Rising Shards

After the shopping cart "race" was done, we got to pick our outfits. Esther wanted us all to coordinate, but Charmaine hated that idea, leading to some squabbling while we picked out our outfits. Getting a tux for prom via a screen didn't feel like the best option, but it was free so I couldn't really complain. I was mainly glad we each got a toy, strangely enough, but that was just because I really wanted Sai to get that plush they wanted.

"The three of us will be matching, at least," Esther said as she, Sai, and I all picked similar tuxedos.

"True, yeah," Sai said.

While they talked about the dance, my eyes were drawn to Caeda and Chickadee again, who didn't say anything as they walked away. Chickadee had a grin of someone up to something. If they were just secretly dating, they were probably going off somewhere to make out or whatever, nothing I needed to concern myself with. But what if they weren't?

I mumbled something about stepping away for a second, excusing myself.

"Miss, wait!" One of the workers at the event said. "Don't forget your Mr. Sleebo and Glump toy!"

"Er, right..." I said, taking the ugly looking set of toys. I felt my mind lurch as I looked at the action figure of the teacher. Memories came flooding back to me of that void trip, that stupid trip to a world based on these stupid characters. I was in a school, forced to work with Zeta Faleur, fighting more imps. And I had an idea who brought us there.

Beautiful and successful day, my ass. I thought as I stomped after Caeda and Chickadee. I didn't think either were that cloaked girl, but if they were involved with her...

If they are, then what? I froze. Was this just their way of getting stronger like Mother and the other Taramin Labs workers asked of us? Would whatever they were doing really be an issue? The incredible annoyance of the void imps aside, what were they up to that really affected me? The cloaked girl talked about trying to make the world a better place, about these growing pains being needed for their goals. Wouldn't it make sense that she meant the pain of putting us in absurd scenarios to get stronger? Was there another devil out there that the two were working with?

"Ana!"

I groaned as Zeta approached me. I wanted to just shove her over before she could say anything.

"Why are you just talking to me like you know me?" I asked.

"Because I do know you?" Zeta said. "Anyways, you're following Caeda and Chickadee so I bet you had the same idea we did."

I gritted my teeth as I noticed Oka and Lillia approaching as well. Lillia was fine, but the one-two punch of Zeta and Oka annoyance might really set me off.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "Leave me alone."

"If you don't remember what happened, I can refresh your memory. We fought that Mr. Sleebo guy, remember? Or we both screamed and Oka slammed a door on him. And he exploded. And I had braces!"

"I remember," I said, daydreaming about slamming a door in Zeta's face.

"Then come with us," Zeta said. "Because maybe Caeda and Chickadee—"

"I'll talk to them on my own, stay out of it," I said, trying to leave her behind. Like an annoying dog, she kept following me, though, the chatter of her friends joining that I tried to tune out. I nodded to Lillia for some reason, who wasn't blabbering on about nothing, but otherwise tried to ignore the trio entirely. I whipped the door to the side room open, finding a quiet hallway where Amara stood alone, holding her phone out with its flashlight on. In front of her was a garage door that was three quarters of the way down, only shadows past it.

"They walked in here..." Amara said. "I saw them, I know it. But I looked, and..."

I did the same, getting my own phone out and turning its light on. But there wasn't anyone past it. Just storage filled with holiday displays and other random assortments of things. No room for anyone to hide in, either.

"Wait, but if Caeda and Chickadee made that void place, then...maybe they made this, too?" Zeta suggested. A ping from our wristbands confirmed that wasn't the case.

"Maybe they fled into the void," Lillia said.

It hit me then that I was alone in a small hallway with four enemies. Lillia was more neutral on my enemy scale, but Zeta, Oka, and Amara...the latter was formidable in battle, we'd fought during the camping trip. She glared at me, as if not remembering I was there until just then. I did have my mask on then, so maybe she didn't associate that me with my true self.

"I know what you're thinking," I said. "I'm not involved with whatever they're doing."

"Are you sure about that?" Amara asked.

"Yes," I said. "After our fight, I've barely had contact with them."

"You two had a fight?" Zeta asked.

"Shut up," I said. "Yes, but it doesn't matter."

Amara didn't look like she believed me.

Lillia cut through the silence. "Ana, I want you to be honest with me. Do you think Kalei is involved in whatever they're doing?"

What should I say here? Kalei probably kept her other self a secret from her friends. I wasn't working with Caeda and Chickadee on whatever this was, but I was technically involved in the deal to keep her secret hidden. I didn't really gain anything from that at this point, but I kept my word.

"She isn't," I said. "Whatever her situation is, it's not about this. And it's hers to tell you, not mine."

After Lillia, Oka, and Zeta sulked off, all looking various degrees of pathetic, all I could think was how unsatisfying it all was. We didn't have much to say, they couldn't find any clues. I thought about confronting Chickadee and Caeda on the bus back, but they weren't on mine. When we finally got back to school, I waited outside the other bus, but they weren't on that one either. One of the chaperones looked over their attendance list and neither was on it. Neither was present in the dorms, either.

"So they're probably gonna hide for a while, huh?" I muttered to myself. I didn't put the best effort in, but fate was also denying me any answers, so even if I did try I'd probably still come up short. 

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