So Much to Say
The guest dorms were nearly empty this time of day. Few people weren't at the fairgrounds or in Amity. The entire campus felt off-season. It got easier to breathe once Neo was inside, the walls and ceiling a comforting weight on her chest.
Neo looked in the bathroom and didn't see anyone there. Still no good. She washed her hands and stared at her forehead in the mirror.
She hadn't gotten into the room. More importantly, she talked. The girl made her talk. Heard her.
It bore further investigation.
Fine then. Back to Cinder's room.
The woman was inside, reading her scroll, a map of campus spread out on a table. "No contact. No success?"
Neo shook her head. Cinder didn't have to look up to understand.
"Hmm. Well, their match just ended. I asked Em to find the pairings. Looks like Schnee and the big one. Not a strong pair, but they'll do."
Neo took her scroll out and typed a message for Cinder. ɪ'ᴍ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏɴɪɢʜᴛ.
Cinder's almost-permanent smug smile vanished. "We don't need information that badly. I may send you back during their next match, but certainly not before."
ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴏᴏᴍ ɴᴇᴇᴅs ᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪɴᴠᴇsᴛɪɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ.
"We're all clean, looking as we are. I intend to keep us that way. Absolutely not."
"Mm!" grunted Neo, pointing at the clock on Cinder's wall.
"Go to your room. We'll speak more tomorrow." Cinder waved her left hand in vague dismissal and went back to her scroll.
Neo drew her blade from her umbrella and stabbed it into Cinder's map. The point pierced the paper between the words Student and Dorm.
Cinder looked back up. "Are you finished?" The two locked eyes.
She was. Neo dislodged her blade from the table and walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind her.
Go to your room. What a joke. Officially, guest students were placed in doubles. Cinder's room was her room.
Less officially, breaking the law has its upsides. Let Em and Merc be the true believers. Neo was being paid. A lot. She took a ship down into the city.
Southern residential was cheap housing, red brick apartment buildings by the block. She didn't know how the girl had done it. Certainly she would have no idea the significance of what happened. Neo's apartment was 304. As well as 204, 303, 305, and 404, but those were just buffer space. She swiped in and changed. It felt good to have her normal eyes, even for a few minutes.
Neo screamed.
A loud, inarticulate shriek. It had been in public! Sure, nobody was around. But what if they had been?
How had Ruby done it?
Cinder has plans for her. But Neo would have to find out. Even Cinder agreed she was her own woman, at least until tomorrow. She would simply have to investigate by herself.
And after Cinder's plans were finished, by then Neo would decide if Ruby got to live.