[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/bemGSrE.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/fGCaIL3.png[/img][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b] [code]Kari's House.[/code][/right][hr][hr] Kari was back in the mill. She knew that before she opened her eyes. The sound came first: metal screaming somewhere in the dark, water dripping upward, then Camille breathing. Not speaking. Breathing. Wet and shallow and too far away. Kari tried to move, but her legs would not. The corridor stretched between them, longer every time she blinked. Camille lay beneath the red emergency lights at the other end, one hand reaching weakly toward her. Behind him, something moved. Too big for the hallway. Too hungry for the space around it. [color=#eac6ae]“[i][b]Camille![/b][/i]”[/color] His mouth moved. She could not hear him. The floor lengthened. Ten feet. Twenty. Fifty. The corridor stretched until Camille looked small enough to hold between two fingers. Then Kersten appeared beside him, standing, and for one second, relief hit Kari so hard she sobbed. Then Kersten looked down; there was nothing below their waist. The rest of them was [i]gone.[/i] Kari screamed. The red lights blinked. Kersten disappeared, and Camille was suddenly in Gorge's hands again. Kari could feel his thread. Alive. Terrified. Pulling. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]I'm coming![/i]”[/color] She ran. This time her legs worked. She reached him, grabbed his arm, pulled- And his body came apart in her hands. Kari jerked awake. She sat upright so quickly that pain ripped through her ribs. [color=#eac6ae]“Ah-[i][b]fuck![/b][/i]”[/color] Her hand flew to her side. For several seconds, she did not know where she was. Dark room. Curtains. Desk. Bookshelf. Drawings taped crookedly to the wall. Cornell. [i]Home.[/i] Her bedroom. [i]Not the mill.[/i] Kari breathed through her nose. Once. Twice. [i]Again.[/i] Her sheets were twisted around her legs, and sweat had soaked through the back of her shirt, leaving the fabric cold against her skin. Her friendship bracelet had wound tightly around her wrist during the night, the threads pressing faint lines into her skin. She stared at it. Then immediately looked away. The clock on her nightstand read [b][code]4:17 AM.[/code][/b] Kari groaned and rubbed both hands over her face. Her palms smelled faintly medicinal from the ointment her mother had made her use before bed. For some reason, that almost made her cry, but she swung her legs over the side of the bed. [i]Bad idea.[/i] Pain pulled through her shoulder first, sharp enough to stop her halfway upright. Her ribs answered with a deeper ache. Her bruised hip hurt when she stood, and the healing cut across her palm stretched angrily when she flexed her fingers. Kari stood there bent slightly forward. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Okay...[/i]”[/color] Her voice sounded [i]awful.[/i] [color=#eac6ae]“We're doing [i][b]great,[/b][/i] aren't we?”[/color] The room did not answer. ... ... ... [i]This[/i] time. She shuffled toward the bathroom; fortunately, the hallway was dark and quiet. [i]Normal quiet.[/i] Kari hated that she had started categorizing silence: Normal quiet, Wrong quiet, and [i]Listening[/i] quiet. The bathroom light was too bright when she turned it on. Kari winced and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked [i]terrible.[/i] The bruise across her shoulder had darkened over the last few days, purple and yellow spreading beneath the collar of her shirt. A smaller bruise sat near her jaw. Faint scratches marked her cheek, injuries she had not noticed until the morning after the mill. Kari turned on the faucet and let the water run cold. She watched it carefully. Down. It went [i]down.[/i] ... Good. She cupped both hands beneath the stream and splashed water over her face. Once. Then again. The cold helped a little. Kari kept her hands against the sink and lowered her head- Camille's arm coming apart in her hands. Kersten standing there incomplete. Gorge's mouth. Lupe screaming. Zakira telling her to move. Kari shut her eyes. [i]Wrong choice.[/i] For half a second, the bathroom light became red. She opened them again. White tile. Mirror. Sink. [i] Normal.[/i] [color=#eac6ae]“Stop it...”[/color] She whispered it to herself. [color=#eac6ae]“You're home.”[/color] Her reflection looked unconvinced. Kari reached for the bottle on the counter. Painkillers. She twisted the cap, shook two tablets into her palm, hesitated, then checked the label. She swallowed them with water from the sink and stood there waiting as they might work instantly. They did not. [i]Rude.[/i] Kari returned the bottle to the counter and stared at herself again. A few days ago, Camille had been alive. The thought arrived without warning. Kari gripped the edge of the sink. [color=#eac6ae]“I... didn't leave him.”[/color] Her reflection said nothing. [color=#eac6ae]“I [i]had[/i] to go.”[/color] Nothing. Her throat tightened. [color=#eac6ae]“I [i][b]had[/b][/i] to.”[/color] The second time sounded worse. She looked down at the drain. Water circled once before disappearing. Camille had been alive when she ran. Kersten had still been something she could feel before becoming... past tense. Kari had gone into the mill because she could not leave them there, and she had come out without either of them. What was worse was that she had almost added three more names. Lupe. Zakira. [i]Herself.[/i] Kari's grip tightened. She could still see Lupe standing in front of her in the jungle room, crying and shaking and telling Kari to stay behind her as if Lupe wasn't barely taller than she was. She could still see Zakira's hands trembling while her aim stayed steady. They had gone into that place because of her-not Camille, not Kersten-because she had gone in alone. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Idiot.[/i]”[/color] The word came out quietly. She was not sure whether she meant herself or the reflection. Probably both. Kari pushed away from the sink and immediately regretted it when her ribs protested again. She pressed one arm against her side and breathed until the ache settled. The pills would help[i] eventually.[/i] The bruises would fade. Her shoulder would stop hurting. Her palm would heal. That was the problem. Everything on the outside had an obvious direction. Bruise. Pain. Medicine. Rest. Healing. The rest of it [i]did not. [/i] Kari left the bathroom light on and returned to her room. She did not want the hallway dark behind her. Her notebook sat on the desk, she stared at it from the doorway. The last several pages were filled with mill notes. Not proper notes. Fragments. [i][code]Gorge. Feeding = stronger? Other creature consumed. Damage works. Not enough. Rot + electricity effective. Roots conduct. Jungle room? Another Cornell? Camille—[/code][/i] Kari had stopped writing there. The pen line had dragged halfway across the page before she lifted it. She sat at the desk slowly. Her body complained the whole way down. The chair creaked. Kari opened the notebook, turned past the mill notes, past the page where she had tried to describe Gorge's movement, past the rough sketch of the jungle room, and stopped at the names. [i][code]Kersten. Camille.[/code][/i] For a while, she did nothing. Then she wrote: [i][code]I went because I thought knowing they were in danger meant I had to do something.[/code][/i] Kari stared at the sentence. Then added: [i][code]I did[/code] [b][code]something.[/code][/b][/i] Her pen stopped. The next sentence came harder. [u][i][code]It wasn't enough.[/code][/i][/u] Kari's eyes burned. She blinked until the words stayed clear. Then: [i][code]Lupe and Zakira almost died because they came after me.[/code][/i] The pen pressed harder into the paper, that was the part she could not rearrange. She could explain Camille. She could explain Kersten. They were already inside. Already trapped. Already hurt. But Lupe and Zakira? Kari had brought them into her mess. Her fear had pulled her into the mill. Their fear had pulled them after her. Her magic gave her relationships. Connections. Threads. She had spent so much time thinking connections were what saved people. What if connections could get people killed too? That made Kari's stomach turn. She shut the notebook too fast. The sound cracked through the room. She froze. Waited. Nothing answered. Kari exhaled. Then, very carefully, she reached for the friendship bracelet around her wrist. Elsa's thread was there. Kari let herself feel that for one second. Only one. Then she released it. Her room stayed quiet. The clock changed to [code]4:31 AM.[/code] Kari leaned back in the chair and immediately winced at her shoulder. [color=#eac6ae]“Ow.”[/color] She laughed once. Lupe's voice came back to her. [i][color=E14BC5]Don't say that shit like it's funny.[/color][/i] Kari looked down. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Sorry.[/i]”[/color] She was not sure who she was apologizing to. Lupe. Zakira. Camille. Kersten. Or [i]herself.[/i] [i]Maybe[/i] all of them. Outside her bedroom window, Cornell was dark and still. For once, Kari did not look too closely at it. She tried for maybe thirty seconds... then her eyes drifted back toward the glass. The houses across the street sat dark beneath the trees. A car passed at the end of the block, headlights briefly stretching across wet pavement before disappearing. Somewhere farther off, a dog barked once and stopped. Nothing moved wrong. No road lengthened. No reflection lagged behind her. No voice came from somewhere it shouldn't. Normal. [i]Apparently. [/i] Kari stared until that word irritated her. Normal was what everyone kept calling it. [i]Normal[/i] was school never reopening. [i]Normal[/i] was adults whispering in kitchens and going quiet when their children walked in. [i]Normal[/i] was police tape disappearing from places where people had died. [i]Normal[/i] was the warehouse becoming a story people lowered their voices to tell. [i]Normal[/i] was Camille and Kersten not coming home while everyone waited for somebody else to explain why. Kari's jaw tightened. She looked away from the window and toward her notebook, the page was still open beneath her hand. [i][code]Lupe and Zakira almost died because they came after me.[/code][/i] Kari stared at the sentence. Then lower, where the page remained empty. Her ancestors had said something to her at the warehouse. Not everything. Most of that night was still broken into pieces in her memory. Isabelle disappearing into the woods. Ella glowing in the chaos. Nora too close to the creature. The world falling apart around her while she stood against that wall trying to understand what was happening. Then those voices. [i]Old and familiar.[/i] [i]Far[/i] too casual for what they were telling her. [i]Your friends are waking up.[/i] Kari's fingers curled around the pen. She remembered the next part more clearly than she wanted to. [i]There's only one like you in Cornell.[/i] The observer. At the time, she had barely understood what that meant-she wasn't sure she understood [i]now[/i]-but another line returned with uncomfortable clarity. [i]You're not just watching, Kari. You're responsible for what you see.[/i] Kari closed her eyes, sighing. [color=#eac6ae]“Yeah, well...”[/color] Her voice was quiet in the room. [color=#eac6ae]“You could've explained that just a [i]little[/i] better.”[/color] No ancestors answered. [i]Of course.