Chapter 14

I didn’t expect to fall asleep as fast as I did. One moment, I was just closing my eyes, staring at the ceiling of the drowned out church, next thing I knew, I was in my dorm room, lying on the couch in the communal area like so many times before.

I shot up immediately, wondering if everything that happened to me had all just been a dream. That ideal was shattered when I saw Felice sitting in a chair in the corner, staring at me in a way that could only be described as creepy.

“Do you just like watching people sleep?” I asked.

“It’s not like I can do much else.” said Felice, “I’m still a ghost.”

“So, where are we right now?” I asked, “Am I asleep?”

“Yup,” said Felice, “I suppose this is a location that’s familiar to you?”

“Yes,” I said, “My college dorm.”

“Your what to the what now?” Felice asked, now looking at the TV, “Speaking of which, what is that big screen thing? It looks like a projection screen encased in glass, but what would be the point of that? It’s not even portable anymore.”

“Uh, long story,” I said, “But… what’s going on right now? Am I dreaming or something?”

“Most likely,” said Felice, “From the few accounts I’ve read about soul joining, sometimes they have this ‘inner’ place where they can go to talk, usually when they’re asleep. Since I’m a fragment that joined with your soul, we’re in a location that’s familiar to you.”

“Oh, this place is definitely familiar to me.” I said, patting the couch so Felice could come and sit next to me, which she did, “This is my freshman dorm.”

“I still don’t understand what that means.” said Felice.

“Freshman is a first year, college is optional… kind of, education after public education’s over.” I said, “Well, that’s the basic gist of it, anyway. You can choose what field you study, take classes based on that field, get a degree, and it gets you a better paying job… in the best circumstances.”

“You don’t sound too sure of all that.” said Felice.

“In my world, a lot of that is what’s supposed to happen,” I said, “But also, a lot of the time, it doesn’t. I was in a public high school for almost four years, which is what you’re supposed to do, but I ended up getting expelled just before I could graduate.”

“Expelled? Why?” Felice asked.

“I punched a guy so hard in the face he started bleeding.” I said. Felice’s pale eyes widened, and I couldn’t help but smile as I explained “To be fair, he was groping and harassing my little sister.”

“Oh. But wait, why would you be expelled?” Felice asked.

“Trying to explain the logic of public school administration is like trying to explain why two plus two equals five,” I said, “It’s just not possible.”

“That’s upsetting.” said Felice, “With all this technology in this room that I can’t even begin to comprehend, I was thinking your world was some kind of paradise or something.”

“There’s no such thing as paradise,” I said dejectedly, sinking into the couch, “Trust me, I’ve learned that the hard way. Sometimes life just sucks, and you’re the only one who can make it better.”

Felice stared at me. It was then that I noticed tears coming out of her eyes.

“Are you crying?” I said, “Did I say something to upset you? I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not you,” said Felice, “I… I think I’m recalling something. I think… I think…

Everything faded away.

I opened my eyes, surprised that the church hadn’t collapsed on us while I was sleeping. I sat up and looked around to see Katie on my left and Rhys on my right, both still sleeping. I couldn’t help but notice how cute Rhys looked when she was sleeping; the way she was curled up with her legs tucked in, the light snore she was giving off, her strong jawline…

Katie yawning brought me back to my senses, and I turned to see her sit up and stretch a little.

“Feeling a little stiff? I know I am.” I said as I tried to loosen up my neck a little.

“Nah, I’m good,” said Katie, “I’ve slept on cold, hard pavement before, so other than a couple of splinters, I’m good.”

“When did that happen?” I asked as Rhys got up and nearly rolled into the water.

“I tried running away like a billion times when I was a kid,” said Katie as she got back to her feet along with the rest of us, “My dad was always an asshole to me and my brother.”

“Oh, that sucks.” I said.

“Tell me about it,” said Katie, “What about you? Ever have any beef with your parents?”

“Uh, not really,” I said, “We fought sometimes, and they were pissed when I got expelled from high school - long story - but I’ve always been on good terms with them, especially my dad. He’s dead now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” said Rhys, “You said you were close to him?”

“Yup,” I said, “He was a mechanic, and he’d always let me work on cars with him in his shop. I loved it.”

“That sounds like heaven.” said Katie.

“What’s a… car?” Rhys asked, “Is that short for carriage or something?”

I stifled a chuckle while Katie straight-up laughed, and Rhys just looked confused, as well as Felice as we all dipped our boots back into the water and dragged our way to the doors.

“Where do we go from here?” Rhys asked as we stopped at the door and I pulled out the map.

“Well, we should probably find the temple we’re looking for,” I said, “That way, we can get all this over with once we’ve dealt with Kydro.”

“By ‘deal with,’ you mean pulling off his gem, right?” Felice asked, appearing as though she was peeking over my shoulder while floating in the air.

“Yes, that’s what I mean.” I said, “So, where would the temple be in this swamp?”

“Most likely a dry piece of land,” said Felice, “Rather a land area that isn’t always submerged, like this church. Stone can break down over time - assuming it’s made out of stone, but I can’t imagine what else - especially when under water for a long time.”

