AN: Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Either that or I'm a zombie. Enjoy!

Trump Ace

Chapter Ten: Of Rejections and Pictures

"There's a bigger picture."
-Gabe, Ink

"Alright," Kevin began, quickly gaining Antonia and Ruby's attention. By some unspoken agreement the table in the courtyard where Antonia and Kevin had had their first meeting had become their standard meeting spot— most likely because it was conveniently placed in a discrete corner, partially obscured by an overgrown hedge.

"I've narrowed it down to nine researchers. They were all assistants to Dr. Nicholson at the time of the Adermatoglyphia discovery, and, as far as I could find, are still working. There are three of us and nine of them, so I'm thinking we should each try to contact three—"

"Hold it right there, CSI," Ruby interrupted. "Think about what you just said. You want me to contact people? Does that really seem like a good idea to you?"

"Just kidding. I'll contact five, Antonia, you can contact four, and Ruby… umm… you can start doing some research on living people with Adermatoglyphia."

Ruby nodded her approval.

"That sounds more like it."

Antonia re-read the message in disbelief. All four of the researchers she contacted had replied, and they all had rejected her carefully phrased inquiry quite rudely (at least in her opinion). With a flick of her wrist Antonia moved the last response, from a Dr. Jonathan Murphy, from her inbox to an archival folder.

Flopping back onto her bed with a defeated sigh, Antonia once again thought over the four rejections she had received, all of which had much more in common than just saying "no"—too much to be purely coincidental, in her opinion. But then again, her mother had always told her that reading so much would negatively impact her reasoning ability and lead her to drawing fanciful, far-fetched conclusions.

Antonia could easily see her mother's prediction proving correct in this instance.

But what if it wasn't?

The particularly suspicious response of Dr. Katherine Keaton came to mind: Curiosity killed the cat. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Antonia knew she was missing something. She had found all these pieces, but she couldn't figure out how they fit together, not to mention what picture they made. Hell, she didn't even know if they all belonged to the same puzzle!

The only thing she knew for sure was that things were getting, as Alice had said, curiouser and curiouser, and the further she went down the rabbit hole the closer she came to going mad as a hatter. (And yes, she had just finished re-reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).

There was only one she could think to do. Taking out her netbook, she sent Ruby and Kevin a quick memo:

We need to meet lunch tomorrow. Same place as always.

-A

Frustrated and tired, she turned off her netbook and turned off the lights, eventually falling into a restless sleep.

In her dreams that night she met a haunted young man who told her a necklace without a thread was just beads lying scattered on the floor.

"What happened?" Kevin asked as soon as she sat down at their lunch table, not bothering with pleasantries.

But then again, none of them ever did.

"You look like shit, by the way," he added after finally noticing the bags under her eyes and her hair, which seemed to be having some sort of hissy fit.

And this is why we don't do pleasantries, Antonia thought crabbily, giving him the evil eye.

Ruby just smirked into her sandwich, quickly swallowing before adding her own two cents.

"Reason number two-hundred and seventy-eight Kevin will never have a girlfriend," she deadpanned, earning a glare from Kevin and leaving them in a strange, three-way glaring standoff.

Antonia was the first to break the tense silence.

"Believe it or not, I didn't come here for a glaring contest."

"Don't leave us in suspense. Please, enlighten us," Ruby commented sarcastically.

"I've heard back from all four."

"Already?" Kevin asked, surprise audible in his voice, "It's been less than a week."

"Well, it doesn't take too long to write 'no'."

"They all said no?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No," Ruby interjected, rolling her eyes at the stupidity of Kevin's question.

Sensing that the conversation was quickly heading south, Antonia quickly changed the subject.

"What about you, Kevin?"

"The same," he muttered under his breath, so quietly that Antonia could barely hear him.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you," Ruby asked, more to taunt Kevin than anything else.

"They all said no," he repeated loudly, irritation evident in his voice.

"All five said no?" Antonia asked desperately, feeling a sinking sense of déjà vu.

"Some said it more colorfully, but yes, the sentiment was the same."

Antonia groaned in frustration, running her fingers through her knotted hair.

Silence descended upon the trio once again.

Eventually finishing her sandwich and having nothing better to do, Ruby spoke up first.

"So I guess I'll be the one to ask the question: What do we do now? Hmm?"

Seeing that they all looked somewhat less than their best, Kevin replied to Ruby's question with something that wasn't quite an answer.

"Why don't we all sleep on it? Maybe we'll think of something in the meantime."

Antonia couldn't help but notice Kevin's emphasis on the word "sleep".

"And if we don't?" Ruby asked, filling the role of Devil's Advocate, as always.

"We'll cross that bridge when and if we get to it," Kevin answered without missing a beat. "Does that work for everyone?"

"Fine by me," Ruby conceded before leaving without further ado or the courtesy of even looking back.

Then again, courtesy wasn't really Ruby's style.

"Is that alright, Antonia?" Kevin repeated, taken aback and begrudgingly concerned about her uncharacteristic silence.

She nodded.

"See you later, Kevin."

Kevin stood up hesitantly, unsure of whether or not to say something in reply, or even what he would say if he chose to.

So instead he chose silence, and left with a brief wave which Antonia half-heartedly returned.

"There's a bigger picture," Antonia muttered to herself once Kevin was well out of earshot, her mind filled with ideas but unable to focus on any of them.

REMINDER: There is a POLL up on my profile, the results of which will impact the future of this story. So please vote on that, because right now it's all tied up! Thanks!