[/i] They had apparently mastered the family tradition of giving someone a life-altering responsibility and then becoming unavailable for follow-up questions. Kari looked down at the page again and she thought about the adults. Not her parents specifically, but all of them. Parents telling their children not to go out after dark without explaining why. Police asking questions about the warehouse like [i]anyone[/i] could answer them without being called insane. People walking through Cornell Park while something beneath the runoff tunnel answered voices. People [i]shopping.[/i] Going to[i] work.[/i] Opening [i]stores.[/i] [i]Pretending.[/i] Kari understood why, and that was the worst part. Pretending was easier. Pretending meant you could still go to sleep. Pretending meant you did not have to ask why water climbed walls or why streets changed length or why creatures that should not exist were hunting children through abandoned buildings. Pretending meant somebody [i]else[/i] would deal with it. Except nobody was. Kari sat still for a long time. Then she turned to a clean page. At the top, she wrote: [i][b][code]WHO KNOWS?[/code][/b][/i] She stared at it. Crossed it out. Then wrote: [i][code]WHO CAN[/code] [b][code]HELP?[/code][/b][/i] That was better. Kari started with the names she knew. [i][code]Tommy. Gold Lux. Constructs. Balor. Zakira. Green Lux. Plants. Venom. Roots. Lupe. Pink Lux? Fire. Electricity. Tyler. Teleportation. Trades places. Vicky. Magic bat?[/code][/i] Kari stared at the question mark. [color=#eac6ae]“.. I really need better notes.”[/color] She kept writing. [i][code]Ella? Nora? Others from the warehouse? Isabelle—[/code][/i] The pen stopped, then she drew a line through the blank space after Isabelle's name. [i][code]Unknown. Unreachable. Not.[/code][/i] [i][b][code]Dead.[/code][/b][/i] She knew the difference now. Kari turned the pen between her fingers; her ancestors had told her the others had the strength—the power. [i]But to stay alive, you're going to need a little more than muscle.[/i] At the time, it had sounded almost [i]reassuring.[/i] Now it pissed her off. [color=#eac6ae]“Then maybe everybody should know what everybody else can do.”[/color] The idea settled slowly. Not a team. The word felt too [i]dramatic.[/i] Not a club. Absolutely not. [s]A Coven?[/s] That was just silly; she needed to get her head out of the books. A [i]meeting.[/i] Information. Compare what happened; who had seen what, what creatures they encountered, what their magic did, what it [i]couldn't[/i] do, which places in Cornell were changing, who was missing, who had heard voices, who had seen rift, who had gone somewhere that should not exist, and most importantly, how to fix things. Kari's pen started moving faster. [i][b][code]WAREHOUSE. MILL. PARK TUNNEL. OTHER CORNELLS? MONSTERS. RIFTS. MISSING PEOPLE.[/code][/b][/i] She stopped. Then added: [i][b][code]NO ONE GOES ALONE.[/code][/b][/i] Kari stared at that one for a long time. The words blurred slightly. She blinked until they sharpened again. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Okay.[/i]”[/color] Her heart had started beating faster as her nerves set in. That was fine. She could work with nerves. Kari reached for her phone ([code]4:38 AM[/code]), opened her messages, and her thumb hovered over the keyboard. She typed: [code]We need to talk.[/code] Deleted it. Typed: [code]I think everyone from the warehouse who has magic needs to meet.[/code] Deleted that too. Too insane. [sup][sup]Except insanity had stopped being a useful standard several days ago.[/sup][/sup] Kari tried again. [code]I think we need to get everyone together. Everyone who changed after the warehouse. Tommy, Tyler, Vicky, whoever else we know. We need to compare what we can do and what we've seen because the adults are not doing anything and people are dying.[/code] She stared at it. Added: [code]And NOBODY is going anywhere alone anymore.[/code] Then: [code](Yes, I know what you're going to say)[/code] Kari sent it to Lupe. Then Zakira. She hesitated before opening Tommy's contact. The last thing they had done together was create Balor in the back of the library. That somehow felt like it had happened a year ago. She sent him a shorter version. [code]We need another meeting. Bigger this time. Everyone we know from the warehouse who has magic or has seen something. We need to put everything together.[/code] Kari paused. Then added: [code]Please don't make another creature before we talk.[/code] She sent it. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then her phone buzzed. [i]Lupe.[/i] [code]why the fuck are you awake[/code] Kari stared at the message. Another appeared. [code]actually why the fuck am I awake[/code] Then: [code]and fuck no bitch you are not organizing another field trip[/code] Kari covered her mouth. The laugh hurt her ribs. She typed back. [code]Not a field trip. A meeting.[/code] The reply came almost immediately. [code]same shit[/code] Kari smiled despite herself. Then Zakira replied. [code]Where?[/code] Kari's expression changed. Just like that. No argument. No question about whether it was [i]necessary.[/i] Just where? Kari looked down at the list again-the names, the abilities, the places, the questions-or the first time since the mill, the mess in her head did not feel smaller, exactly but it had direction. Kari typed: [code]Library maybe. Somewhere public. Somewhere everyone can get to.[/code] She hesitated. Then added: [code]And somewhere with more than one exit.[/code] Zakira's response took several seconds. [code]Good.[/code] Kari set the phone down. The room was still dark around her. Cornell was still outside. Gorge was still somewhere beneath or inside the mill. Camille and Kersten were still dead. Isabelle was still somewhere beyond the reach of her thread. Nothing had improved in the last ten minutes, but something had changed. Kari looked toward the notebook. [i][code]The one who sees first.[/code][/i] She had hated that. Still did. Because seeing first meant being [i]afraid [/i]first, knowing first, and sometimes failing first. But maybe it also meant being the first person to say something out loud. Kari picked up the pen and added one more line beneath the names. [i][b][code]TELL THEM EVERYTHING.[/code][/b][/i] She underlined it. Then added: [i][code]Even the parts that sound insane.[/code][/i] Kari sat back carefully. Her ribs protested; she pressed one hand against her side and looked around the quiet room. The house remained silent. This time, Kari did not wait for it to answer. She started planning. [hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qyQ41pr.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/MkE57CE.png[/img] [sup]And...[/sup][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b] None. [code]The woods in Cornell.[/code][/right][hr][hr] Isabelle woke because something cracked. At first, she thought it was a bone. Her eyes opened sharply, but there was nothing to see. Darkness pressed against them from every direction, warm and close, and for one disorienting second she couldn’t understand where she was. Her cheek rested against something soft but resistant. Her arms were folded tightly against her chest. Her knees were drawn upward. She tried to move and found barely enough room to twitch her fingers. Panic came [i]immediately.[/i] Her breathing— [b]No.[/b] Isabelle went completely still. Something was wrong. She waited. One second. Two. [i]Three.[/i] Nothing. Her lungs did not burn, her chest did not tighten, there was no desperate reflex forcing her to inhale. Isabelle’s eyes widened in the dark, she sucked in a breath anyway. The air came reluctantly, squeezed through whatever surrounded her, damp and stale. Her chest expanded. Her lungs filled. She held it. Five seconds. Ten. [i]Twenty.[/i] Her body remained quiet. Isabelle released the breath in a shaky rush. [color=ffab0d]“[i]No...[/i]”[/color] Her voice barely existed. The word was swallowed by the enclosure around her, but the sound of it terrified her more than the silence had. She [i]sounded[/i] normal. She swallowed and immediately became aware of how dry her mouth was. Her tongue moved slowly behind her teeth. She felt every tooth. Every ridge. Her lips. Her throat. [i]Normal.[/i] Her heart- Isabelle froze again. She waited for it. [i]Nothing. [/i] [color=ffab0d]“No...”[/color] Her hand jerked against her chest. There wasn’t enough space. Her palm scraped over herself uselessly until she forced her fingers beneath the collar of her shirt and pressed them against her sternum. [i]Nothing.[/i] She pressed harder. [i][b][sup]Nothing.[/sup][/b][/i] [color=ffab0d]“No, no, no, no, no, [i]no[/i]...”[/color] Her hand moved to the side of her neck-she missed the place at first. Tried again. [i]Nothing.[/i] She dug two fingers beneath her jaw so hard it hurt. [i]Nothing.[/i] Her breathing became fast now, though some distant part of her understood she was doing it herself. Her body wasn’t demanding air. She was pulling it in because she was scared. Because people breathed when they were scared. Because she was a [i]person.[/i] [color=ffab0d]“[i]Help.[/i]”[/color] The word cracked. She twisted, pushing against the walls around her. Something stretched with her movement and held. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]Help![/b][/i]”[/color] Her voice came back to her muffled. No answer; memory returned in pieces; the warehouse, the floor dipping beneath invisible weight, someone holding her wrist [i](Don’t leave me)[/i]. Three steps. The impact. The trees. The thing in the forest. [i]You are damaged.[/i] Isabelle stopped struggling. Her entire body went rigid. [i]D’rryha.[/i] The name came from somewhere that did not feel like memory. Isabelle’s eyes darted through the darkness. [color=ffab0d]“No.”[/color] Something moved against the back of her neck. Not outside. [i]Inside.[/i] She screamed. Her body jerked violently, shoulder driving into the wall around her, and the enclosure cracked again. A thin line of cold air touched her face. Isabelle stared toward it, then hit it over and over again until the wall split. Light stabbed through. She recoiled, covering her eyes, but immediately shoved at it again. Whatever surrounded her tore reluctantly, opening in stringy layers that clung to her hands and sleeves. She pushed harder, sobbing now, kicking until the thing split around her and she fell forward. Isabelle collapsed onto all fours and dragged herself away from the torn cocoon without looking back. She crawled until her hand slipped in mud and she nearly fell onto her face. She caught herself. Stayed there. Hands buried in the dirt. Hair hanging around her face. Her shoulders moved quickly with each breath. In. Out. In. Out. She stared at the ground. The forest was quiet. Too quiet. Morning light came weakly between the trees, pale and gray, though Isabelle had no idea what morning it was. She couldn’t feel the cold properly. She knew it was cold because she could see damp mist hanging low over the earth and because the air entering her lungs was sharp. But her skin didn’t react. No goosebumps. No shivering. Nothing. Isabelle looked down at her hands. They were dirty. Normal hands. Brown skin beneath dirt. Nails ragged from clawing out of the cocoon. A small split across one knuckle. She stared at it. A bead of something dark pushed slowly through the cut. Isabelle leaned closer. It wasn’t red. The liquid was almost black. Thick. It sat on the wound without running. Her face changed. [color=ffab0d]“No...”[/color] She wiped it against the dirt. The cut was already closing. Isabelle stopped. A thin movement passed beneath the skin of her hand. She screamed and slammed it against the ground. Once, then again. [color=ffab0d]“... [i]Get out![/i]”[/color] And again. