Book 3: Chapter 39 - Surprise Party

Why don’t we always bring lower categories to higher nests?
This is a common question from people with comfortable homes.
Students often grow more in a few days in a nest than they do in years of school.
Especially if that nest is a higher category than they are.

The reason is simple.

Because if we try that, they will absolutely just fucking die.

Yes. One or two teams have survived this.
They are not the rule. They got lucky. Success for one idiot
doesn’t erase the overwhelming failure of the rest.
—Virgil Clay, Public Statement

At the very least, Violet’s team made it to the heart without wasting time. Without Angelo around to hold them back—and with Guy too afraid of asking for more caution—Violet managed to lead them to the teacher’s lounge in barely any time at all. Violet supposed Angelo technically had come on both expeditions, but this one probably didn’t count. 

The problem was the oppressive silence.

There was an easy enough explanation for this, and Violet could embrace it if she liked. They were four orange lancers in a yellow nest. Or, one yellow and three orange lancers, but only Kiera and Violet knew that. Angelo had been right about one thing, and that was the danger of too much noise. None of her team members wanted to find themselves swarmed by hedron they absolutely couldn’t kill. Silence was not only expected, but required.

And Violet could easily write it off as silence for the sake of safety. Unfortunately, she wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t the smartest person in any given room, but she wasn’t an idiot, either. She was clever enough that fewer boundaries allowed her to outsmart most people. As such, she could tell the difference between frightened quiet and tense silence. Every single member of her team was acting just a little strange. Enough to know she’d made some kind of mistake with all of them.

She hadn’t managed to apologize to Kiera yet. That one was her fault. She’d lost her temper for little reason, and she could see that more clearly with every passing moment. She’d been kicking herself for it since she’d woken up that morning. Even as she effectively completed her mission from Cyan, more or less. She’d taken a bonus guardian angel in the deal, but Angelo was eliminated whether he was dead or not. That was both targets off the board. She felt guilty about her slip-up with Kiera, and it was poisoning what should have been a satisfying day. And she wouldn’t be able to properly patch things up for hours, yet. 

Guy was also fairly obvious. His awkward quiet was expressed through more than his silence. It was in less exaggerated motions and slumping shoulders. Violet knew disappointment and self-loathing when she saw it. He’d been proud of himself for saving everyone, and he’d deflated when Violet dismissed him. She felt slightly bad about this as well, but it wasn’t the same. It was more like the guilt of taking a cat to the vet. Pets were cute, and it was upsetting to scare them, because they wouldn’t understand the explanation. But they were also simple, with short memories. She’d scratch him behind the ears or something when they got home, and everything would be fine there.

Aubrey, on the other hand, was concerning. She wouldn’t meet Violet’s eyes, and she was actually trying to seem normal, as far as Violet could tell. Worse, Violet couldn’t immediately identify the source of the behavior. She idly thumbed at her necklace. Had she activated it before yelling at Kiera? She was pretty sure she had, but being overheard would explain the atmosphere. It was possible Kiera had just shared the story directly, but Violet trusted the fox enough to dismiss that idea.

Ultimately, she decided Aubrey had just picked up on the vibe and was naturally falling into it. The banshee had always been more emotionally perceptive than Violet expected. It was easy to redirect, but this side effect would still make sense. Violet just hoped it wasn’t going to be a problem later. It was already going to be awkward confronting Aubrey on the way home. They’d have lost team members again, and everyone would feel like shit. And Violet absolutely had to prep her friend for Koral’s arrest. Otherwise, the banshee could become a liability.

Aubrey was a worry for the trip home, however. For the time being, Violet needed to get the heart and get her team to the train. It wasn’t ideal that Kiera was acting so cold at the moment, either. The fox knew Violet was Category Yellow. If Violet didn’t handle the hedron with all the power Kiera thought she had, it would inspire unpleasant doubts. Violet had anticipated this to a degree. She hadn’t shared the full extent of Quiet Ivy, so she wouldn’t need to use it here. But she’d need to use yellow weapons and strength.

“Alright,” she announced, breaking the silence after activating her necklace. 

“Is that safe?” Guy interrupted. “Doesn’t that work both ways? Will you be able to hear if something is coming?”

Violet narrowed her eyes but didn’t chastise him. The energy with her team was fragile enough as it was, and she didn’t intend to push it. “A little, yes, but this is important,” she answered. Her team had their back to the teacher’s lounge, and she pointed over their shoulders at the tangled room. “The heart is in there. We need to pull it out and get as far away from this nest as possible. But when we do, every hedron in the building is going to come for us.” 

