Chapter One Hundred Three: Anna's Sweet Revenge

Anna Carrero stared through her rain-soaked bus window, watching Downingtown East High School grow closer and closer.

Turning off Devon Drive, Anna's bus entered the bus lane surrounding the school building, prompting Anna to sit up.

The heavily freckled boy sitting in the seat behind Anna asked, "Forget your backpack?"

Raising an eyebrow, Anna turned around in her seat. She faintly recognized the boy's freckles, but could not remember his name. Freckly von Freckleface, maybe? "I won't need it today."

"That's cool. Wanna hook up again?"

"Huh?" Anna's expression morphed seamlessly into a withering stank face. "Again? What do you mean again? Who the fuck are you?"

"Seriously?" Freckly von Freckleface blinked, taken aback. "You don't remember me? We fucked in the YMCA bathroom back in February. How could you forget that?"

"I fucked a lot of people in those bathrooms." Anna looked away, resting back in her seat. "Clearly you didn't stand out. Most humans excel at forgettable sex."

"Uh, no. Not me. I don't excel, I sexcel—"

"Fail." Finally, mercifully, the bus came to a stop, and Anna wasted no time standing up. "Epic freckly fail. Good day."

Hastily disembarking before the awkward conversation could continue, Anna stepped into the pouring rain and made a beeline for the nearest school entrance, ducking inside, grateful to have shelter from the inclement weather.

Hundreds of students filled the bustling hallways, clumped together into various friend groups, hanging out for the last few minutes before the 1st Period bell rang. Some students took a minute to store their coats in their lockers, but most of the lockers were untouched. Ever since the public release of Skaianet's sylladex technology, lockers had become obsolete, although there were still a few people with fond memories of the '90s who clung to the old ways.

Anna spotted Adam Tarrant at his locker, putting away his jacket and umbrella, and she was inundated with a flood of awkward memories. Even now, she still found Adam kind of cute and amusing, but his temper and his insecurities were much less attractive. "I'll handle you later," Anna murmured, turning down a different hallway to avoid crossing paths.

Pushing and elbowing her way through the dense, sprawling crowds of socializing, sleepy teenagers, Anna navigated through the corridors to the entrance of the school library. She opened the library door and stepped inside, relieved to be insulated from the noisy hallway. Closing the door behind her, Anna walked past several rows of bookshelves into the library's reading area, where Cass Galavis sat alone at one of the tables.

Cass sat mildly hunched, resting on her elbows, deeply engrossed in the book she was reading. Her phone lay on the table next to the book, and every few seconds, Cass looked away from the book and tapped her phone's screen.

Anna approached the table, looking more closely at Cass's phone, which displayed a virtual chess match in progress. Every time Cass moved a piece, the board inverted, allowing her to move a piece from the opposing army.

"Hello." Anna sat in the chair opposite Cass. "You're the famous Cass Galavis, right?"

"Famous?" Cass moved a white pawn on her phone into position to threaten the black queen, and then she looked up to see who'd interrupted her morning ritual. "Who told you I was famous? Do I know you?"

"It's good to see you alive," Anna replied cryptically, reclining back in her chair and resting her feet on the table, much to Cass's thinly veiled irritation. "I'm Anna. I'm a time traveler."

"A time traveler?"

"Yep."

"Could you go back in time and figure out how the Longyou Caves were made?"

"I can't time travel on Earth, silly," chided Anna. "No idea what the Longyou Caves are, but I'm just gonna go ahead and assume they were created by extraterrestrial miners. What're you reading? Longyou Cave fanfiction?"

"No." Cass tapped her phone screen, moving her black queen to safety before returning to her book. "It's about the Plantagenets."

"Plant-a-genie what now?"

"Plantagenet," repeated Cass, emphasizing the syllables more clearly. "The dynasty of kings and queens who inadvertently taught the people of England how to restrain the power of their monarchs."

"What a cute name. Sounds like a flower," remarked Anna. "A bouquet of Plantagenets."