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]GET OUT OF ME![/b][/i]”[/color] Her knuckles split. Dark blood surfaced. Something moved beneath the torn skin. Tiny legs. Isabelle stopped breathing. A spider pulled itself through the wound. Then another. She made a sound that wasn’t quite a scream and scrambled backward so quickly she fell. The spiders remained on her hand, moving over the broken skin with horrible purpose. Thin strands stretched between them. [color=ffab0d]“No. No, no, no, no—”[/color] She grabbed at them with her other hand. The first spider crushed between her fingers. She threw it away. The second disappeared into the cut. Isabelle stared. The wound sealed, not like healing. It simply closed behind the thing like a door. Her hand looked normal again. Isabelle held it away from herself as if it belonged to someone else. For several seconds, she made no sound. Then she began wiping it against her jeans. [color=ffab0d]“Get off.”[/color] Nothing was there. [color=ffab0d]“Get off me.”[/color] She scratched at the skin. [color=ffab0d]“[i]Get off.[/i]”[/color] Her nails dug harder. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]Get off me![/b][/i]”[/color] She tore four lines through the back of her own hand. Movement followed beneath it. Isabelle screamed and stopped touching herself. She sat there with both hands raised, afraid to lower them. Her breaths came faster. Still [i]unnecessary.[/i] Still hers only because she was making them happen. [color=ffab0d]“Oh my God....”[/color] She pressed her lips together. Looked around. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]Mom?[/b][/i]”[/color] The word left her before she could stop it. Nothing answered. Isabelle turned slowly. The cocoon stood between two trees behind her. It was larger than she expected. [i]Her size.[/i] Pale strands stretched between branches, layered so thickly that the torn opening looked wet and fleshy in the morning light. Isabelle stared at it. She remembered being placed inside. [i]You will stabilize here.[/i] Her stomach turned. Or she thought it did. She pressed a hand to her abdomen. Nothing. No nausea. Only the [i]memory[/i] of nausea. That was worse. [color=ffab0d]“No.”[/color] She stood too quickly, but her body rose with strange ease. Isabelle swayed, reaching for a tree, her hand hit the bark harder than she expected. Slowly, she stepped back, but her legs felt wrong. As though the instructions to move reached them before she consciously sent them. She lifted one foot. Set it down. Lifted the other. The [i]movements[/i] were hers. She knew they were hers. But there was something beneath them. A second rhythm. [i]Correction.[/i] Isabelle took another step. Her foot caught beneath a root. Her body corrected before she stumbled. She froze. [color=ffab0d]“No.”[/color] She deliberately leaned too far to one side. Her muscles tightened automatically. Too precisely. Yet she tried again. Faster. Her body corrected. [color=ffab0d]“Stop.”[/color] She threw herself sideways and [i]something[/i] inside her responded. Her spine twisted, her foot planted, then her balance returned instantly. She hadn’t [i]chosen[/i] to catch herself. She went pale. [color=ffab0d]“Stop.”[/color] Nothing answered. [color=ffab0d]“D’rryha?”[/color] The name sounded horrible aloud. Silence. Isabelle looked around. [color=ffab0d]“[i]D’rryha?[/i]”[/color] Nothing. Her jaw tightened. [color=ffab0d]“[i]Where[/i] are you?”[/color] The answer came from[i] inside[/i] her. [sup][h1] [color=black][i]"Here"[/i] [/color] [color=#131313][i] "Here"[/i][/color] [/h1][/sup] Isabelle’s whole body seized. She screamed and clawed at her chest. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]No[/b][/i]!”[/color] Her nails caught her shirt. [h3][color=ffab0d]“[i][b]NO[/b][/i]!”[/color][/h3] "... You are stable." [color=ffab0d]“Get out!”[/color] There was a pause. [i]"No."[/i] Isabelle stumbled backward. [color=ffab0d]“Get out of me!”[/color] "You will die." [color=ffab0d]“I don’t care!”[/color] Silence. The answer came slowly. [sup][h1] [color=black][i]"That is untrue.."[/i] [/color] [color=#131313][i] "That is untrue."[/i][/color] [/h1][/sup] Isabelle shook her head violently. [color=ffab0d]“You don’t know what [i][b]I[/b][/i] want.”[/color] "You wanted to live." [color=ffab0d]“I [i]wanted[/i] to go home!”[/color] "You were dying." [color=ffab0d]“That doesn’t mean-”[/color] Her voice broke. Isabelle grabbed at her hair, fingers tangling painfully in the curls. [color=ffab0d]“... That doesn’t mean you can do this to me!”[/color] D’rryha did not answer. Isabelle waited. [color=ffab0d]“[i]Say something![/i]”[/color] "You persist." [color=ffab0d]“Stop saying that!”[/color] Her voice ripped through the forest. A flock of birds burst suddenly from distant branches. Isabelle flinched. Silence returned. She covered her mouth. For the first time, she became aware of the taste lingering there. Something metallic and [i]old.[/i] She wiped her lips. Nothing. Her stomach still did not move. She could not [i]feel[/i] hunger. Could not [i]feel[/i] cold. Could not feel her heart because there was [i]nothing[/i] there to feel. She lowered her hands slowly. [color=ffab0d]“I need to go home.”[/color] "No." Her face hardened immediately. [color=ffab0d]“You don't get to tell me that.”[/color] "You are not ready." [color=ffab0d]“I don’t care.”[/color] Isabelle turned. She had no idea which direction led anywhere. That realization stopped her only briefly. She picked one. Started walking. After several steps, she noticed she wasn’t getting tired. She walked faster. Branches scraped her jacket. One caught her cheek. She felt the [i]sting[/i] and her hand rose instinctively. By the time she found it, it was gone. Isabelle stopped walking as he touched the spot again. [i]Smooth skin.[/i] Her fingers trembled but she moved on. Faster now. Not toward anything in particular but[i] away.[/i] The forest shifted around her in ways she couldn’t understand. Paths seemed to appear and disappear. Trees repeated. Shadows leaned in directions that had nothing to do with the morning sun. Still she kept moving. Eventually, she heard water. Isabelle turned toward it. A narrow creek cut through the woods, shallow enough that stones broke through its surface. She stumbled down the bank and dropped to her knees. Water. She needed water. [i][sup]Did she?[/sup][/i] The thought made her hesitate, but she leaned forward anyway and cupped it between her hands. The water was cold- she knew that, but it did not hurt. She drank. The first mouthful tasted like dirt and leaves. The second tasted the same. Her body gave no response. No relief. No sense of thirst disappearing. Isabelle stopped. Water spilled between her fingers. Slowly, reluctantly, she looked down. Her reflection waited between the ripples. Isabelle stared. For one horrible second, she didn’t recognize the girl. Then she did. Her face. Her eyes. Her nose. Her mouth. Her hair tangled and dirty around her face. She touched her cheek. The girl in the water did the same. Isabelle leaned closer. There should have been something. Anything. A wound. A scar. A split lip. Bruising. Some proof of what happened. [i]Nothing.[/i] She lifted her shirt, stopping before her chest... the place where the thing had punched through her body was gone. Her stomach looked exactly as it had before the warehouse. Isabelle touched it. [i]Nothing.[/i] She remembered being opened. She remembered something inside her tearing. She remembered blood filling her mouth. She remembered the absolute certainty that her body was finished. And now— [i]Nothing.[/i] Her fingers dragged over smooth skin. She started shaking. [color=ffab0d]“No...”[/color] She looked back at the water. Her own face stared up at her. [i]Normal.[/i] Completely normal. That was when the horror truly reached her. Not when she found the black blood. Not when the spiders emerged. Not when D’rryha spoke from inside her body. This. Her face. She looked exactly like herself. The same girl who had walked into the warehouse. The same face her mother knew. The same face her friends would recognize. The same face that belonged to a girl with no heartbeat. A body that did not need to breathe. A body full of [i]spiders.[/i] Isabelle touched her reflection. The water broke apart beneath her fingers. [color=ffab0d]“I look the same...”[/color] Her voice was very quiet. D’rryha said nothing. [color=ffab0d]“I look the[i] same.[/i]”[/color] She said it again, louder this time. Her reflection reformed. Isabelle stared into her own eyes. [i]Something[/i] felt missing; she couldn’t explain it. There had always been noise inside a body. A thousand little things she had never noticed until they disappeared. Pulse beneath the skin. Breath moving automatically. Warmth. Hunger. The quiet ache of staying in one position too long. The weight of fatigue behind the eyes. Her stomach shifting. Her heart speeding up before she understood she was scared. All [i]gone.[/i] Her body had become silent. [i]Vacant.[/i] Isabelle stared at herself(?). The girl in the water looked alive. She hated [i]her.[/i] [color=ffab0d]“No...”[/color] She hit the surface. Water splashed over her face. The reflection vanished. Isabelle sat back, breathing hard because she wanted to breathe hard. Because she needed to hear something human happening. In. Out. In. [b]Out.[/b] She pressed both hands against her chest. Nothing. [color=ffab0d]“Come on.”[/color] She pressed harder. [color=ffab0d]“Come on.”[/color] Nothing. She struck her chest once. Again. [color=ffab0d]“[i]Come on![/i]”[/color] Again. [color=ffab0d]“[i]Come on![/i]”[/color] Nothing. Her voice broke. She curled forward. [color=ffab0d]“I can’t feel it.”[/color] D’rryha remained quiet. Isabelle struck herself again. [color=ffab0d]“I can’t feel [i][b]anything![/b][/i]”[/color] "You can [i]feel,[/i]" D'rryha said. [color=ffab0d]“Not like before!”[/color] "You are functioning." [h1][color=ffab0d]“I don’t [i][b]want[/b][/i] to function!”[/color][/h1] The words echoed back from the trees. She went still. Her mouth remained open. Tears finally came. That relieved her for half a second. Then she touched one. Looked at the moisture on her finger. Even crying felt like a [i]test [/i]now. Isabelle wiped angrily at her face. [color=ffab0d]“Am I [i]dead?[/i]”[/color] Silence. [color=ffab0d]“Answer me.”[/color] "No." [color=ffab0d]“Am I [i][b]alive?[/b][/i]”[/color] A longer pause. Isabelle’s expression slowly collapsed. [color=ffab0d]“Answer me.”[/color] "You persist." She screamed. Her fists struck the ground. Isabelle froze. She looked down. Her hands had sunk several inches into mud and stone. She pulled it free slowly. Her fingers were unhurt. The skin across her knuckles was perfect. She stared. Something shifted behind her shoulders. Isabelle became completely still. The sensation came again. Pressure. Deep beneath the skin of her back. Growing. [color=ffab0d]“No.”[/color] The pressure spread. [color=ffab0d]“No, no, no-”[/color] She reached behind herself but sheouldn’t find anything. The pressure sharpened. Isabelle screamed as something forced outward beneath her shoulder blade. A long, jointed limb punched through the fabric of her jacket. Isabelle fell sideways. Another emerged. Then another. Black, segmented, glistening in the morning light, their pointed ends driving into the soil around her. She screamed until her throat hurt. [i][b][h2][color=ffab0d]“PUT THEM BACK!”[/color][/h2][/b][/i] The limbs twitched. One lifted. Isabelle watched it move. Her stomach should have turned. It did not. [h1][i][b][color=ffab0d]“PUT THEM BACK!”[/color] [/b][/i][/h1] "You are frightened." [h3][color=ffab0d]“YES! I FUCKING [i][b]AM![/b][/i]”[/color][/h3] "There is no threat." [h3][color=ffab0d]“[u][i][b]YOU'RE[/b][/i][/u] THE THREAT!”