Not by us? Ed thought to himself as he jogged down the hall. Was that some sort of ploy to get him to turn around? To be fair it almost worked. The thought that some mysterious third party was out to get him was almost enough to make him turn around and go ask his other strange and mysterious party all the questions he had about, well, pretty much everything.

As he passed Ms. Addison's class he took a quick peek through the door window. They seemed to be doing just fine without him. Judging by the whiteboard it was something about verbs, Ed was pretty sure he’d learned that stuff in kindergarten though so it was somewhat of a relief to know he wasn’t missing out on anything actually important.

Kim gave him a small wave through the window and Ed almost grimaced as he ducked beneath the frame. Tan, tall, and usually totaled from her morning practice. While she usually slept through the first half too, with the class almost over, he really should have expected this.

He took a quick glance up at his minimap again. While it had flattened out again, the small circle in the corner was still centered around the Garrydot. In fact, if he was reading it right, it appeared they were actually walking away from him. Ed frowned. He’d stopped by Ms Addison’s room to specifically check on how they’d follow him; but now it was as if he’d just been plain wrong.

Odd, he thought to himself and he slumped next to the door, they were splitting up. Did they not actually have a way to track him? Ed had a hard time believing that. Between the way Mr. Garry’d found him and the fact Liah had sensed some sort of… what was the word she had used? Spark? From simply staring at him of all things. Yeah, no, they definitely had a way to track him.

Ed felt his heart jump as three of the dots left the map. The pair headed towards him he assumed were Seth and Cham, which left Liah as the dot headed for the math side of the annex. The small circle was still moving, centered on Mr. Garry; who appeared to be walking into the main building. Though, almost the instant the dot left the annex, it vanished.

“Watcha look’n at?”

“Nothing.” Ed said, tearing his eyes away from the map. He briefly glanced to the door. It was closed, then back to where Kim was sort of standing over him. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Won’t you get in trouble for this?”

She snorted. Sort of falling back next to him in a squat. “Really?” She almost immediately started doing a sort of squinty eyed inspection up towards where Ed assumed he’d been staring. Though, in her case it was very exaggerated. She also was doing some sort of little neck bobble, as if the little spot of paint next to the light was somehow the most interesting thing in the world.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“I’ve gotten into painting recently.” Ed deadpanned. “Paint-ing. I watch paint dry, this was my practice time. Linoleum, lead, same thing.”

She paused her act. “That’s horrible.” She looked at him pointedly.

“I’m sorry, I know.”

Kim coughed to hide a laugh. “There’s like two minutes left before the bell.” She pretended to dust off her sweats as she got up with a small shrug. “If I’m gonna bomb it anyway, might as well do it in style.” She mimicked a sort of airplane with her hands, crashing it into the floor. Finishing it off with a little explosion noise. “Style points!”

“Eeeh… If we were graded off that I’m pretty sure I’d still burn.” Ed peeked at his map again. “Maybe toast some marshmallows."

Seth and Cham had appeared in its radius, and while he couldn’t actually see them from around the corner. Since they were walking, that meant they were confident. Ed bit his inner lip, eyes darting to the nearby clock.

“Hey.” Ed abruptly got up. “Wanna crash Ms. Addison's class?”

“No?” Kim looked at him in somewhat concern. “I was actually sent to bring you in. Ms. Addison saw you duck out of the—” She made a sort of awkwardly encompassing hand motion at the small pane in the door. “—little window thing, and I thought it’d be a good way to get out of there. There’s literally a minute left till the bell now. This sounds like the sort of thing I’d get kicked off the team for.”

She paused for a second.

“Hey, are you on something?” Her eyes darted to where he’d been tracking Cham and Seth. “You keep doing that.” She stepped out of sight of the door window. “I don’t know what I could do, but if you’re in trouble I can at least listen. You’re being really weird, Ed.”

“Would you believe me if I said I was being chased by a prince in a polo and a vamp in a hoodie?”

“What?”

“Yeah, no.” Ed looked away and into Ms. Addison’s room. “I wouldn’t either.” Then a bit more under his breath. “I still kinda don’t”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Kim pressed.

Ed swore he could hear footsteps from around the corner now. He looked back to Kim. “Look, if you’re out you’re out. All I’m gonna do is go in there and sit down. Ms. Addisons probably going to stop the class for a second to give me a slip or a note, or whatever. Then the bell’s going to ring.” Before she could answer he gripped the doorknob, swallowing a little.

“Actually you know a guy named Seth Einchlizar and Chamuel Eury, goes by Cham? No?” He searched her eyes. “Ok, well they’re my friends, and they’ll be round that corner in a second.” He rubbed his forehead. It was sweaty. Then he opened the door.