Isabella escorted Krone to her new room. The four kids watch the two adults from the stairwell.
The kid's mom reached out her hand as the door was open. "I set aside this room for you."
"Thank you. It's perfect." Krone turns to her
"That's sure gonna be inconvenient," Ray mentioned.
"She's between the three children's rooms," Emma added.
"It would be easy for her to watch us," Norman said glancing at the two women ahead of them.
Leia leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms, "Mom obviously did this on purpose. Krone is basically a spy."
Ray turns to her and nods. Soon Isabella and sister Krone turn to meet with the kids eavesdropping on the adults from the stairs. The four kids then smiled and acted innocently. Leia waved her hand as her eyes closed lightly for a few seconds. Since they got caught. They decided to go and speak in the library where fewer listeners are hearing from them.
"I was so focused on the trackers that another adult never crossed my mind." Norman's voice sounded rather awful.
"We should be happy about this," Ray said causing the bright bubbly ginger head and Norman to turn around.
"Huh?" Emma asked not getting it, "What? Be happy?"
Leia was sitting on top of the end of the table. Her feet tangled back and forth. The girl with violet eyes nods, "Now that sister Krone is here. We have another source for information."
Norman then turns to face Leia, "Now that I think about it. You're correct."
"First off, where did those two come from?" Ray was leaning against a bookshelf as his arms were crossed. He was so casual about the situation.
"I suppose Carol is here to replace Conny," Norman says suspecting the situation.
Leia nods, "They're basically replacing merchandise."
"Yeah, if this place is a farm, they must have a base where their prepare one-year-olds for replenishment." Ray elaborates.
"So then do you think we all came from that place at some point?" Emma asked.
"Where else would we come from?" Leia said, "We have no parents."
"And I bet Sister Krone came from there too," Ray added on to Leia's answer.
"It's significant that there are other adults other than mom. It means there might be other farms similar to this one. Are the adults who work for the demons under their control from the time they're born?" Norman begins to wonder, "Or after they captured? The workers prepare to escape to changes depending on that."
"That being said, there is no world out that here that is safe for us. Meaning this is a demon world. So in that case we have to find our way to the human world." Leia explained to Norman as he examines her thinking about the plan. I know there is a human world besides this one. I can't let them in on that type of information yet.
"But first, we need to figure out how to escape with everyone. Plus find the tracking divides." Ray added.
"I searched all over my body, but I don't find any traces of something implanted," Emma said as she checked around her body. Her hands rubbing her sides and searching around.
"And nothing on our clothes either." Norman also mentioned.
"Just based on mankind's existing technology, they probably use radio raves and need batteries. Something battery power and small that can last over ten years. That kind of technology wouldn't exist in 2015."
Leia seemed to be lost in thought. She stared down at the floor as her legs swayed back and forth. I specifically read in a book that there is already advanced technology like smart devices where you can search up something called 'the internet' along with flat-screen televisions. Though they're only out there in the human world. Surely only Ray is talking about our current demon thriving world.
"Meaning?" Emma asks as her head tilts.
The girl looked up to face her, "Meaning, It'll be difficult to predict the mechanism, find the location and figure out how to break it." She explained to Emma.
"And if it's demon technology, we may as well give up," Ray added on to Leia's half.
"Yeah, right," Norman mumbled, turning to the side as both of his arms rested on the chairs.
"Huh?" Emma asked in shock, "That's it?" She turned to Ray.
"Pretty much," Ray said so casually it caused Emma to go into a state of panic.
"That's awful!" Emma cried out letting her arms fly back to grab hold of her hair.
"Well, if we can't solve it. We can guess." Norman proposed another possibility.
Leia grinned, "Right~ !" She rang as her fingers snapped. Norman let out a small gasp and smiled warmly. This caused Leia to freeze as her heart fluttered. Shaking her head she grinned in return.
Ray rolled his eyes at the two, "Let's think like them. It might help. What would be the most convenient place to put it in?" He asked.
Emma hummed thinking. The room then grew silent.
"Carol!" Norman then called out.
