Meliora - Extricate - 38

[lady_mab]

Zoné Altair

We’ve been milling about this hall for a good twenty minutes, and still nothing has happened. I mean, nothing beyond starting a few games on our phones and my toes going numb and several puddles catching me by surprise as I trod right through them. It’s awful.

We also haven’t found Lysander, though he says that he’s here -- but he’s with Ayn and if he’s with Ayn, then he’s probably with Catoir, and that is the last person I want to be around.

At my side, Jun huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. Her windbreaker grumbles with the motion. “The joke is,” she says, as if she was in the middle of telling a story instead of just interrupting another wave of silence, “that we all got the location wrong and ALICE is waiting for us in another abandoned government building from Old London.” Jun puffs out her cheeks and shifts to avoid being elbowed by a group of people walking by.

We’re in a huge building, crumbling wood walls reinforced with brick and cement. There are lights strung along the rafters, giving it a strange feeling of being old and new all at once.

“There is either a lot more space or a lot less people since Halloween…” I crane my neck back to look up at the distant ceilings. Patches are missing, despite the work that has clearly been done on the walls, and I can catch glimpses of the stars burning above. It’s a cloudless night, a sharp chill in the air that the stone walls of the hall barely manage to protect us from.

Jun smacks my arm and points a threatening finger in my face. “Do not joke about that! Obviously Westminster Hall is far larger than that underground railway station!”

She leaves the fact that there are definitely fewer people than the last group meeting unspoken.

“Incoming!!”

I react to the voice first, starting to turn as I recognize the tone, but then Glen collides with us and Jun lets out a startled squeak. She juggles her phone between her hands but manages to catch it with little difficulty before elbowing Glen gently in the ribs.

“I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen the two of you.” He grins and wriggles between us and slings one arm around each of our shoulders. “It’s been, what, seven hours?”

“You could have come over for food, but you had to run off to work.” Jun smiles despite her scolding tone, and this only earns her a goofier than normal grin from Glen.

I glance over my shoulder, in the direction he appeared from, and spot two boys about our age following at a slower pace. “Uhhhhh….”

Glen turns as well and the delight on his face visibly falters. “Oh, sorry. I forgot that you haven’t actually met my team yet.” He steps back behind Jun and I, separating himself from them. “Jun, Zoné, meet my team! Luke and Colton. I work with them.”

He doesn’t indicate which one is which, and the boys don’t appear to be too interested in divulging that information either. I automatically assign them roles in my head. Luke is cast as the taller of the two, and he stares down at us from around the large Viking-esque nose of his. Colton, who rivals Jun in height but makes up for it in sheer muscle mass, spares us only the briefest cursory glance before turning his attention into the crowd.

I dislike them immediately.

There is an awkward beat before Jun holds out a hand. “It is nice to finally meet you.”

Luke leans forward and takes her hand for one brief, firm shake. “Pleasure.”

“You’re his friends from school, right?” Colton questions. His voice is surprisingly soft and mild-mannered despite his tough-boy appearance. “He talks about you a lot.” He gives Jun a pointed look when he says this.

She keeps smiling, and I can tell that the fact that the sentence is aimed more at her than me goes right over her head. “You go to the private school in the First District, correct? How is it? Are the classes difficult?”

“Jun! Don’t talk like you’re going to transfer and leave us behind!” Glen gasps, personally offended by her words, and looks to me for backup.

“Well… if all goes according to plan, we won’t be here for the new school year,” I say slowly, and four pairs of eyes turn in my direction. “What? We get out of the city if we finish the game, right? Why should it last that long?” It would make sense to end it when school is out for summer. Easier to find an excuse for why we’re not there the next year.

Luke casts his eyes in the direction of the far end of the hall. There is a sea of heads separating us and the stage that has been set up. Just like the Halloween event last year, we are gathered into a run-down place with fading historical significance. Only this time, there is no reassuring question-and-answer session to placate us. “Do you think it will only last a year?”

“I just assumed it would.” I try not to sound too disappointed at his doubt. “It would make sense. And I hope that it doesn’t last too long, personally.”

“Why,” Colton counters, sarcasm evident in his expression even though his tone gives nothing away. “You got somewhere to be?”

My hands go to my hips and I hope that I portray some sort of I’m not intimidated by your prep school sass. “Yeah. I’d much rather be at home with my parents, given the choice.”

He lifts a dark eyebrow. “You’re not from around here?”

Jun and I exchange a brief glance, though I’m not entirely too sure just what we’re communicating. She speaks up first. “I’m from Zitong County in China. Came out here to study cooking under my uncle.”

“I’m from New Oxford, which isn’t nearly as exciting or as far, but, well, it’s not here.” I mimic Luke’s look around the room, knowing that Catoir is here somewhere. I don’t want to hunt him down. I’m still mad at him for the way our conversation turned sour at the beginning of the month.

Admittedly, I made no attempt to keep it civil.

I wanted him to know how much he’s hurt his family by pushing us away, but he doesn’t care.

As I turn back to our little group, I catch sight of the strained smile on Glen’s face.

He meets my gaze, and it pulls a little tighter. “Sometimes I forget that you guys are gonna leave when this is all over. That your home isn’t here.”

My heart lurches. I remember how exhausted and run down he looked in October, when we confronted him about Meliora. We’ll be leaving, and he’ll just go on thinking about the people who left.

“We do have homes here,” Jun says softly, resting her hand on the crook of his elbow. “But we cannot stay here forever knowing that we are not allowed to return to our families.”

Glen’s teammates share a look as well. Colton shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot before speaking. “It seems that all of the participants that we’ve met so far are on their own here in Eminence. We both came here from other countries on a scholarship program.”

