Book 2: Chapter 38 - He Said, She Said, and Then All Hell Broke Loose
This school fucking sucks.
—Kiera Mulberry, Overheard
This nest had at least a dozen ways in. Despite its low category, the scale of it was absolutely daunting. It was possible the bat nest had equaled it in size, if the subterranean sections were taken into account. But those couldn't be seen from the outside. The mall felt much larger and more imposing.
At least, to Violet’s team.
Kassie and her team were obviously unimpressed. Likely because she outclassed it, but also because they’d never been trapped inside a nest before.
Violet had suggested clearing the area near every exit before going inside. That way, if they needed to run, they wouldn't find themselves running from something dangerous to something deadly. Kassie eagerly agreed with Violet’s assessment before immediately rejecting it.
There were too many exits over too wide an area, apparently. At least, for the time frame they’d been given to complete the assignment. Relying on the protection of Mr. Clay, Kassie made the call to treat this as an emergency raid and enter the nest blind.
And so, the students marched into the glistening red fortress through the front. There’d been a long row of glass doors there, once. Now it was just the opening to an unpleasantly glowing cave.
Kassie and Ajia took point, with Violet, her team, and Dustin in the center. Zach took up rear security.
“Well, that's handy,” Kassie mused. She approached a small display in the center of the wide hall and crossed her arms. “Not a lot of nests come with their own map! Where do you guys think the heart is? Hot Topic or Build-A-Bear?”
None of those words made sense to Violet, so she pressed ahead, joining Kassie at the map. It was difficult to read, but a glass case seemed to have preserved it enough to keep it readable. The two shops named did, in fact, exist on the map. But they weren’t particularly near each other, aside from existing in the same vague direction.
“Why one of those two?” Violet asked. The heart could’ve been anywhere in the building, and she seemed to pick two targets at random.
“No good reason,” she replied. “I just like bears. And I get an ominous vibe from the other one.”
“You get an ominous vibe from Hot Topic?” Violet asked.
Kassie shrugged. “We don’t have any dowsing talents among us. Would have been nice if Zach had one today, but since he didn’t, well. I figure we pick a route based on energy.”
That seemed stupid to Violet. It wasn’t like every lancer team had a dowsing talent. There were at least a dozen ways to guess where the heart was. “That is a method for sure,” Violet responded. “But even without dowsing or a scout, we can probably figure out where hedron travel most frequently. You know, animal droppings. Ticker crystal on the walls. That sort of thing?”
Kassie had been in class when Mr. Clay had mentioned these methods. It was ridiculous that Violet had to explain them. As Violet glanced at their surroundings, she could already see inconsistencies in crystal density. It was thicker on the second floor, and seemed to taper off leading south. Which meant the heart was probably somewhere north. The layout of the mall made it hard to miss, which was probably why this nest had been chosen. And yet, looking at the map, the two suggested locations were in the opposite direction.
And of course, the so-called leader of the group was offering Violet nothing but a look of confusion. It was no wonder the druid had made up a conspiracy theory just to sound more intelligent, if she couldn’t put something so obvious together. Violet genuinely couldn’t understand what was so confusing.
“But we, like, totally do have a scout?” Kassie replied in a questioning tone.
Violet paused, then rolled her eyes. “Yes, but I don’t have any dowsing-related abilities, like you said,” she dismissed. “Which is beside the point. I think we should search north, don’t you?”
Kassie’s smile flinched a bit, but she maintained it. “Yeah, alright. You got me. The heart might be on the north side of the nest. But, like, we don’t know for sure, right? And it’s not like we have to find it to pass.”
Violet didn’t quite understand the response, but something in the air changed after the other girl said it. As she caught a glimpse of Guy, she finally put the pieces together. “Actually, you know what? I think the crystal is getting thicker to the south. It’s hard to tell in the mist, so I got it backwards,” she agreed with an embarrassed blush. She was irritated by the cowardice of her friends, but she’d put up with it. Bravery had earned her favor in the past, but that wouldn’t be the case if she dragged anyone unwilling into it. It wouldn’t make a huge difference anyway.
“Great! I’m glad you agree! I say the bear place, it sounds outdoorsy,” Kassie announced with a silent, mimed clap. The release of tension in the room was palpable, and Violet waved back at her fireteam. She returned to her spot in formation so the troupe could move forward. Walking away from the most danger had clearly injected the entire group with a bit of energy. Violet could work with it.
“So, we never landed on a name for our fireteam,” Guy said, breaking the brief silence. “Oh, is it safe to talk in here? We’re not gonna attract a swarm or anything, right?”
“Sure!” Kassie agreed. “In a space like this, it won’t make a difference if we speak quietly to each other. Go for it!” There was something unspoken in the statement, but only Violet seemed to notice.
Kiera and Aubrey may have as well, if only because they’d also been in a nest before. That was, any hedron close enough to hear them at this volume would know where they were anyway. But Kassie was making a clear effort to keep everyone comfortable, and Violet was happy to play along.
“How about Team Violet? It’s the peak of the categories, after all. We might as well aim high, right?” she suggested.
“How very unbiased of you,” Aubrey deadpanned.
“Yeah, I’m with Aubrey,” Guy complained. “You just want to name it after yourself. That’s not cool, man. Anyway, I vote Team Guy. Cause we’re the team with only one Guy.”
“I don’t have an idea, but I’d like it formally noted that I am not on board with Team Guy,” Kiera said.
