I don't stop walking until I reach the lift, stepping in and mashing the startup key with the flat of my palm. It vibrates tangibly beneath my hand, obviously unaccustomed to being smacked with that much force.
"Level Five, Residential," I order, trying to mask the misery in my tone with command. It isn't working, but I'm glad the lift can't actually criticize me in return. It just starts gliding down its shaft with slow, easy grace.
I sink down to my knees and rest there while the lift carries me down in silence. I can't even hear what's propelling it, which means it's probably fueled by magic, like so much of the technology in this Complex. I've only been allowed to visit the Residential, Training and Recreational Levels; any level below five or above three is off-limits for initiates without special clearance.
And I'll obviously never get special clearance of any kind. I'm such a klutz that I can't even stand on my own two feet and walk.
The lift slides to a stop, the door opening without a sound to admit me into a long, grey hallway lined with identical black doors. The hallway seems to stretch on into infinity, but I don't have to walk that far. The number of the room that I share with Umi was the first thing that I memorized when I got here: thirteen
Unlucky number thirteen.
I don't believe particularly in bad omens, but if my Diviner sister were here, I'm sure she'd tell me whether my room number is one or not. At the moment, I certainly feel as though it is.
The room behind my door is small, but comfortably furnished with two beds, two dressers, and a wardrobe for storing clothes and shoes. My bright violet blankets and accessories are messily sprawled across my bed; Umi's bronze-and-brown trappings lie neatly over her bed in the opposite corner.
I flop down onto my bed and bury my head in my huge, fluffy pillow, hot tears pooling but not yet spilling over onto the fabric.
I was the reason Axel got up and left. I made a fool of myself, and I made a fool out of him. I can't do anything right.
My mental tirades have a successful history of pushing me over the edge and into tears, and this one is no different. I sob into my pillow, letting all of the shame and frustration and humiliation leak out until I am dry and empty and hollow, my tears used up.
When I've finished my cry, I sit up, rubbing my bleary eyes with my long black sleeve. My face feels itchy and puffy, and my throat is raw; I feel and probably look disgusting. I stand and open the door, peeking down the hallway in both directions to make sure that no one I'm familiar with will catch me after I've been crying. The last thing I need is more humiliation.
Satisfied that no one is coming, I slip out of the door and proceed down the hall. The line of doors appears endless, but I've already familiarized myself with where the turn for the showers is hidden, and I turn at a particularly large stretch of blank wall between two doors; the solidity of the wall is merely an illusion, and I pass through into another, smaller hallway with two branches, of which I follow the one to the right.
The women's showers are low-ceilinged but spacious, comprised of sinks along one wall that constantly spout water, and shower stalls lining the other wall that are never turned off. Both are obviously magic-powered.
I proceed over to one of the sinks, wincing when I catch sight of my own reflection. My eyes are swollen and bloodshot, the skin around them stained pink and red. My cheeks are blotchy, too, and my hair is an absolute rat's nest, strands of it having pulled loose from my ponytail to waft down around my cheeks. I look like a mess; what's more, I look like a pathetic mess. I don't look in the slightest like an Assassin worthy of her title.
With a disgusted shake of my head, I cup my hands beneath the lukewarm spray from the sink, splashing it on my cheeks. The slightly-warm water feels good, and I splash my face again, wiping the excess water out of my eyes and sighing.
Just then, footsteps sound from the hallway behind me, along with the sounds of laughing voices.
I panic; I can't let anyone see me like this. Quickly, I turn away from the sink and dart into a shower stall, closing the door behind me. The warm water almost immediately soaks my clothes through, but I don't care; I'm safe, for now.
As they grow closer, the jumbled voices slowly evolve into two distinct tones, one higher than the other, but slightly more nasal. Both of them sound amused about something, and the higher-pitched voice often breaks into laughter.
I've never been much of a gossip, nor have I ever been incredibly socially curious, but I am struck with the sudden desire to listen to what they are saying. Part of it may just be that I'm hidden, and therefore, they will speak more freely under the assumption that no one can hear them. The other part, though…
I shrug and press my ear up to the shower door, listening.
"…can't believe we actually got this assignment," the lower voice is saying in a gleeful tone. "How lucky are we? Only fourth year in and we're part of the biggest secret that this city's ever known."
"Of course we got in," the higher voice counters, giggling. "I always knew we were destined for something special! Didn't I tell you?"
I roll my eyes slightly, but continue listening, slightly intrigued by the conversation. Whoever these two are, they've apparently got some sort of ultra-special clearance. Maybe I can find out what it's for, and what I'd have to do in order to get one.
If I could do it, maybe Axel wouldn't think I'm a screw-up! Maybe he'd actually like me; or even be proud of me!
With that in mind, I press closer to the door, listening even more intently.
"You certainly did," the first voice replies, laughter tingeing her tone. "Maybe I should listen to you more often."
"We can discuss that," the second voice says. "After it's all over and we're installed at the head of the city, who knows what sort of ranking we'll get?"
"Don't get cocky just yet," the first voice admonishes teasingly. "We have to actually pull this off first, and darkness knows how difficult it'll be to infiltrate the Diviners' Complex, much less actually pull off kidnapping their Guildmaster."
My blood immediately freezes in my veins.
The Diviners' Guild… but Zanna is a Diviner!
"Shh, not so loud!" the high voice cautions, but she's at the brink of laughter again, so the warning doesn't sound too serious. "We don't want someone without authorization to hear us! That'd ruin all the fun!"