[/color][/h3] The limbs went still. Isabelle sobbed, curling into herself while the things remained arched above her. [sub][color=ffab0d]“[i]Please.[/i]”[/color][/sub] The word came out small. Immediately, humiliatingly familiar. [color=ffab0d]“[i]Please[/i] put them back.”[/color] The limbs slowly withdrew and Isabelle screamed again as they folded into her. The torn jacket remained. Her back— She twisted, trying to see. Her hands reached behind. No wounds. Nothing. Only torn denim. Isabelle sat there, shivering despite not being cold. That frightened her too. She wrapped her arms around herself. [color=ffab0d]“I want my body back....”[/color] D’rryha was quiet. [color=ffab0d]“I want it back.”[/color] "It was destroyed, child." Isabelle shut her eyes. [color=ffab0d]“No.”[/color] "You were damaged beyond [b][i]natural[/i][/b] repair." That word stuck out more than it should have. [color=ffab0d]“Stop.”[/color] "You could not breathe." [color=ffab0d]“Stop.”[/color] "Your organs were failing." [color=ffab0d]“Shut up.”[/color] "You were [i][b]dying.[/b][/i]" [i][b][h1][color=ffab0d]“SHUT UP!”[/color][/h1][/b][/i] Silence. Isabelle lowered her forehead to her knees. For a long time, nothing moved except the creek. Eventually, she opened her eyes. Her reflection was visible again from where she sat. Still unmistakably hers. She crawled closer. [i]Slowly.[/i] Almost afraid it would change before she reached it. It didn’t. Isabelle looked at herself. Her face was swollen from crying now. Good. She almost laughed. Good. At least that looked real. [i]Good.[/i] She leaned closer. [color=ffab0d]“I’m... [i]Isabelle Morgan-Sato.[/i]”[/color] Nothing answered. [color=ffab0d]“I’m sixteen.”[/color] Her voice trembled. [color=ffab0d]“I live in Cornell, Pennsylvania.”[/color] The creek moved around stones. [color=ffab0d]“My mom...”[/color] She stopped. Tried again. [color=ffab0d]“My mom is...”[/color] Her voice failed. Not because she had forgotten. Because saying her mother’s name would make home real. And if home was real, then she had to understand what would happen if she walked through the door looking the same. Her mother would run toward her. Would hug her. Would touch her. Would feel how [i]cold[/i] she was. Would wait for the heartbeat that wasn’t there. Isabelle covered her mouth. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]No.[/b][/i]”[/color] What would the police do? Doctors? Her friends? What happened when someone saw the blood? The spiders? The legs? She imagined someone reaching for her. Holding her down. Calling it [i]help[/i]- "It will be easier if you stop fighting, child." Isabelle recoiled from the thought. [color=ffab0d]“[i]No.[/i]”[/color] Her reflection stared back. She looked normal. That was the [i]problem.[/i] Isabelle slowly raised a hand to her face. The reflection copied her. [color=ffab0d]“I look at my reflection...”[/color] Her voice disappeared. She swallowed. Tried again. [color=ffab0d]“I look at my reflection... [i]and I’m not sure [b]what’s[/b] looking back at me anymore.[/i]”[/color] For several seconds, there was only water. Then D’rryha answered from somewhere behind her thoughts. "It is you, child, Isabelle Morgan-Sato," D'rryha began, "You are the same but..." Isabelle’s face twisted. She stared at the reflection. D’rryha spoke again. "... [i]Improved.[/i] I perfected you, child. Broke the natural limitations of your body and made you into something [i]beautiful[/i]." Isabelle stared at herself. For a second, she didn’t move. Then- [color=ffab0d]“... [i][b]Beautiful?[/b][/i]”[/color] A short laugh escaped her. [color=ffab0d]“You think this is [i]beautiful?[/i]”[/color] "It is stronger. Resilient. Free of the weaknesses that would have otherwise killed you." [color=ffab0d]“[i]Stop.[/i]”[/color] "You will no longer break so easily." [color=ffab0d]“I said [i][b]stop![/b][/i]”[/color] Isabelle struck the creek. Her reflection shattered. She stumbled backward, scrambling to her feet too quickly- And her body caught itself. Perfectly yet again. She froze. [color=ffab0d]“... No,”[/color] Isabelle threw her weight sideways yet again. Her foot planted automatically. She stayed upright. [color=ffab0d]“Stop doing that.”[/color] She tried again. The same thing. Her muscles corrected before she could fall. [h3][color=ffab0d]“STOP!”[/color][/h3] "You are distressed." [h1][color=ffab0d]“[i][b]GET OUT OF MY HEAD![/b][/i]”[/color][/h1] "I am not[i] merely[/i] in your head." Isabelle stopped. Slowly, her hands moved to her chest. Her stomach. Her throat. [color=ffab0d]“... Where are you?”[/color] [i]"I am within [b]you[/b]."[/i] Something shifted beneath the skin near her spine. Isabelle screamed. She clawed frantically at her back. [i][h3][color=ffab0d]“GET OUT! [b]GET OUT-GET OUT-GET OUT![/b] GET OUT OF ME!”[/color][/h3][/i] "... I tire of this, child." [color=ffab0d]“I DON'T CARE!”[/color] "You wanted to live." Isabelle went still. Her face twisted. [color=ffab0d]“I just wanted to go home....”[/color] She dug her nails into her arm. Black blood surfaced. Small shapes moved beneath the wound. Isabelle recoiled. [color=ffab0d]“No...”[/color] Spiders emerged and began closing the scratches. [color=ffab0d]“Stop it...”[/color] They continued. [color=ffab0d]“Please stop...”[/color] "You are damaged... I must correct..." [color=ffab0d]“IT'S [b]MY[/b] BODY!”[/color] Her voice tore through the forest. Isabelle hit her chest with both hands. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]My body![/b][/i]”[/color] Again. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]My blood![/b][/i]”[/color] Again. [color=ffab0d]“[i][b]My heart![/b][/i]”[/color] Nothing beat beneath her fists. She stopped. Her hands remained pressed against her chest. Nothing. Her voice shrank. [color=ffab0d]“And you took it...”[/color] "I [i]preserved[/i] it." [color=ffab0d]“I said no.”[/color] Silence. [color=ffab0d]“I [i]begged [/i]you to stop.”[/color] "You were afraid." Isabelle looked up. [color=ffab0d]“I said [i]no.[/i]”[/color] D’rryha did not answer. Isabelle turned back toward the creek. Her reflection had already returned. [color=ffab0d]“You didn't improve me...”[/color] Her voice trembled. [color=ffab0d]“You made me into...”[/color] Her voice cracked, [color=ffab0d]“... A monster.”[/color] "Despite it all, you remain Isabelle Morgan-Sato," [color=ffab0d]“Stop saying my name...”[/color] "It is your name." [u][i][b][h1][color=ffab0d]“DON'T SAY IT!”[/color][/h1][/b][/i][/u] She covered her ears. It did nothing. "You are still yourself." Isabelle slowly lowered her hands. Her reflection stared back. [color=ffab0d]“.... You don't know that.”[/color] "I know [i][b]what y[/b][/i]ou are." That made her still. Isabelle looked down at the water. [color=ffab0d]“That's the problem.”[/color] Her fingers touched her own cheek. [color=ffab0d]“You know what I [i]am.[/i]”[/color] Her voice broke. [color=ffab0d]“[u][i][b]I[/b][/i][/u] don't.”[/color] For once, D’rryha was silent. Isabelle stared at her reflection. Waiting. Terrified that eventually— it might move before she did. [hr][center][b][h1]Jeremy Cole and...[/h1][/b][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZTE1Mbo.png[/img][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b] None. [code]insert location later[/code][/right][hr][hr] Jeremy had been sitting beside the railroad tracks for almost an hour, trying to make the scanner pick up something other than static. He had built it from an old emergency radio, a police scanner he bought online for twenty dollars, and several pieces of equipment he probably should not have taken from the abandoned signal shed. Probably. Nobody used the line anymore anyway. Jeremy had seen trains on it twice in the last month. Neither had appeared on any schedule he could find. The scanner hissed between his knees. He adjusted the dial. [i]Static.[/i] Turned it back. [i]More static.[/i] A voice almost formed beneath it. Jeremy leaned closer. Nothing. “Fuck you too.” He slapped the side of the scanner. “Piece of shit.” Jeremy almost threw it. He twisted around. June Summers was sitting on the opposite rail. He stared at her. The tracks between them were empty; Jeremy had been facing them for the last fifteen minutes. There was no way she could have crossed without him seeing her. June sat with her knees together and her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her fingers were woven together in the wrong order. Jeremy stared for a second before realizing why. One of her thumbs was underneath the other hand. “Jesus Christ, June.” She smiled. “You should not strike machines when they fail to give you what you want.” Jeremy looked back at the scanner. [i]“Thanks?”[/i] “It damages them.” “No shit.” June tilted her head. Her body remained perfectly still. Only her head moved. “You do that often.” Jeremy glanced at her. “What?” “Become angry when systems refuse to behave [i]correctly.[/i]” A pause. Jeremy turned the dial again. Static filled the space between them. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” [i]“Yes.”[/i] He waited. June did not continue. Jeremy looked over. She was closer. Still sitting on the rail. Same posture. Same folded hands. But [i]closer.[/i] Jeremy frowned. “Did you just move?” [i]“No.”[/i] He looked at the gravel between them. Then back at her. June smiled again. “You spend a great deal of time imagining what you would do differently.” Jeremy’s fingers stopped on the dial. “What?” “If something happened twice...” The scanner hissed. June leaned forward. Her spine remained completely straight. “... What would [i]you [/i]change?” Jeremy stared at her. “About what?” June looked past him. Down the tracks. “Everything.” “That’s a stupid question.” “Yes.” The answer came without offense. Jeremy looked back at the scanner as static hissed through the speaker. He turned the dial harder than necessary. He huffed. “There’s a lot of stuff.” “I know.” “No, you don’t.” “I know [i]enough.[/i]” Jeremy laughed under his breath. “Sure, you do, [sup]bitch.[/sup]” June remained sitting on the rail. The light from the dying evening stretched everything longer than it should have. Telephone poles leaned in shadows across the gravel. Trees crowded both sides of the tracks, their branches barely moving despite the wind Jeremy could feel on his face. June’s hair did not move either. “You think about the hardware store.” Jeremy’s hand stopped. The scanner whispered between stations. He kept his face down. [i]“What?”[/i] “You replay it.” Jeremy’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Yes, you do.” He looked up sharply. June had moved again. She was no longer sitting. Jeremy had not seen her stand. She stood between the rails now, hands hanging loosely at her sides. Her feet were placed directly between the wooden ties. Centered. [i]Exact.[/i] “You imagine saying different things.” Jeremy said nothing. “Standing [i]somewhere[/i] else.” “Can you not?” “Making [i]Lupe[/i] stop speaking. I know you picture doing it with your genitals.” His face grew hot. [i]“Shut up.”[/i] June stopped. For a moment. Then: [i]“Would you?”[/i] Jeremy stared at her. “What?” “If you could.[i] Would you?[/i]” Her expression did not change. “If you could make her stop.” The words hung there. Jeremy looked down the tracks. “I... don’t know...” June tilted her head. “Yes, you do.” “No, I don’t.” “You imagined slapping her across the face.” Jeremy went still. June took one step forward. Gravel shifted beneath her shoe several seconds after her foot had already settled. “Before [i]anyone[/i] could stop you.” His mouth went dry. June continued. “Then forcing her onto her knees.” “Yes.” “That doesn’t mean [i]anything.