“Give it time,” Violet teased. She scanned the surroundings as she joked, watching the dark corners of various abandoned shops. No hedron yet. She noted that Zach seemed irritable, and she had an idea why. He was watching Kiera more closely than the group’s surroundings. Like an asshole. Thankfully, Kiera didn’t seem to have noticed yet.
“W–What’s that supposed to mean?” Kiera practically squealed. She glared furiously at Violet, who only smirked in response.
“To come up with an idea, of course. Why, what did you think I meant?” Violet answered, her voice as innocent as ever. The jab worked well, and Violet smiled internally. Kiera was fun to mess with, so long as she kept it lighthearted.
“Oh. Oh, right. Yeah, that’s what I thought,” the flustered fox replied. Violet grinned, but didn't reply. She’d let her mind wander a bit. She needed the group to mess up somehow. Some kind of excuse for what she was planning to do. Joking around wouldn't be enough. She needed an actual commotion.
“How about Team—” Aubrey started, but Zach seemed to boil over—something he’d been holding back spilling in the face of all the levity.
“Team Bodycount, maybe? ‘Cause, you know, while you are all having fun, you keep forgetting that two of you got away with murder? And the rest of us are supposed to just pretend that’s fine?” Zach’s words rang through the halls, his voice being the first to abandon the low tone everyone else had adopted. It had come out of nowhere. Zach had made comments to this effect, of course. And he’d been clearly suspicious of Kiera. But the sudden aggression surprised everyone.
Kassie stopped walking, and the entire group halted with her. She looked back at her volatile teammate with furious eyes that were an ill match for her face.
“Zach, what the fuck, man?” Ajia whispered.
Dustin looked between Zach and Violet’s team nervously.
Guy took a nervous step forward, separating Kiera from Zach with his body. Not for Kiera’s protection, it didn’t seem like.
Kiera crossed her arms and lifted her chin defiantly.
“My father tried to murder me, asshole. I didn't ‘get away with murder,’ I just got away,” she spat. Her voice was far softer than Zach's had been, but it carried twice the vitriol.
“Well, then, it's your word against his, isn't it?” Zach snapped.
“Alright, maybe we should head outside and hash this out before going deeper,” Kassie interrupted.
But Kiera ignored her. “So, naturally, you believed him without question, right? I mean, you’d never met him before, so why not?” Kiera mocked.
“Well, his potion did exactly what it was supposed to, and you spend all your time with an actual murderer. So, yeah. I did the math and believed him,” Zach shot back.
“Alright, this is not the time or place for this shit,” Ajia reprimanded.
“You have no fucking idea what you are talking about. Are you seriously taking a shot at Aubrey right now? For what? Actually trying to protect the people around her? Fighting for a life? Having a spine? As alien as those concepts might be to you, they aren't actually a moral failing,” Kiera answered.
Violet was silent throughout the entire exchange. She remained alarmingly calm as she casually reached for the ribbon in her hair. She didn't pull it out right away. She simply brushed her fingers against it as she waited. Zach wasn't being careful to be quiet, even as Kiera lectured him in hushed tones. As the fight escalated, Aubrey joined Ajia in futile attempts to diffuse the situation. Dustin seemed to shrink with every word that was spoken, his spine curling more and more. All the while, Guy closed his eyes as he took deep breaths.
Kassie and Aubrey were the only other people watching their surroundings. Kassie was also the only person with perception anything like Violet’s. She had a higher degree, but it wasn't her primary attribute like the reaper. Aubrey seemed to be reacting to her Danger Sense talent, but with an uncertain tint to her expression.
Both team leaders spotted the shadows behind a broken gate. Violet wasn't sure who caught them first, or how long they'd been there. But the white cage provided a sharp contrast with the moving darkness behind it. It had once been used to block access to the clothing shop, but it had been bent up at the bottom.
“We need to stop this. Right now,” Kassie announced, her voice loud and stern, lacking the ditsy quality Violet had grown to expect.
Kiera and Zach finally shut up as Kassie abandoned any pretense of speaking quietly. The druid hardly had an imposing presence, usually. She usually had her head in the clouds and far too much cheer. But that was perhaps why her sudden shift in tone was so effective. Anger was always far more terrifying when it came from a gentle source, after all.
“Oh, fuck,” Guy whispered. There was a slight tremor in his voice as he said it, but it was lost in his next word. “Guess I’ll write this one down in my ‘tricks to avoid dying on a school trip’ journal. One, don’t have a shouting match in the middle of a monster nest. B, I want to go home.”
It was impressive how quickly he donned his comedic and confident persona, even as he suppressed more panic than almost anyone in the group. The contrast made Violet smile, at least internally.
“Looks like either large coyotes or small wolves. It's hard to tell with all the crystal. But it’s a pack, not a swarm. Don’t panic, guys. We got this," Violet said.
This was enough to bring everyone’s focus back to their surroundings, and several people activated a talent at once.
Everything was going well. Violet would need to mentally thank Zach later. For causing so much noise. Perhaps when she was making him pay for everything he’d said to Kiera. But there would be opportunities for that later. For the time being, the hedron were finally showing themselves and surrounding the group. She needed to focus on the upcoming fight.
Only one person seemed to notice Violet as the monsters attacked, and she finally pulled her ribbon free. But Kassie didn't have time to question her as their eyes met.