Chapter 13
1131 Words
13
Over the next day, more and more students signed up for the Midnight Ravens and they welcomed all with open arms. The mass of white shirts had quickly turned into a sea of blue uniforms. Even the Valkyrie dorms, a place I thought to be untouchable and safe, was tainted by traitors. How could they give up on Valhalla and Odin so easily when this was our calling? Our destiny?
After everything, at least we were able to hide out in Flavia’s room and avoid this new, strange world.
“It’s insane,” Astrid said. “Insane. I can’t believe why anyone wants to join them and serve this Midnight Raven. Who even is she?”
Flavia shrugged from the other side of the orange couch. “I’ve been doing research on her, but none of my books have mentioned her so far.”
“Mine either,” Ryoko said, her hand resting on my leg. “She’s not from our world.”
“We’ll keep at it,” Flavia decided. “But let’s not forget our true mission. Whoever she is, whatever Afterlife they serve, it doesn’t matter when we can get out of here. We must rescue the dusk wolves.”
Ryoko looked at me, the worry carved in her features. “So we’re still on?”
“Nothing has changed,” Astrid answered, looking at Flavia. “Right?”
She nodded. “Right.”
“Okay, so we just continue with the plan.” I nodded. “How did you two get on with your blackmail letter? And is there more coffee?”
The third-year smiled. “In the kitchen. And it went like a breeze. As expected, Streefman would do anything to protect his little brother. He’s agreed that he’ll convince Vind to abandon their post for five minutes. That’ll be our window of opportunity.”
“So that’s when Aellyn and I come in. We disarm the shade lock—”
The door opened and Sim walked in. “Unbelievable.”
“What?”
“It’s madness. Students are still signing up in droves.” He clicked the lock shut and took a seat next to Flavia. “Hey, all.”
She looked at him, her voice softer than usual. “Hi.”
The two of them stared at each other longingly, like they wanted to kiss but were holding back for some reason. I didn’t know why. They were all aware of my relationship with Ryoko and nobody had a problem with it. If Flavia and Sim wanted to be together, that was great.
Astrid cleared her throat, coughing deliberately. “So… Everything is in place for our plan, right?”
“Right.” Flavia snapped out of her lovey-dovey trance and the two broke apart. “If everything goes well, we’ll have freed the wolves and use them to send messages to my father.”
It still wasn’t sure about not rescuing Hyde, but I trusted Flavia. She was a good leader, she made sound arguments, and I knew she wouldn’t do this if there was any other way. She was leaving her own dusk wolf behind and that proved everything to me.
On her end of the sofa, Astrid chuckled. “The Midnight Ravens won’t know what hit them. We’ll teach them a lesson.”
“Agreed,” I nodded. “They’ll regret the day they decided to mess with our school.”
“It’s like two evil sisters,” Sim laughed, gesturing to us. “Who’d ever thought Astrid and Ylva would become friends, hmm?”
“Not me,” Ryoko mumbled.
“I always knew it,” Flavia said.
“We’re not friends!” Astrid and I shouted in unison, glaring at each other. “Don’t copy me! Shut up! You shut up!”
“Aaand it’s just like old times again.” The elf folded his arms behind his head and sighed. “Nostalgic, don’t you think? Like being back in the bunker.”
The group fell silent.
I stared at him, surprised he brought that up. If being chased by a crazy teacher wasn’t traumatic enough, being trapped underground with no way out had been… terrifying. We were all still processing it, one way or another.
The tense silence hung in the room, the banter and lightness gone. Astrid looked out the window, avoiding eye contact with everyone while Flavia elbowed Sim in the ribs. I locked eyes with Ryoko, hoping she was alright, but she seemed more uncomfortable by the current situation than the mention of the bunker.
Nobody spoke for a couple of seconds before my girlfriend got up and clapped her hands. “Tea? Coffee?”
That broke the awkwardness and everyone jolted back in motion.
“Yes, good idea,” Flavia said.
Sim yawned. “Not for me.”
I bobbed my head. “I could drink coffee.”
“Coffee!” Astrid cheered.
The silent lounge quickly filled with overenthusiastic cheers and demands for hot beverages, giving Ryoko an excuse to make her way to the kitchen while we got ourselves out of… this.
“Right…” Flavia rubbed her hands together, dispelling the last of the tension. “Tea and coffee.”
Sim stretched as he got up. “Can’t stay. There are Lunar preparations to be made.”
I perked up. Did I hear that right?
With a look at the kitchen where my girlfriend was preparing drinks, I chased after the Reaper and caught him just at the door.
“Lunar preparations?” I chirped.
“Yeah, for the Lunar New Year.” Sim scratched his pointy ears.
“You celebrate that too?”
He nodded, seeming a little surprised. “We do. Why are you asking? Flavia told me you Wind Children don’t.”
“We don’t, no.” I stared at him, wondering how much I could ask. “Is this celebration important to you?”
“Oh yes. It’s tradition. I’m not letting some stupid Ravens stop me from celebrating.”
“Hmmm… What do you know about the Sun Dragon version of the celebration?”
“Not much.” He nudged to the kitchen. “Why don’t you ask Ryoko?”
“Well… She said it wasn’t important.”
“But she talked about it, didn’t she?”
“Yes, so…?”
“So if it wasn’t important, why would she mention it?” He shot me a grin and grabbed his scythe so he could leave. “Think about it.”
He made a good point. But how could I help Ryoko celebrate if I didn’t know anything about the Lunar New Year except what she mentioned? Not to mention, we had other things to worry about. Freeing the dusk wolves, figuring out what the Midnight Ravens were doing here, staying under the radar. Life or death stuff.
Celebrating new year wasn’t on the same scale. And yet… Sim’s words echoed in my head. If it hadn’t been important, why would Ryoko have mentioned it?
I returned to the lounge and sat back down, contemplating what all this meant and what I could do about it.
“Tea. Coffee,” Ryoko said as she placed a tray with hot mugs down. “There we go.”
I reached for the ear of my usual mug and inhaled the bitter and roasted smell. We were lucky Flavia had a little stash of beans in her kitchen and since we were quickly going through it, I was enjoying every cup.
“Perfect.”
“Let’s not hang around too much,” Flavia said while sipping from her coffee. “I’ve got class, you’ve all got class. Let’s keep to our schedules so nobody has a reason to suspect anything. We’ll meet again at six near the Barn, where they’re keeping the wolves.”
I nodded. It was time to free our familiars.
- Writer