[/i]” “No.” Jeremy looked at her. June tilted her head. “Being angry does not mean you [i]wanted[/i] to do those things... .” A pause. “... [i]Wanting to do those things means you[b] wanted[/b] to do those things.[/i]” Jeremy’s jaw tightened. “I wouldn’t have actually done it.” [i]“I know.”[/i] “Then what’s your point?” “I wonder what you would do if those consequences became[i] optional.[/i]” June smiled. “Most people lie about what they want. [i]You [/i]only lie afterward.” Jeremy looked at her. The smile vanished. [i]Gone.[/i] She stepped closer. “You are ashamed [i]after.[/i]” Something about the way she said it made him uncomfortable. “After what?” [i]“Everything.”[/i] Jeremy picked at the torn rubber around the scanner antenna. “That’s... that's not true.” “You rehearse apologies you will [i]never[/i] give.” His fingers stopped. “You rehearse insults you will [i]never[/i] say.” The static sharpened. “You imagine violence you will [i]never[/i] perform.” “Jesus Christ...” “And then you feel guilty for things that didn't even happen.” She tilted her head. [i]“Sad.”[/i] Jeremy stood abruptly. The scanner fell from his knees and hit the ground with a few ungraceful clinks. June watched. “You don’t know me.” “I do know you, Jeremy Cole.” “No, you don't.” “I know what you repeat.” “What does that even mean?” June pointed at the scanner. Jeremy followed her eyes. The static had changed. A voice surfaced beneath it. [i]“—clear the—”[/i] Jeremy grabbed the tuning knob. “Hold on.” He turned it slightly. The voice vanished. [i]“Fuck.”[/i] Jeremy turned it back. [i]Nothing. [/i] He leaned closer. “Come on...” June watched him. Jeremy tried again. Static. “[i]Fuck.[/i] I had it.” “Yes.” “For, like, two seconds.” “[i]Three.[/i]” Jeremy looked at her. “That’s not the point.” “It is.” June pointed at the scanner. “You [i]had[/i] what you wanted. Then you made the wrong adjustment and [i]lost[/i] it.” Jeremy frowned. “Okay?” “You know the correct choice.” “No shit. I know that now.” June stepped closer. “Yes.” Her eyes remained fixed on him. “[i]That[/i] is the problem.” Jeremy stared at her. June reached into her jacket pocket. “What if you knew [i]after[/i]ward [i]before[/i]hand?” Jeremy blinked. “... That doesn’t make any sense.” “It does.” Her arm went deeper into the pocket. [i]Too deep.[/i] The fabric should have bunched around her wrist. It didn’t. Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. June pulled something out. [url=https://i.imgur.com/Anz4PBY.png]A wristband.[/url] At least, that was the closest word Jeremy had for it. It was a broad cuff of dark, battered metal fitted over worn brown leather, the outer band broken into heavy overlapping segments. Faint swirling patterns curled across the metal in long engraved lines, worn shallow in some places and sharp in others. At the back sat a square clasp housing, thick and mechanical-looking, with a spiral stamped into its face. It looked old. June held it out. But Jeremy did not take it. “... What is that?” “A correction.” “Of what?” [b][i]“You.”[/i][/b] Jeremy stared at her. June stared back. Then her mouth curved upward. Jeremy could not tell whether she had made a joke. “Very funny, June.” [i]“No.”[/i] She took his hand. Jeremy flinched. June turned his wrist over. [i]“Hey-”[/i] She wrapped the band around him before he could pull away. The leather lining pressed cold against his skin. Then the metal segments shifted. Jeremy felt them settle one after another around his wrist- [i]click. click. click.[/i] The square clasp locked shut. “What the hell?!” Jeremy jerked his arm back. He grabbed at the metal cuff, trying to wedge his fingers beneath it. The leather lining tightened just enough to make that impossible. Jeremy froze. June released him. “What did you just put on me?” “Press the spiral.” “What?” “The spiral.” Jeremy stared at the device. “[i]June.[/i]” [i]“Press it.”[/i] “No.” June waited. Jeremy glared at her. She did not move. Did not blink. Jeremy looked down. The cuff had no screen, no buttons that he could see. Only the engraved patterns winding around the metal and the small spiral stamped into the square clasp. He pressed it with his thumb. Something inside the cuff shifted. A tiny rotation beneath the metal. The engraved lines trembled. Jeremy jerked his hand away. June watched. “What the fuck is this?” “A choice.” “That doesn’t answer my question.” “No.” Jeremy looked at the cuff again. The spiral sat motionless beneath his thumb. Then he pressed it. [i]Click.[/i] The railroad tracks split. Jeremy gasped. Not physically. He knew that immediately and somehow not at all. He was still standing beside the tracks. June was still in front of him. The scanner was still resting on the gravel. But there were [i]two[/i] versions of what happened next. In one, Jeremy stumbled backward. His heel caught the rail. He fell hard, his hand slapping down onto the gravel as a sharp piece of metal drove into his palm. Pain exploded through his hand. [i]“Fuck!”[/i] He looked down. Blood. Then- [i]Click.[/i] Jeremy was standing again. His hand was uninjured. He stopped breathing. The [i]memory[/i] of pain remained, but the sensation was gone. He looked at the gravel behind him. The piece of metal was there, exactly where it had been. Jeremy stumbled sideways instead, away from it. “What the fuck?” June smiled. “You learned.” Jeremy looked at his hand and turned it over. Nothing. “No.” “Yes.” “No, I fell.” [i]“Yes.”[/i] His head snapped up. June’s smile widened slightly. “You did not keep it.” Jeremy stared at her. The scanner crackled and he flinched as a voice came through. [i]“—eastbound freight approaching—”[/i] The message dissolved into static. Jeremy barely noticed. “What did you do to me?” [i]“Nothing.”[/i] “Bullshit.” June crouched. Her knees touched the ground before the rest of her body seemed to lower. Jeremy took a step back as she picked up a small gray stone, flat on one side. “This device, [i]The Echo Dial,[/i] allows you to examine an [i]immediate[/i] consequence.” Jeremy’s eyes went to the rock. “You act.” She tossed it lightly. It landed near Jeremy’s shoe. “You see what follows.” June bent and picked it up again. “You reject.” She tossed it to the same place. “Or retain.” Jeremy watched her. “That’s time travel.” “No.” “Then what is it?” [i]“Rehearsal.”[/i] June rolled the stone between her fingers. “Very [i]convincing[/i] rehearsal.” Jeremy looked down at the cuff. The spiral on the clasp looked deeper than it had before. He rubbed his thumb over it. Metal. Nothing else. “You’re saying I can see the future?” “No.” “A future?” “No.” “Then what the fuck am I seeing?” “A [i]possibility.[/i]” The wind passed through the trees. June’s clothes remained still. “You [i]choose.[/i]” The stone left her hand. Jeremy barely saw the throw before it came directly at his face. He recoiled. The Echo Dial clicked once, hard, and the metal tightened around his wrist. Jeremy threw up his arm. The world thickened. The stone did not stop completely, but crawled through the air, slowly rotating. Jeremy stared. “What—” [i]“Reach.”[/i] Jeremy looked at June. [i]“Reach for it.”[/i] He extended his hand. The stone drifted past his fingers. “Too slow.” “Shut up.” Jeremy moved again. The cuff shifted against his skin as several tiny mechanisms turned beneath the clasp. The stone accelerated. Jeremy yelped and ducked. It shot over his shoulder and clacked against the rail. He spun around. “You could’ve hit me!” “Yes.” [i]“What the fuck is wrong with you?!”[/i] June did not move. Jeremy’s anger stalled, only for a second. Then June pointed at the stone. “Bring it back.” Jeremy looked at it. “How?” “You already moved it.” “No, I didn’t.” “Yes, you did.” “The bracelet did.” June stared. “The [i]Echo Dial[/i] is on [i]you.[/i]” Jeremy stared back. “So?” “So.” Jeremy looked at the stone and raised his hand. Nothing happened. “This is stupid.” June waited. Jeremy tried again. The cuff gave a faint internal tick, then another. The metal grew warmer against his wrist. The air around the stone shimmered. It scraped against the gravel, moving an inch, then another. Jeremy’s eyes widened. He pulled his hand toward himself. [i]Click-click-click.[/i] The stone shot across the ground. Jeremy jumped out of the way. June did not. The rock struck her shoe. She looked down, then at Jeremy. “You moved.” “Yeah.” “You could have made [i]it[/i] move.” Jeremy frowned. “I was [i]trying.[/i]” “You reacted instead.” “I didn’t want it to hit me.” June’s expression softened. The change was almost convincing. [i]“Exactly.”[/i] Jeremy looked at her. June stepped past him toward the scanner. “There are things already moving. Those are easiest.” She nudged the scanner with her shoe. “You can catch them.” She bent. “Delay them.” June picked up the scanner. “Redirect them.” Then she threw it. [i][b]“Hey!”[/b][/i] The scanner arced toward the rocks beside the tracks. The Echo Dial contracted around Jeremy’s wrist, one metal segment pressing into the next. [i]Click. Click. Click.[/i] Jeremy reached instinctively. The scanner slowed, not smoothly, but jerking through the air in tiny increments, each movement accompanied by a faint tick beneath the cuff. Jeremy’s teeth clenched. He pulled. The scanner curved, hit the gravel, bounced once, but did not smash. Jeremy ran over and grabbed it. [i]“You asshole!”[/i] June was suddenly beside him. Jeremy recoiled. “How do you keep doing that?” June didn't reply. Jeremy stared at her. June looked down at the scanner. “[i]Functional.[/i]” “Barely!” Jeremy checked the casing. A new scratch. Nothing worse. He looked at the Echo Dial. The metal plates had settled again. Still. Heavy. Ordinary. He rubbed one of the engraved curves with his thumb. For a moment, he could have sworn the groove continued farther beneath his finger than the width of the cuff allowed. He pulled his hand away. “How much can this do?” June began walking down the tracks. Jeremy hesitated, then followed. “I asked you a question.” “Yes.” “How much can it do?” “[i]More[/i] when you understand.” “Understand what?” [i]“Motion.”[/i] June stepped onto one of the rails. Her shoes balanced perfectly. She walked without looking down. [i]“Speed.”[/i] One step. [i]“Direction.”[/i] Another. “And, most importantly," She paused, [i][b]"Intention.”[/b][/i] Jeremy climbed onto the gravel beside her. “What about people?” June stopped. Jeremy almost walked past her. She turned. Her feet remained facing forward for a moment too long before rotating after the rest of her. “People are difficult.” Jeremy felt a strange little disappointment. “How difficult?” “They resist.” “Resist what?” “Being told where they belong.” Jeremy stared. June lifted one hand. “Try.” “Try what?” “Move me.” Jeremy laughed. “I don’t know how.” “You know enough.” The Echo Dial clicked softly. Jeremy looked at June. He thought about pushing. Nothing happened. He focused harder. Something rotated beneath the clasp. June’s jacket twitched, then her shoulder shifted slightly backward. Jeremy’s eyes widened. June remained still. He tried again. The metal plates tightened fractionally. June staggered, one foot sliding off the rail. Jeremy laughed. An actual laugh. “Holy shit.” June looked at her foot, then slowly placed it back. “Again.” Jeremy did. The Dial began ticking, slowly at first, then faster. The field tightened. June’s hair lifted slightly Her hand slowed, moving as though underwater. Jeremy grinned. The ticking became frantic. Then pain stabbed behind his eyes. The mechanisms inside the cuff stopped all at once, the effect collapsed, and Jeremy stumbled. June was suddenly normal again. “Fuck.” “Living things [i]resist.