"She might still have a mark since she's just arrived."
Leia then grinned and looked over to Ray, "From where they put the device!"
Leia held a baby in her arms. She looked down at it. Her thoughts were about how innocent it was. And how it had no idea where they were. She looked up at Emma who was dressing up Carol. She patted down the baby and looked for where the tracking device would be.
Emma then began to think out loud. Louder than she should. Gilda was in the room with them. Leia let out a soft sigh at her carelessness.
"Emma I want to ask you something," Gilda called out to the orange-haired girl. It caused Leia to snap to her attention. Emma placed Carol down in the crib and checked her ear. Leia looked back and forward at them.
How idiotic can this girl be…
"What's that? A big bite?" Gilda wondered.
Leia walked over to the two with the baby still in her arms. "It's from what blood is drawn to test for diseases," Leia answered and looked back down at the kid and cradled the child to sleep.
Emma nods, "It was smaller than what I expected." She touched behind Carol's ear.
Leia lowered her head as their cover was blown. She placed the baby down in the crib. Emma then covered it up by saying, "Oh! It was a much smaller scar than it had already disappeared." Those excuses only made Gilda more skeptical.
Soon night fell and it was time for everyone to go to their rooms. Leia walked over to her bed zombie-like and flopped down face forward. She let out a muffled groan.
Norman chuckled, "You look exhausted."
"More like a walking zombie." Ray snorted.
"Ugh… Emma blew our cover. She made Gilda suspicious." She turned around to face the ceiling.
"Let's just hope she doesn't come on to us. If she doesn't then we're fine." Norman tried to put Leia at ease. It helped her a little. She thanked him kindly before Don headed over to turn off the lights.
Leia lifted the covers and shifted into the bed. Laying flat on her back she stared at the empty blackness. A half-hour passed. It is now 9:30. Everyone has drifted off to sleep. Leia tossed and turned a few times. She was not able to fall asleep around 11.
Leia found herself walking through the halls of headquarters. The lights flickered every so often. She glanced at the room to her right side. Some had windows. Looking inside them they seemed to be offices. As she walked deeper through the hall she found herself at the end of a T hallway. The door ahead caught her eye.
The light shining through the cracks was calling her. The girl with violet eyes reached out to turn the knob. Walking in the room it seemed to be rather fancy. There was a long dining table decorated with all types of dishes.
As the smell of food excited her. She wanted to taste something. She reached out and grabbed a single fruit. Biting into the strawberry it tasted ripe and very juicy. Walking down the long table her eyes met with the main course.
The red strawberry fell out of her hand as it hit the floor with a splat. She looked at it horrified. Her heart sunk like a newly built ship but ever so slowly.
"Norman…" She breathed out as she ran over to him. The girl desperately got onto the table not caring about demolishing the fresh food.
"Norman!" She cried out and shook him. Looking at his chest she saw a bouquet of red roses.
"No…" She shook her head in defeat, "I loved you…" A single tear streamed down her cheek.
༄ؘ ˑ
Leia shot up in bed out of breath. She examined the clock as it just stuck at 3 AM. Her palm met her forehead as she seemed to be overheated. The girl kicked the blankets off her and dashed to the bathroom.
Ray's eyes slowly opened. He grunted and slowly rose. Looking over to Leia's bed he saw the messed up sheets. The emo kid sighed ruffling his hair. "Here we go again." He pushed himself up and headed to the bathroom.
Leia wiped her forehead with her sleeve. Her eyes shut tightly trying to get that horrifying image out of her head. Her lover dead on a table that was set for a feast.
"Leia?" He called out.
Leia slowly turned around letting go of the sink. She saw him standing in the frame of the bathroom door.
"You had a nightmare again huh?" He asked as he stepped forward a few passes to her.
Leia hummed a yes, "Mm hm." The girl sniffed.
Ray's fingers touch her shoulders he placed is hand, "You need to stop thinking about Norman. Especially at night."
The girl shook her head, "I can't." She let herself fall onto his chest having him catch her. Ray let out a rough sigh letting her cry onto him. Her lips quivered as her fingers tugged onto his snowy white shirt.
