Chapter Eight: Declaration of Intent | Part 4
The crunching of leaves grew louder. Thirtyx saw the change on his companions’ faces when they heard it, too. Benn grabbed Thirtyx. Rhea grabbed Seerla. There was a haze of purple sparks, then a tingly sensation rushed over Thirtyx’s skin. He looked down and found his body strangely difficult to focus on.
“If a professor was out here trying to catch us, they wouldn’t be making that much noise,” a voice said. “It’s probably an animal or… was anyone else coming tonight? Where’s Seerla?”
“She’s been too busy with that auction thingamajig. Hanging out with Venmagalion. Didn’t think she’d miss us.”
A purple glow appeared from the direction of the voices. “I don’t see anything,” the voice said. “Want me to do an essence scan?”
Benn was tracing something else on Thirtyx’s shoulder now, but he stopped when the other voice said, “Nah. Like you said, a professor wouldn’t be so dumb. And if it’s anyone else, we can let off our pre-Comps stress by hazing them a little.”
Two sets of footsteps retreated, but Thirtyx and his companions remained still until they were sure the coast was clear. Seerla motioned them to the west of where they’d been heading, and they followed, taking more care with their steps than before.
After a few fractions of silent walking, Seerla paused to listen. “We should be out of earshot of the clearing we usually use—I mean, they usually use. I mean—”
“Sorry we doubted you, Thirtyx,” Rhea cut in. “I guess I trusted Seerla’s social awareness more than I trusted your amazing Verith ears. Seems kind of silly now.”
“It must be an impromptu midnight picnic,” Seerla said. Her face was squinched up in concentration like she was sorting through her memories for any mention of the event. “We haven’t done one in a while because of Comps. I’m sorry, guys. I had no idea.”
“It didn’t sound like they put much effort into telling you,” Benn muttered. “You alright?”
Seerla dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “Nah, they were right. I wouldn’t have gone tonight after the auction. I have been really busy planning it, and before that, I was helping Thirtyx copy note sets for you two. It was thoughtful of them not to stress me out with this.”
Thirtyx tried to assess whether Seerla was being truthful, but there was far too much other energy swirling around. And regardless of how Seerla felt about being excluded, it made Thirtyx feel pretty awful. Hanging out with Venmagalion. The speaker’s snarky tone had spoken volumes.
Was he the reason she hadn’t been invited?
Rhea’s foot caught on a root, and she muffled her shriek while grabbing wildly for Thirtyx’s arm. Benn heeded the reminder and placed a hand on Thirtyx’s opposite shoulder.
Together, they shuffled onward toward the dorm.
***
Grimmary would make a full recovery, no one else was harmed, and they had no solid leads on the attacker. Those were the details Benn and Rhea were at liberty to share.
Given that the two weren’t radiating massive amounts of energy, Thirtyx surmised that there wasn’t much more to share anyway. And as much as he’d missed his friends and wanted to hear all about their time away, he was thoroughly exhausted from the auction preparations. Rhea and Benn seemed similarly exhausted, so they all agreed to a reasonable bedtime.
Besides, Thirtyx needed to be up early for something important.
He was out of the room even before Benn woke for his Pfah meditation. The headmistress was occasionally in her office by 5th bar, and Thirtyx was twin hells-bent on preempting her. So there he was, pacing outside her office by 4th bar, feeling more like an unruly mass of anxiety than a person. Every time he considered chickening out, he replayed the previous night in his mind. The success. The exhilaration. The way it had rekindled Seerla’s sense of purpose.
The way it had filled him with a sense of purpose.
He ignored the first few itches in his brain, but halfway through 5th bar, he relented. After a week spent in constant worry about the young monarchs, it would be cruel to make them suffer the way he had. Nevertheless, he was already pushing words through the mental connection in the same instant that he accepted it. I’m fine. I’ll be in class. I’ll explain everything later, but I don’t want to talk about it now.
They were both flabbergasted. Vague concepts struggled to converge into coherent questions, but Thirtyx cut off the connection before they could. He hoped his calm tone would reassure them enough to leave him alone.
Calley Jones 