“We haven’t found Angelo yet,” Aubrey pointed out. Her voice was steely and cold, and a shiver ran down Violet’s spine. 

“He was supposed to be looking for the heart, right?” Kiera asked. “Why haven't we run into him?” Even she sounded upset, and that was how Violet knew she was losing control of the situation. 

“That was our theory,” Violet corrected, glancing over at the narrow hall they’d just passed through. She wanted to appear vigilant, even if she knew they were safe. “But we don’t actually know for sure. We just know he was missing this morning, and last night’s watch didn’t see him come back to camp after leaving.” Both Aubrey and Kiera winced at that, although neither seemed to notice the other’s reaction. “That’s why we had to split up this time.”

“There was another theory?” Aubrey asked. 

“A few. But only two that matter right now. Either he came for the heart, or he was trapped somewhere else in the nest. We can’t search the entire thing, as much as we might want to. But Angelo’s team is out looking for him where they can. He can fly, so he’d have likely tried to enter the nest from above, since he was alone. Lisa has a construct which can fly, so they’ll be using that. The plan was for us to find him. But if we didn’t, we needed their team to look elsewhere,” Violet explained.

“Why didn’t you elaborate on this plan before we entered the nest?” Aubrey challenged. The banshee was acting a lot more like the girl Violet had met on her first train. It was annoying, but Violet would fix that the same way she had the first time. At least Guy and Kiera weren’t dogpiling her.

“Because there was no time to argue, one of us is missing, and I don’t want to lose another fucking friend, alright? I left them instructions to follow once we were gone, and I expect that’s what they’ve been doing,” Violet snapped back.

“You volunteered us for the more dangerous job without even asking?” Aubrey pushed.

“Yes. I sent them to safety in case they found their wounded friend, and I took us to do our jobs in the most dangerous part of the nest. Because a decision had to be made, and a life was on the line. Would any of you have actually refused?” Violet retorted. Her eyes flicked briefly to Guy, but even he would have said yes. He was afraid to die, but he was equally afraid of Aubrey and Kiera knowing what a coward he was. He’d have made the easier choice in the moment.

“Of course not, but that’s not how consent works!” Aubrey spat back.

“Maybe not,” Violet sighed. “But we’re lancers. We’re in the military. Consent has never been a major theme for our jobs, has it? But don’t worry. The only person likely to die in this plan is me, if that helps.”

“What?” Kiera asked, suddenly less cold and more concerned. “What does that mean?” 

Violet pointed at the teacher’s lounge again. “Kiera, only you can fit in there,” she said. Then she pointed at the window at the end of the hall. “That window leads outside. I never got to tell Angelo about it, or he’d have likely used it last night. That is, if he came here. It’s a bit of a fall from this floor, but everyone here can survive it. Once Kiera gets the heart, she’ll need to run as far from here as she can. To escape the hedron, which will no doubt swarm us. And she’ll need to be protected. By someone with defensive and offensive talents. That means all three of you will have to run at once and look out for each other.”

“And you’ll what? Set up a food stall here? What?” Aubrey challenged.

Violet pointed at the hall they’d come from. “That means that is the only route most hedron will have to reach this room. This hall is a bottleneck,” she said. “Aubrey, I’ll need you to use Wail and Scream to signal the team outside. They’ll run interference in the case of flying hedron approaching from the outside. Ideally, there won’t be many of these, and each team of three can handle it. As for me? I’ll stay here and buy you time. Only one or two hedron can pass through here at once, so I can handle it on my own.”

Aubrey took a sharp breath through her nose, and Kiera took a step forward. Suddenly, the ice in the air had largely thawed. Guy’s head was darting back and forth between Violet and the other girls, confused about how to respond.

“Vi,” Kiera tried, but Aubrey cut her off.

“Violet, you’ll fucking die. We’re all orange, and they are yellow. One is too many for all of us, choke point or otherwise.

“Profanity is the resource of a small mind, Aubrey,” Violet lectured. Then she formed a new yellow glaive in her hand, matching the one she'd carried on her back—if more organic in design. “Now, in case you've forgotten, I am a Storm Scout. One who's been leading seven people through the mist for days. That hasn't been for nothing.”

“Holy shit, Violet,” Guy murmured. Kiera let out a sigh of relief.

Aubrey stared at Violet for several weighted moments before speaking again. There was an interesting mix of emotions on the banshee's face. Confusion. Doubt. Anger. All jumbled up like too many wires behind a neglected desk. Violet couldn't make heads or tails of it. And Violet had considered her completely under control, too. She'd even drawn her a card.

