Rising Shards

”What should we do?” Oka asked.

”Just ignore them, I suppose?” I said.

Thankfully, Caeda, P.D., and Chickadee weren’t along with the group of devil Cani that waited in line ahead of us. Octa was the only glaring issue I saw. My family had just picked a play based on which one they thought I’d enjoy seeing, there was no way they could know that she would be at the same show.

”Oh, hey,”

We turned to see Mars Valor waving at Oka and I. I wasn’t sure if he was alone until I spotted Tik Moonheart and Kara Valor approaching a bit behind him.

”Who the heck are you?” Lilith asked.

”This is Mars, he’s like a world famous detective!” Oka explained.

”Seriously?” Lilith said, her eyes practically sparkling.  I imagine her reaction would have been less enthusiastic if I had explained that to her.

”Here, check this out,” Mars said as he reached into his pocket. He gave Lilith a palm sized box.

”Whoa,” Lilith said, showing it to me. It was a shrunken down version of the board game Get Dad Outta the Rumpus Room. 

”That doesn’t really prove anything, though,” Mars said. ”I dunno if I’d say I’m world famous, and Tik’s definitely the detective of the three of us, but if you need tiny board games, I’m your guy.”

”Can I keep this?” Lilith asked.

”Yeah, I got triples of all the Blonko Palm Sized Mini Board Game Collection,” Mars said. ”I recommend playing with tweezers. The instructions say you’re not supposed to, but the Blonko branded miniature piece mover tool is a rip off.”

”What are you guys doing here?” Oka asked. ”You spying on Octa and the devils?”

”Something like that,” Mars said.

Tik and Kara only shared brief words with us, clearly focused on keeping Octa in sight.

”So...what’s this all about?” my father asked once the three detectives had passed by.

I did my best to explain the situation without making it seem as pressing as it probably was, I didn’t want to concern them. Though my parents were surprisingly calm about most of the various incidents and calamities I’d experienced at Rising Shards so far. When I told them about Penteldtam’s firing and the frying pan incident with Caeda that kickstarted it, they barely looked up from the puzzle they were working on.

”There’s always some situation going on at a Cani school,” my mother said. ”What was it that happened in your class last month?”

”Professor meeting, actually,” my father said. ”I believe Hastings didn’t like Eissen’s interpretation of the Synonym Pantheon, so she clubbed him with the complete works. Heavy book, too.”

Similarly, they weren’t rattled by the situation with Octa, Tik, Kara, and Mars. My mother remarked that she had seen one of their books in a library once, but didn’t check it out.

The devils, Octa, and the detective trio were a few rows ahead of us when we took our seats. We were right at the end of the aisle, and noticed quickly that the devils weren’t the only other students attending. Many were from the theater club, probably craving something related to it with the club itself still in a state of limbo.

”Was there like a student discount today?” Oka whispered as Clover Locke Dragnis passed by. Clover was one of our least favorite fellow club members, as she put Oka through very rough times.

”Are you alright?” I asked.

”I’m fine, it’s just Clover,” Oka said. ”Don’t worry about me, how are you doing?”

”I’m...” I wasn’t sure how to answer out loud. As I tried to gather my words, Clover’s guest walked by. Naomi, another friend from the theater club, and a role model for me as far as she presented herself as an ideal Rising Shards student.

Naomi was also my first major crush at Rising Shards. One that dominated my mind for quite a while, one Oka tried to help with as my wingman of sorts, a crush that started to fade with Ko’s pursuit.

I knew Naomi and Clover were dating, and had heard their breakup was messy, but at the moment they did not show it. They sat a few rows past the devils, and promptly kissed each other on the cheek when seated.

”I’ll be fine,” I muttered.

I don’t know if Oka bought that, but she didn’t argue with me.