This is news to us. Perhaps it’s because most of the people that I know are still students or family, it never occurred to me what their correlation would be.

Jun’s eyebrows jump and I know she’s thinking the same thing as me. “The twins--” I start, but she’s already one step ahead.

“Lianel was invited.”

“But then Rhys--”

“Lives separately. On the off-chance that anything would happen to him…” Her expression wavers, and I can see the gears churning in her head as she thinks through a conclusion I haven’t reached yet. “I suppose it is the same with Fletcher…”

I flinch at the name. For some reason, I remember the question that the blond man had asked when we were signing up. Are you related to anyone participating in this game?

Right from the get-go, I knew that there was something very wrong with participating with family. I just never put it together.

Yet the Darcy siblings have made it this far, even if it does mean being branded as ‘cheater’.

Glen breaks the silence. “Jun, you’re living with your uncle. Unlike Zoné, who has his own place, or Colton and Luke who live in student housing. Wouldn’t he notice if anything happened to you because of this game?”

A darkness passes over her eyes, and her lips twist into something close to wry amusement. She’s already told us that she’s keeping Uncle Bao abreast of what is happening in this game, and that he is the one who encouraged her to join. “I am here on a visa. He is listed as my emergency contact, but there are a lot of cases of calling a close family friend ‘uncle’ or ‘aunt’. Besides, Zhou is a common last name, so they might not think anything of it.”

“I guess that would be something to look into…” Glen trails off and shrugs.

What I want to know is what makes the Darcy siblings any different from Catoir and myself. For all intents and purposes, our only difference in the scope of the game is that my brother and I aren’t on the same team, and I wonder if that is where they draw the line.

Jun makes a soft sound in the back of her throat. “I see Liala. I think I shall invite her over.”

“Want me to come with you?” Glen offers.

My face twists into something likely resembling shock and alarm. The idea of being left with two guys who are in no way interested in being my friend is a little too much to handle. Judging by the looks on Colton and Luke’s faces, they share the sentiment.

She laughs and shakes her head. “She is right over there. I will be back.” With far more ease than she might have managed with an additional person in tow, Jun disappears into the crowd and resurfaces a few meters away.

“Dude,” Colton says after a pointed pause. It’s probably the most age appropriate thing he has said all evening. He looks at Glen, who does his best to avoid the gaze. “Dude.”

“Don’t--”

“Dude.” And now he’s laughing, but the sound is more teasing than friendly.

I watch the three of them, then over to Jun -- chatting with Lia and her friends. Suddenly, Colton’s he talks about you a lot makes sense. “Ooooh.”

“Not you too, Zoné!” Glen yelps, ears going pink.

“You’re sweet on Jun!!”

The sound that Glen makes could very well be a dying whale, and all the color drains from him. He plasters his hands to his face. “You didn’t have to say it out loud.”

His teammates are barely attempting to smother their laughter at his expense.

It takes me a second before I’m able to snap my jaw shut, but I still can’t make sense of the oddly hollow sensation that has settled into my chest. All the evidence falls into place. Putting it into words only made it tangible. “Sorry. It’s just…”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He crosses his arms over his chest. The stubborn pout does very little to ease the embarrassment coloring his cheeks. “I know it’s weird for you. And I mean, I’m pretty sure that Beat is into her--” His voice fails, but he doesn’t deflate. He holds it all in, determined.

“Are you going to tell her?” Luke asks, not entirely interested in the conversation. His attention has been split almost this entire time.

Glen falters and almost loses his nerve. “No. She’s going to be leaving when this is over. It’ll be easier.”

I frown and cross my arms over my chest. “That’s stupid. Why not just tell her? Don’t let this game get in the way. It’s not like you’ll never talk to her again if we leave.”

His eyes land on me, wider and darker than normal with an expression I can’t read. “I wouldn’t do that to her. If I thought… If I thought that she might…” He forces out a sigh and shakes his head. “I’m done talking about this.”

The tone of his voice successfully cuts the threads of the conversation. I can’t help but wonder if he’s upset about my curiosity or the prodding from his teammates.

Before I can get the chance to say anything else, the apology weighing on the tip of my tongue, his attention shifts and the smile returns. His expression gives away who he spots.

It’s a wonder it took me this long to realize the way he looks at her.

“Welcome back!” Glen says, stepping aside to give Jun and Lia room to join us.

“Everyone looks so gloomy! Or guilty. I have not decided on which one.” Jun pins each of us with a quick glance but doesn’t say anything else.

Glen makes a pointed effort to not return her stare, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. He’s blushing a lot, and I feel bad for pressing him for answers when Jun was so close by.

“We’re a terribly talkative bunch.” Luke snorts and the look he tosses Colton feels more like an eye roll. “We’re going to head off. See some of our friends over there.” They leave, but not without a parting smirk in Glen’s direction.

Jun, her grip still on Lia’s arm, rises up on her toes and waves after them. “It was nice meeting you!” The smile shifts to a disapproving purse of her lips. “Stuffy private school types.”

Lia laughs nervously and tries to stifle the sound with a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. That was mean. I don’t even know who they are.”

“My teammates,” Glen says with a sigh. It’s obvious he regrets bringing them to meet us. They probably came straight after work.

I’m glad to finally be rid of them, and happy to change the topic onto something that can make Glen a little more comfortable. “Looks like you got to be the lucky one for this meeting!” I say to Lia, and she tilts her head with a curious expression.

“It’s not that weird. I’m allowed to do things after all.”

Ah, that was the wrong choice of words. “Not saying that you can’t,” I agree.

It seems that the discomfort still present in our little group shifts to her. She fidgets and doesn’t say anything.

In the silence that follows, my watch beeps to change the hour.

And then the hall fills the deafening sound of hundreds of cell phones going off at once.

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