[/i]” Jeremy rubbed his temple. “You could’ve said it hurts.” “I could have.” He glared at her. June looked down the tracks. The rails began humming. Jeremy noticed it through his shoes first: a faint vibration, then stronger. The scanner crackled. A distant horn sounded somewhere beyond the trees. Jeremy looked toward the curve in the tracks. “Train.” “Yes.” “We should move.” June stayed where she was. Jeremy frowned. “June.” She stood between the rails, facing the distant bend. The vibration grew. Jeremy grabbed her sleeve. “Come on.” June looked at his hand, then at him. “Do you think it would stop?” “What?” [i]“For you.”[/i] Jeremy let go. “What kind of question is that?” [i]“The train.”[/i] Another horn. Closer. June tilted her head. “Would it stop because you are misunderstood?” Jeremy stared. “What the [i][b]fuck[/b][/i] are you talking about?” “Would it [i]apologize?[/i]” The rails trembled beneath them. Jeremy stepped off the track bed. “June, move.” “Would it care [i]what[/i] you intended?” His stomach tightened. The headlight appeared around the distant curve, small and growing. Jeremy looked at June. She remained centered between the tracks. “Okay, [i]seriously-[/i]” “Motion does not care about fairness, Jeremy Cole.” The horn screamed. Jeremy grabbed her arm. June did not move. It felt like pulling a fence post. “June!” “You must move it.” [u][b][h1]“I CAN’T MOVE A FUCKING TRAIN!”[/h1][/b][/u] “No.” June looked toward the approaching light. “You can move yourself.” Jeremy pulled harder. Nothing. The train was coming too fast. Too close. “Are you fucking insane?!” June turned her face toward him, perfectly calm. “... You know what happens if you choose incorrectly.” Jeremy froze. The Echo Dial contracted sharply, the metal segments pressing together around his wrist. The clasp turned beneath his skin. [i]Click.[/i] Reality split. In one path, Jeremy kept pulling. The train screamed closer. June remained immovable. Jeremy waited too long. He jumped. His shoe caught between the rail and one of the wooden ties. He fell; light swallowed everything. Then- [i]Click.[/i] Jeremy was standing several feet from the tracks, gasping. June stood beside him. The freight train tore past. Wind and noise slammed into him. Jeremy staggered backward, his whole body shaking. He could still remember the instant before impact, could still feel his ankle trapped, could still feel the certainty that he was going to die. June watched the train. Her hair did not move in the violent wind. Jeremy stared at her. “You knew.” “Yes.” [i]“You fucking knew!”[/i] “Yes.” “You could’ve killed me!” [i]“No.”[/i] Jeremy’s face twisted. “What?” June finally looked at him. “You chose [i]correctly[/i].” The train roared between them and the forest beyond. Jeremy’s breathing came fast. His hands shook. He looked down at the Echo Dial, then back at June. “You’re fucking crazy.” “No.” “You stood on the tracks!” “Yes.” “You made me-” “No.” June stepped toward him. Jeremy backed away. She stopped. “[i]You[/i] pulled me.” He stared. [i]“You[/i] chose to remain.” Another freight car thundered by. [i]“You[/i] chose to leave.” Another. “[i]You[/i] know both.” Jeremy said nothing. June’s voice softened. “Isn’t that what you wanted, Jeremy Cole?” The train passed. Noise drained from the world. The sudden silence felt enormous. Jeremy stared at the Dial. The engraved spirals looked different. One curve seemed tighter. Another seemed to end somewhere it had not ended before. Jeremy blinked. Everything was normal again. “I don’t understand why you’re giving this to me.” June stepped closer. “You are tired.” Jeremy laughed shakily. “Yeah. No shit.” “Not physically.” He looked at her. “You are tired of finding the correct response [i]after[/i] people leave. Tired of understanding what you should have done when it is no longer useful.” June’s eyes were very still. “Tired of being told that [i][b]your[/b][/i] intentions do not matter.” Jeremy looked away. “Tired of losing arguments that only happen once.” He swallowed. The hardware store returned to him. Lupe at the end of the aisle. The batteries in her hand. Her stupid smile. Zakira holding that hatchet like he was a serial killer. Mr. Alvarez looking at him. [i]Everyone[/i] looking at him. For all the wrong reasons. Jeremy rubbed his thumb over one of the shallow engravings. “What am I supposed to do with it?” June looked down at his wrist. “Whatever you decide.” “That’s it?” “Yes.” “You don’t want anything?” “No.” “Nobody just gives somebody something like this.” “I did.” “Why?” June considered him. [i]Measuring.[/i] “You imagine many things you never do.” Jeremy’s skin prickled. June stepped around him. Her shoulder passed close enough that it should have brushed his. It didn’t. “Perhaps you should find out which ones you regret.” Jeremy turned. June was several yards away... He had not heard her move. “What the hell does [i]that[/i] mean?” She kept walking. [i][b][h3]“June!”[/h3][/b][/i] She stopped. Her head turned over her shoulder. Then the rest of her body followed. Jeremy’s mouth closed. June [i]smiled.[/i] [i]“... You should hurt someone with it.”[/i] Jeremy went cold. [i]“What?”[/i] For a moment, June remained perfectly still- Then something changed. Her head shifted slightly. Just enough to return to an angle a human neck was meant to hold. She blinked. Once. Twice. Her shoulders loosened. A sharp breath entered her lungs like she had forgotten she was supposed to breathe. June looked at Jeremy. [i]Actually[/i] looked at him. Confusion crossed her face. “... [i]Jeremy?[/i]” He stared at her. June looked around, her brow tightened. “What the hell...?” She rubbed at her temple, then her eyes dropped to Jeremy’s wrist. [i]The Echo Dial.[/i] Her hand stopped. [i]“What is [b]that?[/b]”[/i] Jeremy looked down at it. Then back at her. [i] “What?”[/i] June’s confusion sharpened. “That thing on your arm.” Jeremy said nothing. June looked down the tracks, then toward the road beyond the trees. “Where are Claire and Zoey?” Jeremy stared at her. [i]“What?”[/i] “I was just-” June stopped. Her eyes moved slowly across the tracks again. “I [i]thought [/i]I was with them.” Jeremy said nothing. June looked at him. This time her expression was uncertain. Normal. Annoyed, even. “[i].... Why[/i] are you looking at me like that?” Jeremy stared at her for several seconds. Then sighed. [i] “Nothing.”[/i] June frowned. “Okay... [sup]weirdo.[/sup]” She looked at the Echo Dial once more. Then at Jeremy. Whatever question she had seemed to die before reaching her mouth. June turned and walked away. Jeremy watched until she disappeared between the trees. Then he looked down at the Echo Dial. Behind him, the scanner crackled. Jeremy turned as a voice pushed through the static. [i]“—repeat, eastbound line is clear—”[/i] He looked toward the tracks. Then at the place where June had been standing. Jeremy thought about Lupe. [i]Not for long.[/i] Something beneath the square clasp turned once. [i]Click.[/i] [hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/bemGSrE.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/fGCaIL3.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/MrAFI3T.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/zS3Ugjd.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/7gwGxyR.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/sHP9Odv.png[/img][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b] [code]Cornell High.[/code][/right][hr][hr] The school looked wrong without cars in front of it. Kari had seen Cornell High empty before. Summer break. Teacher workdays. Sunday afternoons when her mother forgot something in her office and dragged Kari along because she didn't feel like leaving her home alone. Those versions of the building had still felt temporary. [i]Sleeping.[/i] This one looked abandoned. The parking lot was empty except for weeds beginning to push through cracks near the curb. A plastic bag had caught against the bottom of the chain-link fence and inflated whenever the wind moved through it. Several classroom windows had been covered from the inside, either with blinds or whatever teachers had found after the closure. The marquee near the road still displayed the same announcement it had the week everything stopped. [b][code]WELCOME BACK STEELHEADS![/code][/b] The letters beneath it had started leaning. Lupe stared up at the sign, rolling her eyes. [color=E14BC5]“That's depressing as fuck.”[/color] Zakira adjusted the strap of her backpack. [color=#046904]“[i]Everything[/i] is depressing to you.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“No. Some things are sexy.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Name one.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“[i]Me.[/i]”[/color] Zakira looked at her. Lupe looked back. Kari kept walking. [color=#eac6ae]“I regret bringing the two of you...”[/color] [color=#046904]“You invited [i]us,[/i]”[/color] Zakira said. [color=E14BC5]“Yeah, mami,”[/color] Lupe added. [color=E14BC5]“At four-thirty in the [i][b]fucking[/b][/i] morning!”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“It was four thirty-[i]eight.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“That's [i]worse![/i]”[/color] Kari carefully stepped over a crack in the pavement, one hand briefly pressing against her ribs when the movement pulled something unpleasant beneath her shirt. Lupe noticed. [color=E14BC5]“Mami.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]... I'm fine.[/i]”[/color] Kari immediately replied. [color=E14BC5]“You did the face.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“What face?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Oh I don't know, that 'little white people pain face.'”[/color] Kari stopped. [color=#eac6ae]“I'm Black.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“You know what I mean.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I don't actually.”[/color] Zakira walked between them. [color=#046904]“She [i]means[/i] you grimaced.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I [i]know[/i] what she meant.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Then why the fuck did you ask, mami?”[/color] Kari glared at both of them and resumed walking toward the side of the building. The entrance they were heading for was mostly hidden behind the gymnasium, past a narrow delivery lane and several dumpsters that smelled even worse now that no one was regularly emptying them. Kari had been through the door dozens of times. Her mother used it whenever she worked late and didn't feel like walking around to the main entrance. Kari reached into her jacket pocket. The key ring jingled. Lupe stopped dead. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Noooooooooooo...[/i]”[/color] Kari looked back. [color=#eac6ae]“What?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“You stole [i][b]the[/b][/i] keys?”[/color] Kari pushed her glasses up her nose with one finger, [color=#eac6ae]“I [i]borrowed[/i] them, for your information.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“From who, mami?”[/color] Lupe was barely containing her laugher. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Whoooooooooo?[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“... My mom.”[/color] Zakira stared at Kari, who looked between them. She narrowed her eyes, [color=#eac6ae]“[i]What?[/i]”[/color] Lupe slowly pressed both hands together. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Dios, mios,[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Lupe.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“No, no, I'm sorry. I didn't realize [i]who [/i]I was dealing with.”