“You'll die, Violet,” Aubrey replied. 

“Maybe,” Violet agreed. “But I might save everyone else this time.”

“Fuck that,” Kiera spat. “We'll fight with you if we have to. You're not the only one who's grown incredibly fast on this trip. We're all fighting out of our weight class, and it's having an effect. We'll help more than you think.”

Violet didn't answer Kiera. Instead, she locked her eyes onto Aubrey. “Do you see why I couldn't share the plan before, now?” 

“I'm not sure,” Aubrey replied, her voice still flat and unwavering. She glanced back at the room with the heart, then the window. Finally, she met Violet's eyes again. “We don't want to leave a body behind, either. We could have made a better plan than this if you’d asked for our help. We don’t need you to constantly throw yourself at problems alone, and we aren’t interested in seeing you parade that sacrifice around in the unlikely event you actually survive this. We could have sent Lisa’s fucking construct through that window! We could have had Angelo fly Kiera to it yesterday. If you had just told us everything, we wouldn’t have to risk anyone’s lives. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Violet was going to pass the point of irritation at this rate. She didn’t know where Aubrey’s newfound hostility was coming from, but it was going to inspire violence more quickly than the reaper initially planned. Those ideas probably would have worked well enough, but Violet hadn’t been planning a way to get the heart. She’d been planning a way to kill Terry, as per Cyan’s orders. And when she’d gotten her new talent, she was planning a way to capture Angelo, then kill Terry. Getting the heart was just what she had to do to go home. She couldn’t exactly explain that, though. So she got angry instead. “I brought you three into this nest because I knew you would be leaving alive. You will not be Daniel. I am not going to be found sobbing in a pool of your fucking blood. Not this time. And if you think any of those plans were ending any other way, you’re lying to yourself. We would all have been swarmed. In the open air. And I couldn’t have protected everyone. If you don’t like that, I’m sorry, but I’m in charge, and this is how we’re doing things.”

“So, what? You just decided overnight we would all die? Why did you let everyone go in yesterday?” Aubrey challenged.

“I wasn’t in charge yesterday, and I hadn’t nearly been dragged into a swarm of hedron!” Violet shouted back. “And we weren’t missing one of our strongest combatants! So yeah. The plan changed. I want, at most, one death. And since I get to choose who that might be, I am choosing me. Because I am not fucking capable of choosing someone else! Now we are here, and if you don’t leave with that goddamn heart, you are going to die. You will leave the heart here, and this nest is going to keep growing until it swallows some town whole. So this is what we are doing, and we don’t have long left to start.”

“I don’t fucking understand you, Violet,” Aubrey replied in a hard tone.

“Vi. I get it now. Why you were so on edge last night. But you know what? I’m with Aubrey on this one. There is zero fucking chance we are running and leaving you to die. Besides, how will we even know if they found Angelo? What, are we just going to gamble his life by pulling the heart now?” Kiera asked.

“No. That’s why we’re here talking instead of acting. They’ll send a signal if they get Angelo to safety, or a different signal if they are forced to retreat. One of Lisa’s homunculi will sound a siren. Once that happens? We have to do this,” Violet answered.

“Violet, this is stupid,” Kiera insisted. “Seriously. This is stupid. We can literally all run. That was always the plan. Just come with us!” 

“They are all yellow, like me,” Violet dismissed. “Every hedron in this nest. I am the only person with a chance of outrunning any of them. And even I won’t outrun all of them. You want the truth? Between Angelo and me? This was always the plan. He and I were supposed to handle the choke point while everyone else ran. Well, he’s gone, and I can’t defend everyone alone. So I split the team and went with the original plan.”

“We’re not fucking leaving someone on their own,” Aubrey insisted. 

“Fine,” Violet said. “Take the heart, then watch me fight. Tell me if you think it’s something any of you can help me with. Decide if you want to risk an entire city and make me hold them off for even longer. But when you realize you’re holding me back, get the fuck out of here with the heart.” She looked over at Guy, meeting his eyes. “And you wanted an important role? Here it is. Save my life and theirs. When they are too stubborn to do what we have to? Run. They won’t leave you alone, either. Run so they will run. Survive so they will survive. Do what you’ve always done, and get my best friend to safety.”

The hall was silent for several seconds as Aubrey, Kiera, and Guy tried to fully digest the situation.

But no one had the chance to respond. Lisa’s siren blared outside, indicating Angelo had been found. It was time to act.