"You aren't wrong." Cass gently turned to the next page. "Geoffrey of Anjou, Count of Anjou during the 1130s and 1140s, supposedly wore a yellow sprig of broom flower in his hat. Another name for the broom flower is Planta Genista, resulting in Geoffrey's nickname, Geoffrey Plantagenet."

"He became famous for wearing a little flower in his hat?" chuckled Anna. "That's a success story if ever I've heard one."

"There's a bit more to it." Glancing quickly at her chess match, Cass castled the white king with the king-side rook. "Geoffrey conquered a lot of neighboring land in northern France, but he died in his forties of a sudden fever. His widow, Matilda, was heir to the throne of England because she had no living brothers when her father, King Henry I, died. A succession crisis followed, because enough of the wealthy medieval Anglo-Norman men could not accept having a woman in charge. Stephen of Blois, Matilda's cousin, took the English crown for himself, and Matilda answered with a literal generation of civil war. Nineteen years."

"Well, fuck." Anna found herself strangely fascinated. She never enjoyed history. It was one of the most boring classes in existence, but Cass's passion was infectious in its own way. Anna checked the time on her phone. "We have a few minutes. Who wins? Matilda or Stephen?"

"Neither win. And both do, in a way. It's complex." Cass closed her book, looking up to meet Anna's unwavering gaze. "Matilda never wears the crown she fought so hard for, but one of the peace conditions to end the civil war is for her son, Henry Plantagenet, to be named King Stephen's heir. Although Stephen keeps his crown, he dies a year later, and his disinherited son never becomes king, ending Stephen's dynasty before it began. Matilda's son becomes King Henry II, founder of the Plantagenet Dynasty, which ruled England until the Wars of the Roses."

"Eat a dick, Stephen," interjected Anna. "Team Matilda for life."

"Here's the kicker." A faint grin tugged at the corners of Cass's mouth. "In addition to England, Henry II possessed the French lands conquered by his father Geoffrey, and he was also married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most badass women in history. With Eleanor's holdings, Henry II's dominion stretched all the way from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. Can you imagine that? The King of England ruled more of France than the King of France."

"Now, that is a success story." Anna lowered her feet, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table. "Why was Eleanor so badass?"

"She masterminded an armed rebellion against her own husband," said Cass. "Henry II gave away pieces of Eleanor's land without her permission. It was a mistake."

"Badass is an understatement. That's legendary."

"Team Eleanor for life," agreed Cass.

"Did she win her rebellion?"

"Absolutely not. She was placed under house arrest for sixteen years, released only for special occasions like Christmas," replied Cass. "Don't worry. After Henry II's downfall and death, Eleanor was freed by the new king, her favorite son, Richard the Lionheart. She lived the rest of her life with autonomy."

"Why haven't they made this into a movie?" asked Anna. "This is fucking epic."

"Check out The Lion in Winter," Cass recommended. "It's a treasure. Katharine Hepburn plays Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry II is Peter O'Toole. Richard the Lionheart is Anthony Hopkins, appearing in his first feature film role."

"If the world wasn't ending today, I would totally check it out."

"What?"

"I would totally check it out if the world wasn't ending today," repeated Anna. "How can I make myself clearer?"

The 1st Period bell began to ring from every loudspeaker throughout the school, signaling five minutes before classes commenced.

"Um." Cass pocketed her phone and grabbed her backpack, standing up from the reading table. "Well. Talking to you was interesting."

"Let's walk and talk." Anna sprang up from her chair and accompanied Cass to the library exit. "Have you ever skipped class before?"

"No." Cass pushed open the library doors and strode into the hallway, joining the controlled chaos of hundreds of students hurrying to their 1st Period classes before teachers marked anyone late. "I don't think I'd ever do that."

"Are you sure?" prodded Anna. "You're one-hundred percent certain you'd never skip class? Ever? Under any circumstances?"

