciting to her, but she always wanted to know what was in there and had never been allowed.
She looked around and was instantly disappointed. I need a few tools, a bunch of duffle bags, an open closet with a bunch of different overalls, and work clothes. Vallery walked to the closet and saw a bunch of different clothes from what she could only assume were her father’s old jobs.
The duffle bag drew her attention. There were too many stacked and lining the wall not to catch the eye and her curiosity.
Vallery opened one of the bags and gasped in surprise. It was full of money and jewelry. Not just any jewelry, but there were some expensive pieces among them. The sight of this much money in a bag had her stunned. She felt dizzy and confused, questioning what her father was doing.
Then she heard a car pull into the driveway. She knew the sound of her father’s rusty car well. Panic began to rise in her. Of all the days, why today?
The thoughts crashed over her like a wave, confusing her thoroughly. A moment later the paralysis was gone when she remembered her powers. She would just wait till the frontdoor opened and she could leave by simply walking out through the garage door.
Vallery listened closely for her cue, putting an ear against the door.
Suddenly, a voice from behind her called out to her. “Vallery, what are you doing here!?”
Vallery spun around, staring directly at her father holding two duffle bags wearing a finely cut suit. That couldn’t be! The garage door hadn’t been opened and he stood there as if he just walked through the wall.
The realization that her father had the same power as her was too much for her. She felt the world spin as she fainted from the embarrassment of getting confronted like this.
Her last thoughts as she heard her father’s worried voice call out to her were entirely fixed on how embarrassing waking up would be.