"It'll be more fun when Guildmaster Sirix makes the announcement to the entire Guild," the other voice responds.
"How do you figure?" the high voice questions curiously.
"It'll be closer to the time when we finally ascend to our rightful places…"
The voices drift away; they must have been at the sinks while they talked, and now they're leaving, growing fainter as they move down the hallway.
I stand absolutely still in the shower stall, warm water still pouring down over my face in rivulets and soaking into my already-saturated clothes.
Guildmaster Sirix is planning some kind of assault against the Diviners' Guild. What that is, I'm not exactly certain, but it involves kidnapping their Guildmaster, and then… the first girl mentioned something about 'ascending' and being installed at the head of the city, which I can only assume constitutes a total takeover.
My brain is whirling with the implications of what I've just heard, and it takes a moment for my body to snap into sync, but suddenly I'm hyperaware of the fact that I am in possession of classified information that no one else knows that I know.
A slow grin spreads over my face, and I can feel it stretching my cheeks and pulling at my ears, but I'm too excited to care.
This is my chance. If I can infiltrate whatever secret plot is going on beneath the surface of the Assassins' Guild, maybe gather some key information, then not only can I possibly warn my sister and the rest of the Diviners' Guild, but I can prove to Axel, once and for all, that I'm not a screw-up and that I deserve to be a member of the Assassin ranks.
Quickly, I unlock the shower door, yanking it open and sprinting out of the washroom, ignoring my wet clothes and wet hair.
I've got plans to make.
Luckily, my room is still empty when I reach it, and the girls from the washroom are nowhere in sight, though I doubt I would have known them if they were; I never saw their faces. I pull open the room's door, dash in, and then close it and lock it behind me, stripping out of my wet clothes at lightning speed and replacing them with fresh ones made of the same matte black, clinging fabric. I toss the wet ones into an empty drawer; I'll get to them later.
First things first; I've got to know where I'm going before I can get there. I know that levels one, two, six, and seven are the classified, restricted levels, but I've got no idea of which level the information about this secret plot might be located on.
That's my first task, then. Find out which level of the Complex that I need to infiltrate. Second is figuring out how to get there.
Compared to the first task, the second seems a breeze. I've always been adept at the use of shadow magic, and sneaking around was one of my favorite activities back in House Aotora. No one could beat me at Hide and Seek. Finding out which floor is the right one, though; that'll be tricky, especially if I hope to do it without revealing my plan to anyone who might try to stop me.
My mind immediately sorts through a list of possibilities, but all of them I reject because they involve actually talking to someone, and lying, unlike sneaking around, has never been a strong suit of mine.
I suppose all that leaves is eavesdropping some more, then, although who knows when someone else might come along whose tongue is as careless as the tongues of those girls from the bathroom? My hopes begin to deflate slowly, sagging like an emptying hot air balloon.
I can't pull this off because I can't even figure out where to go.
A knock on the door and a voice calling, "Liseth?" distract me from my reverie; I look up toward the door, which is vibrating slightly from the force of the knock.
"Why did you lock the door?" Umi calls. "Are you still upset? Riku didn't mean to laugh at you!" Another knock. "Come on, Lisi! Open up!"
I stand and go to the door, unlocking it and opening it to reveal Umi, standing there with her fist poised for another knock.
"Sorry about that," I say sincerely, standing aside to let her in. "I went to the showers, and I locked the door so no one could get in while I was changing." Not a complete lie; but not the whole truth, either.
She takes in my wet hair and nods, her posture relaxing a bit. It's clear that she thought she would have to do a bit of arguing, and I feel a slight prick of shame for that.
"All right," she says, entering and flopping down onto her bed, which creaks slightly under her weight. She isn't very heavy, but she's well-muscled and wiry like a cat.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," she adds, resting her head on her hands and gazing up at the ceiling. "Riku and I went to find Axel and he was pouting in the training room, as usual. Riku made him feel really guilty for storming out; it was actually kind of funny to watch him blush." She snickers.
I laugh a little, although it doesn't sound that funny to me.
"I like Axel, but he overreacts a lot," Umi says. "Riku says he's got quite the temper, and I'm starting to believe it."
It's not really any more than what I deserve, I think to myself, but I refrain from commenting. There's no point in starting another argument. Instead, I say, "If you wanted to find out something without anyone knowing you were trying to find out, how would you do it?"
She raises one golden eyebrow at me. "What's that about? Are you trying to find something out?" Smirking, she adds, "Possibly how to get on Axel's good side?"
I flush violently, shaking my head. "No. I was just curious. We are Assassins, after all; it's part of the job description." I feel like it's a wimpy excuse, but it's all I can come up with on short notice.
Umi shrugs. "I don't really know. Possibly I'd try to psych the answer out of someone, but I'm not as good at that as my mother was when she did it to me and my siblings. She was scary."
I give a genuine laugh at that; partly because it's true, and partly because I'm envisioning Umi trying to psych someone out.
"But if I couldn't psych them out," she continues, "I'd probably look for clues or try to listen in on people's conversations to see if I could catch anything about it. People tend to have looser jaws when they think they're alone."
Well, I'm back where I started, but at least she'd do the same thing.
"Okay," I reply out loud, shrugging. "I'll keep that in mind in case I ever have to do it."
She snorts. "That won't be for a while. We don't get to do anything really interesting until second year."
I grin at her. "Restless already?"
"You know it," she replies instantly. "I'm ready to prove myself!"
So am I, Umi, I think. So am I.
