Rising Shards

Amara had assembled an odd group, and they had run into an odd roadblock. She found herself in a system of caves that she’d entered from a rocky structure a bit down the beach by campus. With her were her trusted companions Rain and KJ, along with Naomi Ratuna, one of the top tier prefects, Aira Orbis, and Arielle Roux, who was somehow a source of intel.

The group was huddled behind a rock, listening to an argument between Risa Taramin and 09.

“I don’t care if you say she said yes, you lie all the time!” 09 said.

“She told me she’d be here, not that she’d be sending her little errand girl for this,”

“Just leave her alone, whatever you think is going to happen isn’t going to happen!”

Risa Taramin. The same name as the labs that woman claimed to work for. The one that met with Caeda on the beach. Amara’s next steps trying to figure the strange woman out were to tell the rest of her trio, who told her to let a prefect and/or a teacher know. Naturally, Amara passed the word onto Naomi first, knowing that Naomi would bring her to the nearest teacher or faculty to file a report. Once that was done, Amara got to investigating on her own time, finding an intriguing lead from Roux of all people. But that lead was halted by the fight in front of them.

“And what exactly do you think is going to happen, 09? Do you think I have a chance? Or are you jealous?” Risa said.

“Should we arrest them?” Amara whispered.

“No, they’re technically not breaking any rules being here,” Naomi said. “This is a public area. And we can’t arrest people. We’ll just wait it out.”

“Seems kind of weird to have an easily accessible public cave by a school,” Aira said.

“It’s mainly used for science labs,” Naomi explained. There’s supposed to be one of the guards checking on it, but we’re not in a dangerous spot or anything.”

She nodded to the lights strewn about, which would have given the caves a cozy feeling if there wasn’t a shouting match right in front of them. 09 stomped off, and Risa followed her, the two so engrossed in their shouting that they passed right by the large group behind a rock without even noticing.

“What was that all about?” KJ asked.

“Narkissa keeps trying to lure Ovie to places to try and ‘woo’ her,” Roux said. “It’s a pitiful plan, doomed to failure, but it seems Narkissa’s gotten 09’s ire now as well.”

“Well, at least she’ll hopefully leave me alone then,” Aira said.

“Risa’s last name…do you think she may be involved with that Anastasia woman’s plans with the Taramin Labs?” Amara asked, scratching a claw against the rock as she tried to put puzzle pieces together in her head.

“Uncertain,” Naomi said. “This might be a coincidence. We should carry on.”

“Right-o, boss,” Roux climbed over the rock, slowly, sliding down the other side of it as they landed on their butt. The others opted to walk around before Roux led them further into the caves.

Amara wasn’t sure Roux was a trustworthy source, but they claimed they saw Caeda and the woman who claimed to be from the labs in these caves.

The next stretch was still in the student accessible area, but the lights looked a bit dimmer, making it feel less welcoming. KJ and Rain were clinging to Amara’s arms.

“This is a bit…” Rain trailed off. She was determined to come along when Amara relayed the info about Caeda to Rain and KJ.

“If a swarm of bats flies out all like intensely and someone screams, and they sound like me, it’s not me, got it?” KJ said.

“We were there for your Adventurous Crystal Cave Adventures birthday party, we know how you feel about bats,” Amara said.

“I wasn’t, that sounds like a blast,” Aira said.

“Trust me, it wasn’t,” KJ said.

“The cake was delicious, though,” Rain said.

“More importantly, if that woman appears, do not interact with her,” Naomi said. “What did you say you saw her doing again?”

“She had a bunch of rulers and compasses and stuff, looked like math homework time if you ask me,” Roux said.

Amara couldn’t shake the feeling of something deeply concerning about all of this. She was glad Naomi was leading the way, and even more grateful that she had her dearest friends at her side.