The Afterlife Academy Saga

Chapter 4

4

“Shouldn’t we have heard back by now? It’s been hours.” I groaned.

“Nahh. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” Sim scratched his face and threw a ball of fluff at Flavia. “Catch.”

“Stop it.” The third-year caught the ball mid-air and catapulted it back. “You’re annoying me.”

He stuck out his tongue. “Your face is annoying me.”

“Your face is annoying me,” she mocked, repeating him with a childish voice I never expected from her. Maybe the wait was getting to her as well?

I diverted my attention from the bickering third-years and cast them up to the steel ceiling. Thick tubes of metallic foil ran along the beams, together with some coloured cables and thin lights. With thick concrete walls and steel grates on the floor, this looked exactly how I imagined an emergency apocalyptic bunker would look.

Why were there even bunkers under the school? Were they built for a purpose? Did they know they were here?

They had to know. The Headmistress’ quarters could totally be converted bunkers. So if they knew they were here, why did we not receive word back yet?

“I’m bored,” Astrid moaned. “Let’s play a game.”

“What kind of game?” Ryoko asked, studying the girl seated opposite her.

Astrid shrugged, her blonde braids dancing on her shoulders. “I don’t know. Who to kill so we have fewer mouths to feed if the teachers don’t come soon.”

“That’s not a game,” I protested, but I was overrun by Sim.

“I vote Flavia,” the Reaper quickly said, earning a death glare from her which he didn’t care about. “That’ll give me some peace.”

“Then I vote Sim.” Flavia shot him a glare. “We’ll all be better off without him.”

“I vote Ylva.” Astrid smiled politely, but her eyes spat poison.

“Now, wait a second. Why are you voting for me? That’s not fair.” I brushed some left-over rubble from the explosion away. “Besides, we’re not going to be stuck in the bunker for so long that we need to kill someone and eat them.”

“You never know. Might be days, even weeks before they can reach us.” Astrid folded her arms, somehow managing to look like a snob on a couch covered with dust and clumps of earth.

I frowned. “That’s not funny. This isn’t a joke.”

“Do you really think it’ll be days or weeks?” Ryoko asked while picking at the fringes of her torn shirt. “I don’t want to inconvenience anyone, but we’re in a bit of a predicament.”

Now, that was an understatement. I would call stuck in an underground bunker with people who hated my guts and no way out something stronger than that. The words disaster came to mind.

“We wouldn’t even be in this situation if it wasn’t for Ylva.” Astrid stood up and paced back and forth. “I can’t die in this bunker with people like you. Not including, Flavia, of course.”

The third-year shrugged. “Ehh.”

“Hey!” Sim cut in. “For your information, Astrid, Rangers are a very noble species.”

“Ranger?” I frowned, looking him up and down. “I thought you were an Elf?”

“I am. We just prefer the name Ranger.” He adjusted his cape and stroked the broken pieces of his scythe. “My poor Dandelion.”

“Dandelion?” Astrid echoed. “That’s a stupid name for a weapon.”

“It’s not a weapon.” Sim shot her a dirty look. “And she should never have been used like that.”

“Then why did you?”

Ryuga had been after me, after my Shadow magic. Neither Sim nor Flavia had to protect me, and yet, they had done so without a moment’s hesitation.

“Don’t know.” He shrugged. “Didn’t even think about it.”

“I don’t care,” Astrid interjected, rolling her eyes at me. “I want coffee.”

“I could do with coffee,” Flavia said.

Astrid’s face lit up when she agreed with her, as if she just won the jackpot of acceptance when in reality, it meant nothing.

She jumped up, her frazzled braids bouncing on her shoulders. “Surely, this bunker will have some coffee. Right? I mean, who would stock a bunker without packing coffee.”

Expectantly, she looked at the third-year for approval.

Couldn’t she do anything without licking Flavia’s boots?

“Let’s have a look, see what we can find.” The blonde rose from her seat, cracking her neck and stretching her limbs. “Ahh, I’m stiff.”

Quickly, Astrid mimicked her. “Aaahh, me too. Oof.”

The two disappeared into the storage room, leaving me with Sim and Ryoko. We exchanged an awkward glance that quickly resulted in a scramble.

“I’m going for a nap,” Sim announced. The Elf grabbed his broken scythe pieces and shuffled towards the left wing, leaving me with just the Dragon.

Ryoko still refused to look at me. “I’m going to… ummm… I’m just going over there.”

“Great. And I’ll just be here,” I said to no one, falling back down on the couch. If nobody wanted to be with me, then fine. I’d just keep myself busy doing, well, pretty much nothing. There wasn’t anything to do in the bunker.

Behind me, a voice shrieked. “Ouch!”

That was Ryoko! Was she alright?

I jumped up and hastened towards her. “You okay?”

She was sitting next to the dead body of Ryuga, who was only partially buried in the collapsed ceiling.

She looked up at me, her pale face covered with dust. “I’m fine.”

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” she said, but the tone of her voice betrayed her.

“You know, you’re not a great liar,” I teased, hoping to lighten the mood.

Her mouth twitched in a faint smile. “I was just trying to dig Ryuga-sensei from the rubble.”

I pulled a face. “Sim said it was dangerous to dig.”

“But I don’t know how long we’ll be stuck down here. He deserves a proper burial. I want to wrap his face to conserve him.” Her voice held a tension that, if I didn’t know her like I did, I wouldn’t ever have picked up.

“This is really important to you, isn’t it?” I asked.

She nodded wordlessly.

For a moment, I studied the Dragon girl. Despite everything that had happened to us, even with dirt covering her face and her hair frazzled, she looked beautiful. I was inexplicably drawn to her and I wanted to explore my feelings for her, no matter the cost.

“Alright then.” I sank to my knees and dug my hands into the soil.

“What are you doing?” Ryoko asked, sounding surprised.

I looked at her. “Helping you get him out so he can have that burial you’re talking about.”

She frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. “I thought you said he didn’t deserve it.”

“He doesn’t. But it matters to you and I don’t have to agree with you to help.”

“Oh.” Her mouth formed a perfect round as she stared at me.

I gave her a gentle elbow nudge. “Are you just going to look at me?”

This time, a proper smile curled around her lips. And no matter how much she tried to hide it, it wasn’t working.

A warmth stretched through my chest as I shoved rocks and dirt aside. It was a tiring job and the dead guy wasn’t exactly helping, but it was worth it if Ryoko was going to smile at me like that.