The country didn't take well Black Godl's second absence. Camie did expect articles about it like the first time but she didn't think that it would get such proportions. Especially knowing that it wasn't an Omen attack and that no one got hurt in the end.
Despite that, walks started all over the country. People started protesting against Black Gold and journalists went up to them to ask them about the reason they were out in the streets:
"We have been putting up with Black Gold's whims for years! This is enough! We can't take it anymore! If you are not with us then you are against us and Black Gold is against us. What we want today is to have her erased from the list of heroes. She doesn't deserve her title of our Country's protector."
It took way bigger proportions than it ever did in Camie's visions and she thought she was dreaming. She decided to ignore it for a day and went for a walk to empty her mind. When she came home she immediately headed to bed and when she woke up the next day, she felt like she was reborn. She hadn't been in such a good mood in the morning in years and she ran out of her room, singing:
"Good morning!"
Her father jumped hearing the sudden appearance. He almost dropped his muffins and grabbed them with his ungloved hand:
"Aouch!"
Camie immediately rushed to him:
"Are you okay?
-Yes, it's okay. Fortunately it has already cooled down."
Camie sighed:
"Sorry..."
Her father smiled:
"It's okay, darling. I am just happy to see you in such a good mood this morning.
-I am!"
Camie tasted a muffin and it tasted amazing. She complimented her dad which really seemed to please the latter. Camie ate five more muffins and she stayed with her father to talk for a bit. The conversation was so nice that Camie completely lost track of time:
"Don't you have class at ten?"
Camie looked at the time:
"Oh, you're right.
-Be careful on the way. I heard that there were protests five streets away."
Camie froze.
"What protests?
-Haven't you seen the news? Apparently they are protesting to have Black Gold listed as a villain and sent to prison.
-What?"
Camie immediately turned her phone on. It seemed she hadn't dreamed the day before. People really did turn crazy. She had no words in front of such hate. People were trying to uncover Black Gold's identity more than ever before and she could even hear people threatening Black Gold on the internet. They were saying that if she showed up again they would kill her and it seemed everyone forgot how strong Black Gold really was. They were saying that Black Gold finally showed her true colors and were calling all the other heroes to turn against her. Camie started leaving angry comments on the web but it only seemed to comfort people even more in their beliefs. She had no idea what to do more and that made her even more angry.
She knew that people wouldn't take it well but all she really thought about was helping Théa. What if this destroyed her even more? Théa wasn't ready for hate. She just started opening up and she finally could talk to Firo as if nothing happened. Camie wanted to find all those idiots and beat them up one after the other but she couldn't. Therefore she did the first thing she could think of.
After class she immediately called her friends:
"I need your help.
-Who should we beat up?"
Camie frowned:
"Why would you think that we have to beat up someone?
-Isn't that what we have been doing later on?"
Camie shrugged:
"Fair enough. I won't say that we won't beat anyone up but that's not the main project."
The girls followed Camie to the closest market. They bought tons of papers and markers and rushed back to Camie's house immediately. Once inside her room they all sat down in a circle and started writing down answers to those hate walks. Camie was terrible at drawing. Her friends weren't bad therefore they drew Black Gold on their posters as well as some decorations. Looking at their drawings, Camie thought about Ember. Despite loving her friends with all her heart, she had to admit that they were nowhere compared to Ember. They could have asked her for help. Camie knew that Ember was a secret fan of Black Gold. She did pretend to hate her because she was secretly jealous of her strength but the truth would come out later on in her visions. Now that everything got turned upside down, Camie had no idea if Ember would tell the truth about her liking Black Gold. Or if she still liked Black Gold for that matter.
Thinking about Black Gold, Camie could have asked Théa too. Ember was a good artist but Camie still by far preferred Théa. However, it felt weird asking Black Gold to help them make signs about how much they loved Black Gold. It must have really made Théa happy but Camie just couldn't help blushing just thinking about it. That situation would be way too awkward.
Nylora raised a small tube of glitter:
"Glitter?"
Topiary nodded and Nylora immediately spilled the whole tube on top of the sign. After half an hour more of drawing, and glitter all over Camie's room, the girls finally looked at their work with a satisfied smile:
"Thank you girls. Thank you so much for today. It really means a lot."
Emma frowned:
"I don't know if we deserve it. Some of those signs really never should be seen by anyone."
Topiary frowned:
"Why are you looking at mine so much?
-You tell me.
-Hey! Mine is perfectly fine. Nylora's looks like Black Gold has eight arms!
-It's smoke!
-You should write it down for people to understand."
Seeing her friends quarrel made Camie laugh.
"Don't laugh too much, Camie. Should we remind you of your attempt to draw a dog?"
Camie laughed even harder:
"I told you that I couldn't draw!"
Once finished with their posters, the girls grabbed their signs and went into the streets to start sticking them all around town. They went to the busiest streets and tried putting their signs in places where they would be seen the easiest possible. Apart from that, they took pictures and posted them on the internet. Seeing how much time it took them to walk around town made the girls split up to cover more ground.
Camie decided to start by the astronomy building and she immediately called VIolet. The latter seemed very excited at the view of the posters and she promised to show them to everyone:
"Thank you!
-We have our own Efergram page. It is used to tell people anonymously when we have a crush on them but this is way more important information. If you send me pictures of all the signs, I could send them to the account. And of course I will send it via email to our teachers.
-That would be amazing. Good luck with whatever you are doing."
With five posters remaining, Camie continued walking around campus and she decided to go to her own building to stick a sign up there. While walking, she took her headphones out and started listening to classical music. She needed to listen to something epic and she felt like she was really doing something life changing.
That feeling made Camie smile and she almost ran to the building. Instead of only putting one up, she displayed all her posters in the biology building. She was satisfied with the locations she chose but she still felt disappointed once her hands were empty.
Camie just stood there, staring at the last poster, wondering if she should take it off. She decided that she should listen to her gut and forced herself to turn around. When she did, she suddenly found herself in front of a silhouette and she screamed.