“Is there any area here that isn’t water-logged?” I asked, trying to make heads or tails of the damn thing. Felice motioned me to some lighter-colored areas of the map.

“Those are dry locals,” said Felice, “The temple is likely in one of those places. We could check them all if we have to.”

“I think we could do one better.” said Katie, “Rhys, can you climb a tree?”

“Uh, probably,” said Rhys, “Why?”

“Maybe the temple’s big enough that we can see it from the treetops,” said Katie, “I’d climb a tree myself, but…”

To emphasize her point, Katie wiggled her right arm’s stump.

“Gotcha.” said Rhys, “I’ll head up… that one.”

Rhys pointed to a big tree with a lot of branches. It looked stable enough, but I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to climb up that thing.

“Be careful!” I said as Rhys made her way over to the base of the tree.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” said Rhys as she jumped up and managed to grab one of the low-hanging branches, heaving herself up to the next one. Even though she told me not to worry, I couldn’t help but suck in a breath and hold it every time she made a grab for a branch, only letting go when she was safe on a branch. At least, that was before one of the branches under her feet started cracking.

“Rhys, look out!” I said, but she had already jumped to the next branch.

“Don’t worry, I’m good!” Rhys called back as she jumped up and out of sight. For a moment longer than I was hoping for, she was gone.

“She better make it down okay.” I said.

“She seems like a natural, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” said Katie, “You like her, don’t you?”

“I - huh?” Katie’s question came completely out of nowhere. When I turned to her, she had a knowing smile on her face.

“I can tell these things sometimes,” said Katie, “I say go for it. You don’t have much to lose, you know?”

“But… but even if I did, what happens when we win and have to go back home? I couldn’t ask her to drop everything and come to our home with us. Hell, she’s an orc, she’d be persecuted if not kidnapped by men in black to be experimented on.”

“Well… you could at least ask her?” Katie said, “I think we could figure it out from there. Could you imagine the U.S. government sending troops armed with machine guns into that palace? That sounds amazing.”

It really did. The vision of the emperor getting blown away by an AR made me smile, just in time for Rhys to come back into view, climbing her way back down.

“I think I got something!” said Rhys when she landed on the ground and pointed in a direction, “I saw a big stone structure that way, so that’s probably it!”

“Sounds good, nice job!” I said. Rhys broke eye contact, and I swore she blushed a little.

“How did you learn to climb like that?” Katie asked, “I couldn’t do that even when I had both arms!”

“Learned under desperation,” said Rhys, “One time, when I was in Mama’s room and she was off doing her duty, the guards had a surprise inspection, and I can’t be seen by those guys, so I had no choice but to climb out a window and climb down to the next floor, where I had to hide behind some curtains for almost half an hour before they left. After that, I climbed back up through the same window.”

“Wait, how far up were you?” I asked.

“Fourth floor, I think.” said Rhys, like it was no big deal. Katie and I glanced at each other in shock, but we said nothing more as Rhys led us through the swamp. We kept an eye on everything and anything, since Kydro could come out from anywhere.

“This paranoia is not good for my heart,” said Katie, “God, I wish that asshole would just come out and say hi.”

“Unlikely any of them will try that again,” said Rhys, “After all, if it didn’t work once, it won’t work at all.”

“I disagree,” I said, “Xelsa seems like the kind of idiot who would charge in without much thinking.”

“Well… you have a point there.” said Katie.

“You two do realize the others can watch us on projection screens, right?” said Rhys.

“What kind of cheating bullcrap is that?!” Katie said, her eyes widening.

“Not Kydro,” said Rhys, “But the Runners we haven’t met yet. Their projections blanking off is how they know we’ve arrived in their region of the island.”

“Oh, so Xelsa knows we just talked crap about him.” said Katie.

Rhys nodded.

“Well then.”

It was rare for Katie to be completely speechless, but here we were. I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as she wildly shook her head around, probably looking for the secret cameras.

“Don’t bother, they’re so tiny there’s no way you could see them.” said Rhys.

“Crap.” Katie said quietly. I snorted. That explained why Rhys referred to Tarja as “Mama” earlier - Easton was watching, and we couldn’t afford to out her. I made a mental note not to refer to Tarja by name.

“Hey, I think we’re close.” said Rhys, “I think the temple’s just past some of these trees.”

“Thank god, let’s get this over with and get out of this stinky swamp so I can dry my socks off,” said Katie, “This place sucks!”

“Agreed.” I said, trying desperately once again to ignore the things under the water that were brushing by my foot, things I couldn’t see. I couldn’t think of anything that would’ve been worse than the damp swamp.

Just as I was wondering if Rhys had made a mistake, I saw the stone steps protrude from the water in the distance, and pointed to them in utter glee.

“Finally!” said Katie, “We can get the hell out of here!”

“It won’t be that simple.” said Rhys, “Riley, you promised you’d save the Runners, not just cleanse and move on. We’re going to have to wait for Kydro to catch up with us.”

“Uh, I don’t think that’ll be a problem, guys,” I said as we made it to the first step, “Look who’s waiting for us up there.”

I pointed to the one and only Kydro Crollet, waiting for us at the entrance of the temple.