[/color] Kari's eyes narrowed. Lupe lowered her voice dramatically. [color=E14BC5]“Kari Wilson the [i]criminal[/i] who steals from her own momma!”[/color] She said, jamming her elbow into Zakira who just rolled her eyes. [color=#eac6ae]“... Shut up.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Breaking and entering.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“With a key?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Possession of [i]stolen[/i] property.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“They are not [i]stolen[/i].”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Betraying your own momma.”[/color] Kari pushed the key into the lock. [color=#eac6ae]“I am going to leave you outside.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Grand theft [i]cafeteria[/i].”[/color] Zakira snorted. Kari turned around so fast her ribs complained. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]... Really, Zakky?[/i]”[/color] Zakira's mouth flattened. [color=#046904]“[i]No.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“You laughed.”[/color] [color=#046904]“I [i][b]breathed.[/b][/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“You breathed [i]funnily,[/i] like something was [i]funny[/i].”[/color] Lupe was already losing it, but Kari muttered something impolite and turned the key. The lock clicked and Kari pulled the door open. Darkness waited on the other side. [color=E14BC5]“You first, criminal.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Why[i] me?[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“You have the getaway keys.”[/color] Kari switched on her phone flashlight. [color=#eac6ae]“You know what? This meeting was already a mistake.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“[i]Already?[/i]”[/color] They stepped inside. The door shut behind them with a heavy metallic sound. Kari immediately looked back. Zakira noticed. Neither of them said anything. The hallway beyond the gymnasium was exactly as Kari remembered it, which somehow made it worse. Trophy cases lined one wall. Posters advertising a homecoming dance that never happened hung crookedly beside classroom doors. Someone had left a stack of flattened cardboard boxes against a drinking fountain. The overhead lights were off, but pale evening light reached through the narrow windows in the classroom doors. Their footsteps echoed. Lupe looked down both ends of the hallway. [color=E14BC5]“Why does this school turn spooky when nobody's in it?”[/color] [color=#046904]“... That's everywhere, Lupe,”[/color] Zakira said. Kari glanced over. Zakira's expression tightened slightly. For half a second, nobody spoke. Then Lupe pointed at her. [color=E14BC5]“Exactly why I'm questioning[i] this [/i]guest list.”[/color] Kari sighed. [color=#eac6ae]“... [i]We're not doing this [b]again.[/b][/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“We haven't done it [i]once.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“You've complained about it the whole fucking time,”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Because you invited every crazy motherfucker and hoe you can think of.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I invited people who were at the warehouse. People with magic.”[/color] Zakira adjusted her bag again. [color=#046904]“Who [i]exactly[/i] did you invite?”[/color] Kari hesitated. Lupe stopped walking. [color=E14BC5]“Oh, no.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“What?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“That [i]pause.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“There wasn't a pause.”[/color] Kari rolled her eyes. [color=E14BC5]“There was a whole commercial break, mami.”[/color] Kari continued down the hallway toward the cafeteria. [color=#eac6ae]“I invited Tommy.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Fine,”[/color] Zakira said immediately. Lupe shrugged. [color=#eac6ae]“Nora.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Fine.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Ella.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Fine.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Tuyen.”[/color] Lupe nodded. [color=E14BC5]“Vicky's homie but she's [i]fine...[/i] when that bitch isn't around,”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Daniel.”[/color] Lupe blinked. [color=E14BC5]“The [i]virgin,[/i] mami?”[/color] Kari looked back at her. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Daniel.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“That's what I said.”[/color] Zakira frowned. [color=#046904]“You don't know that he's a virgin. Unless...”[/color] Zakira stopped that train of thought there. Lupe turned toward her. [color=E14BC5]“Zakira, that boy looks like he asks Jesus for forgiveness after holding hands.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Can we [i]not[/i] speculate about Daniel's sex life?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“His w[i]hat?[/i]”[/color] Kari stared at her. Lupe smiled. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Sorry.[/i]”[/color] She was not. Kari turned back around. [color=#eac6ae]“Whatever Daniel is connected to fought that thing at the warehouse. He needs to be here.”[/color] Kari continued walking. [color=#eac6ae]“Lynn.”[/color] Silence. Kari looked over her shoulder. Lupe frowned. [color=E14BC5]“Who the fuck is Lynn?”[/color] Zakira looked equally confused. [color=#046904]“I don't know a Lynn.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“She's new.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“That answers nothing...”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I know.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“New from [i]where?[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I don't know.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Do you know [i]anything[/i] about her?”[/color] Kari frowned. [color=#eac6ae]“She was involved enough that I thought she should be here.”[/color] Lupe stared at her. [color=E14BC5]“That is the most suspicious thing you've ever said, and you literally stole keys from your momma[i][/i].”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Again, I [i]borrowed[/i] them. I'm going to put them back when I'm done.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Where is Lynn from?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“For the last time; [i]I don't know.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Okay, so we're inviting strangers now.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]She is not a stranger.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Do you know her?”[/color] Kari paused. Lupe threw both arms up. [color=E14BC5]“[i][b]STRAN-GER.[/b][/i]”[/color] Zakira looked at Kari. [color=#046904]“How new?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I don't know. New enough that neither of you know her.”[/color] [color=#046904]“That's not a measurement.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“And I didn't make a chart, Zakira.”[/color] [color=#046904]“You made a list.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“That's different.”[/color] [color=#046904]“[i]Barely.[/i]”[/color] Kari pushed through the double doors separating the academic hallway from the cafeteria corridor. [color=#eac6ae]“She's invited. Moving on.”[/color] Lupe made a suspicious sound behind her. [color=#eac6ae]“Vicky.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“No,”[/color] Lupe said immediately. Kari kept walking. [color=#eac6ae]“She was at the warehouse.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Fuck no.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“She has magic.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I care even less.”[/color] Zakira glanced toward Lupe. [color=#046904]“What did Vicky do to you?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“[i]Everything,[/i] mami.”[/color] Lupe threw both hands into the air. [color=E14BC5]“Watch, she’s gonna make the whole damn thing about herself. Somebody’s gonna be talking about how a monster ate their grandma, and she’ll be like-”[/color] Lupe straightened her posture, pushed her hair back, and made her voice several octaves higher. [color=E14BC5]“[i]‘Oh my God, you guys, I literally broke a nail at the warehouse. You have [i]noooooooooooooo[/i] idea what I’ve been through!’[/i]”[/color] She finished with an exaggerated shriek that echoed down the empty hallway. Zakira stared at her. [color=#046904]“That impression came from the heart...”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I’m just[i] observant[/i], mami.”[/color] [color=#046904]“More like angry.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I’m not angry.”[/color] [color=#046904]“You did a voice.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Because she annoys the [i]fuck[/i] outta me.”[/color] Kari glanced back at her. [color=#eac6ae]“That [i]still[/i] isn’t a reason not to invite her.”[/color] Lupe pointed at her. [color=E14BC5]“See? That right there. You keep saying [i]‘reason’[/i] like being irritating isn’t one.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“It isn’t. I’m not casting a reality show, Lupe.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“... To you.”[/color] Kari just ignored her. [color=#eac6ae]“Tyler.”[/color] This time, both girls reacted. Zakira groaned. Lupe actually stopped. [color=E14BC5]“No.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“He has magic.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“He's [i]Tyler.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“And?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“He's just a male Vicky.”[/color] Zakira frowned. [color=#046904]“He is useful... that's all I can say about him.”[/color] Lupe looked betrayed. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Zakira,[/i] I thought you were my boo.”[/color] [color=#046904]“He can switch places with people.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“He can switch places with my ass.”[/color] Kari rubbed her forehead. [color=#eac6ae]“See? This is why I didn't ask for your approval.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Clearly.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Lexi.[/i]”[/color] Lupe stared at her. Zakira looked away. Kari slowed. [color=#eac6ae]“What?”[/color] Lupe's voice became very calm. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Mami.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“What?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“[i][b]... Why?[/b][/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Because she was there.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“A [i]lot of[/i] people were there.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“And I invited a lot of people.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“And you couldn't find [i][b]anyone[/b][/i] better than her?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I guess not.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Voluntarily?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Yes, Lupe.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“With your own fingers?”[/color] Kari stopped walking. [color=#eac6ae]“What [i]exactly[/i] do you think is going to happen at this meeting?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I don't know anymore! Lynn might backstab us. Vicky is going to make me wish the monster ate my ass-"[/color] Zakira commented under her breath that neither Lupe or Kari could make out. [color=E14BC5]"Tyler is going to act like a meathead. And Lexi?”