Ray swayed her side to side trying to calm her down gently by cradling her. His hand gently rubbed the back of her head. His warm hands glided on her soft silky hair. It made his heartfelt warm. Being this close to her made him care about her more. Though his feelings don't matter right now. They have to be pushed away even if it hurt him.
"Yeah, they're in a place no one will notice." Ray inspected by touching his ear.
Norman touched his ear too. "I never knew about the mark from when they took our blood. And it's something that disappears so quickly." He said.
"Yeah, I knew but I never suspected it at all, this whole time. Sorry." Emma apologized bringing the ball closer to her.
Norman let held his arms out wide, "Oh, no. You did great Emma!" He let them fall to his sides. "We now know the location and the size of the divide. On to the next step."
"How to break it." All four of them said at the same time. Leia found that fascinating.
"Let's see… if we try to cut it open to inspect it…"
"Mom combs most of our hair. If she lifts it she will see it." Leia declares crossing that off the list.
Ray looked over to her with a nod, "You're right. Whether or not we can break the transmitters the tracking divide implanted in us isn't that functionality useful."
"What?" Emma asked, "How did you figure that?"
"The single is so crude it can specify an individual. Without checking she can't tell where we are." Ray explained.
"But we still have them." Emma said.
"If the tracking device is destroyed. It will definitely notify them." Leia got in a thinking pose, "You know, I wonder if she tracks all of us on her pocket watch. Sure it has no identification but is she really tracking all 37 of us?"
Ray looked over to Leia. "You won't have to cut off you're ear, Leia. It won't be necessary."
She let out a small gasp, "But why? Won't she be tracking me too?"
"She only tracking her top scorers. Meaning only me, Norman, and Emma. So you don't have to suffer from losing an ear." Ray explained.
"Great! So Leia doesn't have to cut off her ear. What about us? I was thinking Mom purposely let us know the existence of the tracking devices. We can't dismiss it easily." Norman said making a good point.
Leia smiled at him kindly. The fact that he sounded caring about her not having to lose her ear made her feel all fuzzy and warm. Though since she didn't have to remove the tracking device implanted in her ear it made her feel left out too. Though that feeling was way below since Norman was caring about her blood loss.
She never got high scored as them in Test. She was always average. Mom still encouraged her to do her best every time. Though since every test position was done within a time limit she couldn't fit as much in. And every time she would an ounce the three perfect test scores. It always made her jealous of them. The way everybody praised them. That's why she admired Norman too. She's also happy she is Ray's close friend. Even so, something always makes her feel left out.
"It's risky to mess with it and break it. So we can only do that when we escape." Ray clarifies as Emma gasps.
"Eh? Then how would we be able to break it?" Emma began to panic.
We? Tch, we my damn ass. I never felt a part of this group from the very start. I only ever tagged along because I was lucky enough to get close to Ray. If I ever told him about that cliff I saw when I was nine. I for sure wouldn't be a part of this whole escape plan.
Though the fact that Norman seemed to care about me. It gave me hope as my heart fluttered. It showed that someone cares for my presents in this group.
"Actually I've been thinking. The shape and size of it brings something else to mind. Leave it to me I will figure out a workaround." Ray requested which finally brought Leia's attention.
"You sure?" Norman asked.
"If you say so," Emma said a bit concerned.
"Now the issue of taking the other children with us. The problem is they all completely trust Mom. They probably won't be able to handle the truth of our situation." Norman begin.
"There is another issue actually," Leia cut in, "Insufficient abilities. To put it bluntly, they're a hindrance." She let out a rough sighed.
"Leia! I thought you would be on my side on this." Emma cried out.
She crossed her arms, "You know it's the truth."
Ray nods, "Some of them aren't good at physical activity. Not to mention the babies who could hardly walk."
"That being said, we must leave the babies behind," Leia said seriously.
"I actually have an idea for how to deal with that." Emma proposed causing Leia to facepalm.
"Which is?"
"By playing tag." Emma suggested.
"Huh?" Both Leia and Ray ask at the same time.