Rising Shards

I couldn’t process it at all. Laenie had just chased after a boy from Wildfire Hearts, and now she was gone. She was gone from Rising Shards. Gone. She’d be at Wildfire Hearts now; I wouldn’t see her at lunch, I couldn’t talk Tower with her, she wouldn’t be my venting friend about getting easily scared about tall, frightening boys from Falling Shards who rounded the corners too fast at the co ed hallways at school. That was all gone in an instant.

Despite being closer friends to Laenie than me, Aira didn’t look devastated like I felt. She was already on her feet. I instantly knew what she was thinking from her expression. I got to my knees and grabbed her hand as she started to step forward. The others were still knocked backwards, still getting back to their feet.

“Aira, don’t…please…” I said.

Aira looked down, still softly smiling.

“I…I’ll be back,” Aira said.

“What?” I asked. “Don’t go, please, we can figure—"

“I’ll bring her back. I promise.” Aira said.

She locked eyes with me. I could see the immense confidence in her eyes, even if I couldn’t understand it.

“How are you so calm about this?” I asked, tears welling in my eyes.

“Zeta, you have to let me go.” Aira said. She sniffed. “Don’t make me throw up on you, OK? I could teleport too, I guess, but then you might fall over.”

“Aira, just—”

Aira put her other hand around mine and smiled.

“Please trust me.” Aira said. “I’ll see you again soon.” She teleported a few feet away, and before I could stop her she crossed the line as well, leaving for Wildfire Hearts.

My mouth was open in shock, and all I could do was stare forward. Without seeing it was her, I knew it was Oka who held me first, as I looked ahead at the empty wreckage where my friends once stood.

“Wow, this is awesome,” Kitty said. “Why the downer faces? You guys are so lame!”

I bitterly took it as a win that most of the class didn’t want to join Wildfire Hearts. And those that did had to be heavily influenced to do so.

“Nothing?” Kitty asked. “Listen, just be happy it’s me here and not one of those other freaks from Wildfire Hearts. You have The Exile here? Boom, you’re all just taken without another word. Or worse. I’m giving you a pretty big opportunity here! And all I need is just two more!”

No one stood to join her. No one else in our class wanted to join Wildfire Hearts.

“Who amongst you will be the two? You’ll get special treatment. I’ll maybe talk to you a bit sometimes when I’m not on tour.”

I hoped eventually she’d just give up, btu the longer we took, the more her bubbly smile faded.

“You know, I tried to be nice,” Kitty said. “I really did. But I need those two more.”

I could feel energy start to crackle around. Was Kitty about to attack us? Could she even do that? What could we do against her if she did? We were a group of exhausted rookie Cani, and she had years and years of experience, and probably no battles before this.

“Okie dokie, I’m going to start looking among the groups of you clumped together.” Kitty said. “And if nobody steps up, nobly putting others' needs before their own, well, it’s not gonna be pretty to say the least. You’ll really wish you did once I’m done with you. Last chance!”

Once more, none of us stood, maybe mostly out of fear this time.

“Alright, I’m done waiting,” Kitty said. She scanned the group quickly, then pointed at the love trio. “You three. Kanibari. One of you is coming with me.”

I expected something loud if one of the love trio had to go. Something devastating and drawn out. But almost immediately, I saw the pink swirls of Rain’s mind control powers around Amara and KJ’s heads.

“I’ll see you again soon,” Rain said, in that same almost-too-cheerful tone Aira had. “Treat this like when I’m away on royal business! It’ll be…like a vacation. Please keep the tea set we like in good condition while I’m away.”

Rain hugged them both and ran for the line. I could see Amara and KJ strain against the mental bindings Rain had them in, but they were frozen, tears streaking down their faces as Rain crossed the line, vanishing from them.

“Alright, one more,” Kitty said. “God, you guys are seriously annoying.”

Kitty looked around again. I didn’t want to think about which group she’d try to separate next, but I didn’t have to wonder long. She grinned broadly as she looked at me.

“One of your group.” Kitty said. “I don’t care who, but after all this, I think I’d like either my little niece Oka, or the one that got away, Kalei. What do you say?”

My arms were so gripped to Oka I feared I was hurting her, but I couldn’t lose another. Even though I gripped solely to Oka, I also desperately hoped Kalei wouldn’t listen to Kitty.