[/color] There was a pause. [color=E14BC5]“... [i][b]She's going to be fuckin' Lexi.[/b][/i]”[/color] Zakira rubbed her temple. Kari looked down at the keys in her hand. For several seconds, none of them moved. Then Zakira stepped closer to the doors. [color=#046904]“... Who else?”[/color] Kari shook her head. [color=#eac6ae]“That's it. That's everybody who's coming.”[/color] Zakira looked at her. [color=#046904]“Who's [i]not?[/i]”[/color] Kari's mouth twisted. [color=#eac6ae]“Claire and Zoey.”[/color] Lupe raised an eyebrow. [color=E14BC5]“They said no? I'm [b][i]shocked.[/i][/b]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“They're looking for June.”[/color] The humor faded from Lupe's expression. Zakira was quiet for a moment. [color=#046904]“Still nothing?”[/color] Kari shook her head. [color=#eac6ae]“Even if there was a lead, they didn't tell me.”[/color] Lupe looked down the empty hall. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Fuck.[/i]”[/color] Kari nodded. [color=#eac6ae]“I asked them anyway. Zoey wanted to come, I think, but they're not stopping the search.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Good.”[/color] Kari glanced at Zakira. [color=#046904]“Not good that June is missing. Good that they're looking.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I know what you meant.”[/color] There was a brief silence before Kari added: [color=#eac6ae]“Elsa isn't coming either.”[/color] Lupe looked at her. [color=E14BC5]“Elsa? Ya girl?”[/color] Even Zakira seemed surprised. [color=#046904]“I thought she'd be the first person here.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“She [i]wanted [/i]to be.”[/color] Kari's fingers tightened slightly around the key ring. [color=#eac6ae]“She has to stay with her grandmother.”[/color] Lupe's expression softened. [color=E14BC5]“Everything okay?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I think so. Her grandmother just needs her right now.”[/color] Zakira nodded. [color=#046904]“Then that's where she should be.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Yeah.”[/color] Kari said it quickly. A little too quickly. Lupe studied her for a second. [color=E14BC5]“You wanted her here... didn't you, mami?”[/color] Kari looked at her. [color=#eac6ae]“... Of [i]course[/i] I wanted her here.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“[i]Mhm.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“What does that mean?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Nothing.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Lupe.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I said nothing!”[/color] Zakira looked between them. [color=#046904]“It clearly means something.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Can [i]everybody[/i] stop analyzing me?”[/color] Lupe folded her arms. Then her eyes narrowed slightly. [color=E14BC5]“Wait. And that's the whole reason Claire and Zoey aren't coming?”[/color] Kari hesitated. Lupe's eyes narrowed further. [color=E14BC5]“Dios mios, [i]another[/i] pause.”[/color] Kari sighed, [color=#eac6ae]“... They also didn't like some of the people I invited.”[/color] Lupe immediately pointed at Kari. [color=E14BC5]“[i][b]SEE?[/b][/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“That doesn't mean you're right.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“What's that dumbass name they call themselves? Oh, yeah..."[/color]Lupe finger quoted, [color=E14BC5]“'The Terrible Trio' has spoken.”[/color] Kari narrowed her eyes at Lupe. [color=#eac6ae][sup]“You don't even like Claire.”[/sup][/color] [color=E14BC5]“I didn't say I [i]liked[/i] her. Just that she does [i]something[/i] right.”[/color] Zakira looked at Kari. [color=#046904]“[i]Who[/i] did they have a problem with?”[/color] Kari looked toward the cafeteria doors again. [color=#eac6ae]“Some of the same people you two did.”[/color] Lupe nodded vigorously. [color=E14BC5]“Because we're [i]right,[/i] mami. You should take this as a sign.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“That remains unproven.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Democracy says otherwise.”[/color] [color=#046904]“That's not democracy.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“[i]Three[/i] people disagree with Kari. That's a landslide.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Claire and Zoey are two people.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I'm the third.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I understood the math.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Then respect the voters.”[/color] Kari sighed. [color=#eac6ae]“Claire and Zoey have their own priorities right now.”[/color] Her voice softened slightly. [color=#eac6ae]“June matters more to them than this meeting.”[/color] Zakira nodded. [color=#046904]“She should.”[/color] Kari looked at the cafeteria doors. [color=#eac6ae]“I just hope they find her...”[/color] There was a pause. [color=#eac6ae]”... [b][i]Alive.[/i][/b]”[/color] Nobody had anything funny to say after that. After a moment, Zakira broke the silence. [color=#046904]“You said Tommy?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Yes.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Nora?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Yes.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Ella and Tuyen?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Yes.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Daniel?”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“The virgin.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Lupe.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Sorry.”[/color] Again, she was not. [color=#046904]“Lynn.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Unfortunately,”[/color] Lupe muttered. [color=#eac6ae]“You don't know her.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“[i]Exactly.[/i]”[/color] Kari ignored her. Zakira looked toward the dark cafeteria windows. [color=#046904]“And [i]all[/i] of them said yes?”[/color] Kari's mouth twisted. [color=#eac6ae]“Not exactly.”[/color] Lupe crossed her arms. [color=E14BC5]“Oh, good.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Some of them responded.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“How many?”[/color] Kari unlocked the cafeteria. [color=E14BC5]“How many, mami?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Enough.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“That is not a number, mami.”[/color] The lock clicked. Kari pulled one door open. The cafeteria beyond was enormous in the dark. Long rows of folded tables had been pushed against one wall after the school closed. Chairs were stacked upside down on several of them, their legs jutting toward the ceiling. The serving counters sat empty beneath dead menu screens. Vending machines hummed near the far wall, two bright rectangles of color in an otherwise gray room. Kari stepped inside as her shoes squeaked against the tile. She remembered lunch, people shouting across tables, someone always playing music from their phone too loudly, Vicky crossing the room with half the cheer squad around her, teachers pretending not to notice people leaving through side doors. [i]Normal [/i]things. Now every sound came back to them twice. Lupe stepped in behind her. [color=E14BC5]“Oh, this is horrible, mami.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“You complain about [i]everything, [/i]Lupe.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“No, I mean this room is fucking haunted.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“It isn't haunted.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“You don't know that, [i]do you, mami?[/i]”[/color] Kari opened her mouth. Closed it. [color=#eac6ae]“Fair.”[/color] Zakira walked toward one of the wall switches. [color=#046904]“Lights?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Only some of them.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Why?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“We aren't supposed to be here. Let's not attract too much attention.”[/color] Zakira flipped the switch. Three fluorescent rows flickered to life. One buzzed. Another blinked twice before stabilizing. The rest of the cafeteria remained dark. Lupe looked around. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Fantastic.[/i]”[/color] Kari walked toward the center of the room and slowly turned. There were three exits she could immediately see. The main cafeteria doors. A side hallway near the kitchen. Emergency doors leading outside. Four if the serving area connected to the loading dock the way she remembered. [i]Good.[/i] She had counted them before she noticed she was counting. Zakira noticed her noticing. [color=#046904]“Enough ways out?”[/color] Kari looked at her. [color=#eac6ae]“Four.”[/color] Lupe frowned. [color=E14BC5]“Four what?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Exits[/i].”[/color] Lupe's expression changed. [color=E14BC5]“Ooooooh....”[/color] Kari looked away. [color=#eac6ae]“We should move some tables.”[/color] Zakira nodded. Lupe still watched her for a second before clapping her hands once. [color=E14BC5]“All right, gang,”[/color] Kari sighed. [color=#eac6ae]“... Don't call us that,”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Absolutely not, mami. We broke into a school with stolen keys to hold a witch meeting with a possible school shooter and a virgin with a demon-knight-thing as his Stand.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Daniel isn't-”[/color] Kari stopped. [color=E14BC5]“Go ahead.”[/color] Kari stared at her. [color=E14BC5]“Finish that sentence.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“... [i]I hate you.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“That's what I thought.”[/color] Zakira grabbed one end of a folded cafeteria table. [color=#046904]“... Are you helping?”[/color] Lupe looked offended. [color=E14BC5]“I am [i]emotionally[/i] supporting you, mami.”[/color] [color=#046904]“[i]Help.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Fine.”[/color] Lupe took the other end. Kari moved toward another table. Both girls looked at her. [color=#046904]“No,”[/color] Zakira said. Kari stopped. [color=#eac6ae]“What?”[/color] [color=#046904]“Your ribs.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I can move a table.”[/color] [color=#046904]“[i][b]No.[/b][/i]”[/color] Lupe pointed toward the chairs. [color=E14BC5]“You can [i]lead,[/i] mami.”[/color] Kari narrowed her eyes. [color=#eac6ae]“... I hate both of you.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Good,”[/color] Lupe said, lifting the table with Zakira. [color=E14BC5]“Put it on the agenda.”[/color] Kari watched them drag it toward the center of the cafeteria, then she pulled out her notebook. At least this part she could do. On the first clean page, she wrote: [i][b][code]WHAT WE KNOW.[/code][/b][/i] Beneath it: [i][b][code]WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW.[/code][/b][/i] Then: [i][b][code]WHAT WE DON'T KNOW.[/code][/b][/i] Kari paused. Her pen hovered. Finally, she added: [i][b][code]WHAT WE DO NEXT.[/code][/b][/i] Behind her, Lupe and Zakira argued about whether the tables should form a circle. Kari looked up at the dark cafeteria. At the empty serving line. At the Warriors banner hanging crookedly above the far wall. At the doors. [i]Four exits.[/i] Enough. [sup][sup][sup]Hopefully.[/sup][/sup][/sup] She looked back down and underlined the last heading. For the first time since the mill, Kari was not going somewhere because a thread had pulled her there. This time, she was asking everyone else to come to[i] her.[/i]