"Okay," I said, still not sure if I meant it. "Let's do it."

It made sense--sort of. Adam wanted to keep us out of the way, so getting in the way was probably the wisest choice--for some value of "wise." If Adam were doing something in our or the compound's best interest, we were about to mess it up.

But if that were true, it was his fault for not bothering to explain anything.

On the whole though, more evidence pointed in the direction of a conspiracy than against. Weirdo mind control growths didn't exactly scream, "Hey, we're the good guys!"

Well, not unless they made people do it for them.

It made me wonder if that was Hunter's innovation or if his mom had been keeping that skill hidden all these years.

"Fuck, yeah. Let's take them down," Sean added, giving me a reason to feel less secure about my decision.

Vaughn grinned at me, probably guessing what I was thinking.

As I shook my head, Samita exhaled. "Whether it's the fae or some conspiracy, it's obvious that we'll be fighting fellow students to catch them. Some of them may be your friends. Are you ready for that?"

"I've got a lot of goobots," I said, knowing that I didn't have a full load. Taking down Calvin had taken more than I wanted.

I hoped we didn't have to face many more of the Cabal's descendants. If we did, I'd go through goobots so quickly I'd be out before the end of the fight.

I might have to shoot Cabal descendants in the leg with the laser, or set the sonics to find the resonant frequency of the human digestive system. With any luck, desperately needing to puke (or worse) would demoralize people enough that they wouldn't want to fight.

Haley glanced down at the bandage on her arm. "If we're careful we might not have to fight anybody.'

Samita's mouth twitched but didn't become a smile. She frowned. "Or we might have to fight everyone."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

* * *

After discussing it for a while, we had a plan. It was a fairly simple plan. We'd leave Cindy back with Paula and Calvin who were still sleeping and in Paula's case slowly regenerating from Amy's spear.

No one was looking for Vaughn, Sean and Samita, so they went down the hall first. Vaughn and Sean were in normal clothes. Samita was in her Red Hex costume. With the hood down and her mask off, it didn't stand out as much as you'd expect. It wasn't as if it were spandex. It was a red, long sleeved shirt over pants. As long as she put her staff away in the pouch, she fit in.

The same couldn't be said for Haley and I. We were both fugitives. Haley was in normal, if slightly torn clothes, and might have fit in at first glance. I wore the Rocket suit. In combination with my fugitive status, anyone would assume I was preparing for a fight.

Amy could have walked with Samita, but only if she'd changed back to normal, and she wouldn't. When Samita had asked her why not, she'd said, "Because I'd lose everything I got out of Paula. If this goes pear-shaped, we're going to need all the help we can get."

No one could argue with her, and that left the three of us trailing behind everyone else holding each other's hands while Haley held what looked like a puddle of water in her palm.

It had been a small, translucent globe. In the moments before we walked out the door, Samita explained the rules for making it work. "Once I say the words that activate it, you can't stop moving. It will keep you from being detected, but only if you move. The moment you stop you'll become visible. Oh, and you'll need to hold hands, but as long as you keep moving and hold hands, you can do anything, even fight."

Amy replied instantly. "Fight? While holding hands? How old were you when you created this spell?"

Samita sighed. "Young, but it works better than you think. Rod's defeated whole teams while holding my hand. Well, while holding me."

I could imagine that--a gigantic, invisible troll holding Samita in one hand while kicking criminals and smashing their cars with his feet.

I was sure it worked for him.

Haley frowned. "Didn' t we use a different invisibility spell just a little while ago?"

Samita only said, "It has flaws, but it's better for walking."

Within a few minutes we were walking down the hall. In the palm of Haley's hand, waves rolled across the puddle. I wasn't sure how it could be possible, but if I concentrated, I could hear the splash and the crash of the waves hitting the beach, and even seagulls.

There were no little seagulls above her palm. I checked.

We followed Samita and the rest up the stairs, and it was easy. Hunter and Adam were on the next floor up. Or was it two floors? I wasn't competely sure. I'd never been to their rooms.

We walked out of the stairway on to the first years floor--well one of them anyway.

The darkened halls were empty of people. It could have been two in the morning instead of nine at night. Distantly I heard someone laugh at a some indistinguishable noise. It sounded like it might be a television show, but it was hard to tell.

Ahead of us, Samita asked Vaughn and Sean. "Where is their room?"

Vaughn shrugged. "No idea. I barely spent any time with those guys at all."