It hit me that if one of us had to, maybe it should be me. But I couldn’t work up the courage.

“I’ll go.” A girl called out from behind us.

We all turned to see Nikki approaching.

“No, Nikki!” Kalei yelled.

I was so used to seeing Nikki with her headphones on, listening to music and tuning the rest of the world out, that I wasn't used to seeing her look so serious as she stopped by Kalei.

“I can’t…let you go through them again,” Nikki said.

“You…you can’t…” Kalei said.

“I’ll be alright, OK?” Nikki said. “We made a deal.”

“A…a deal?” Kalei asked, her voice hoarse.

“When you get me back, you can teach me how to play beam chasers.” Nikki said.

I wasn’t sure whether to grip Kalei tighter or let loose so she could be close to Nikki in that moment. But it passed too quickly, because Kitty Kilander was not in the mood for sentiment.

“Oh blah blah blah, just go already!” Kitty said, grabbing Nikki and dragging her towards the line. Kalei reached out at the last second in desperation, and Nikki reached out towards her in the instant before vanishing over the line. “And that’ll do it, folks! Thank you for coming! I hope to see you again very soon.”

I almost couldn't look at Kalei. I had never seen her look so defeated, so devastated. I wished I had something to make her feel better, but I didn't.

“That’s it, then?” Oka asked.

“Yeppers,” Kitty said, hopping in front of the line. “I’m heading out, but I’ll leave you to one of my brightest students.”

My stomach dropped. This couldn't get any worse. It couldn’t be her. But who else would it be?

“Oh, and if you were wondering,” Kitty said. “Sometimes I can cross the line and teleport over to Wildfire Hearts like the others that crossed it. I said lines were my thing, right? Like, I said that? Yeah. Lines are my thing.”

“Just shut the hell up about the line and go already, please.” Kalei said.

I saw movement at the top of one of the piles of wreckage. Even just a split second of the top of her head, I knew.

“No…” I said.

“No, don’t encourage her to stay, Zeta.” Kalei said. “I know we all really want to beat the crap out of her right now, but—”

“Kalei…” Oka said, pointing to the Wildfire Hearts student walking towards us.

It of course wasn’t just any Wildfire Hearts student, and deep down I knew from the moment I heard her voice again that I’d have to face her at some point during the trip. That knowledge did not quell the sheer terror as I saw Jeans approach casually.

“Zeta, it’s OK, we’ll get through this.” Oka said. 

Jeans was walking slowly down towards us. That was all I could focus on. I wanted to run. I had to run. I couldn’t be near her again. If she spoke to me again, it would all start all over, and everything I’d accomplished since breaking free from her would be for nothing.

So I ran. I took off in the opposite direction of her, rushing behind me in hopes that the cave we were supposed to enter would be there. There was just more wreckage behind us, but that didn’t stop me from running. Shadowy claws on my ankles however, did easily, and I found myself being dragged back.

“Zeta, Zeta, Zeta…” Kitty said. “If you keep running, it’s the same thing as crossing the line. If you run from this, you’re coming with me, girl. I met my quota, but I’m fine taking another.”

Kitty let her shadowy claws go, and I was left groveling in the dirt. I still wanted to run. But if I ran, that’d mean facing Jeans for even longer. I somehow found the will to return to my feet.

“There you go,” Kitty said. “Get that cute, tailed butt back over here.”

When I returned to my group, now lessened and weakened without Aira and Laenie, Oka and Kalei stood in front of me, blocking Jeans from my view. That didn’t seem to stop her, though. She looked at me, and the disappointment and hurt in her eyes almost brought me back to when we were dating.

“How was the Exile, Jeannie-Weanie?” Kitty asked.

“Not as impressive as I expected,” Jeans said.

“Are you prepared for the rest of this raid, then?” Kitty asked.

Jeans nodded and revealed a familiar object from behind her back. A black mask, with the dark liquid Elka sloshing around within it.

“Oh and uh, one more thing, everybody,” Kitty said. “I lied about letting you go after this. The only way you’re going home is if you decide to go to Wildfire Hearts, or you break that mask. That’s how raids work! And you’re not breaking that mask. I leave them to you, my precious Dusk. Toodles!”

Kitty stepped over her line, and we were left alone with Jeans.