"What kind of circumstances would qualify-"

"Aha!" pounced Anna. "You're giving it thought! Trust your impulses. You'll know when the time is right. Skipping class is something everyone should try before they die. Embrace your inner Queen Eleanor and rebel a little."

"Sounds almost reasonable when you phrase it that way." Cass stopped beside a nearby classroom door. "This is my Physics class."

"You should play the Sburb beta when you get home today," Anna suggested. "I know for a fact that you have it."

"I can't be late for my-"

"When things get crazy," interrupted Anna, "remember to play the Sburb beta. It will save your life."

Without waiting for a response or saying goodbye, Anna walked away, leaving a bewildered Cass to her Physics class.

Cass Galavis opened her eyes, sitting up in bed. She yawned, rubbing the bleariness from her eyes.

Wondering what time it was, Cass instinctively looked out the nearest window, only to be confronted with a dark, empty sky. "I miss you," she murmured quietly to the achingly absent sun, moon, and stars. "My friends."

Cass climbed out of bed and walked to her closet, pulling out her Sylph robes and getting slowly dressed. She had been wearing the Sylph robes for over a year, now, because they were incredibly comfortable, and they never seemed to get dirty. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Cass whispered, "Beautiful," noting the dark circles under her eyes. Yesterday, she had exhausted herself working with a brigade of Cleanup and Restoration teams at the Bloody Road, clearing away debris and filling in craters with dirt. Her muscles remained sore.

As she walked to the front door of her third-floor apartment, Cass glanced into Gwen's empty bedroom, noting the unkempt bed. These days, Gwen spent most of her time working with Iris at the old Duskfall Post Office, and Cass had not seen her in over a week.

Perhaps it was time to pay Gwen a visit?

On the way downstairs, Cass was surprised to find her second-floor neighbor's door wide open. "Argo?"

Inside the second-floor apartment, Argo sat on a couch, wincing as she eased the stump of her left thigh into the brace of a crude prosthetic, which seemed little more than a glorified peg leg. Strapping the remains of her leg into the prosthetic, Argo looked up to acknowledge Cass. "What?"

"You never leave your door open." Cass stepped into Argo's apartment. "Are you going for a walk?"

"Thought I might." Argo reached for her crutch, which leaned against the nearby wall. "It's time I tried again."

"Do you need a hand?"

"I don't suffer from a lack of hands." Argo used the crutch to push herself out of the chair, grimacing as her full body weight pressed her stump painfully into the prosthetic. "The Witch said she would craft a better leg. She told me it would have functioning knee and ankle joints. That was months ago."

"Gwen has been very busy." Cass allowed Argo to lead the way out of the apartment. "She's making sure we can all continue to eat. Do you want me to close your door?"

"Doesn't matter."

Cass closed the door and followed Argo downstairs. "Have you been well?"

Argo gripped the railing tightly, easing herself down the final few steps to the bottom of the stairs. "I manage." With a rolling gait, aided by her crutch, Argo walked to the front door and opened it, stepping onto the black-and-gray brick sidewalk outside. "One day at a time."

The streetlamps outside shined with intense brightness, suggesting to Cass that it was shortly after noon. Later in the day, as night fell, the lights would dim.

Before accompanying Argo into the bustling activity of Greenflame Plaza, Cass glanced through the front windows into the derelict first-floor bakery underneath Argo's apartment, looking at the sealed double doors behind the bakery's main counter. Beyond those sealed doors lay Gwen's workshop, but Cass could see no light emanating from within.

An impatient Argo hollered, "Are you waiting for time to end?"

"I'm just making sure Gwen isn't working at home," replied Cass, rejoining Argo.

A traveling open-air market had temporarily established itself in the northern half of Greenflame Plaza, providing a space for people to barter services for food, water, basic medicine, and other necessary supplies. The market always coalesced in the weeks leading up to a Public Conclave. When a Conclave concluded, the merchants dispersed, returning to their neighborhoods until the next Conclave approached.

Cass and Argo avoided the crowds by walking through the less populated southern half of Greenflame Plaza, passing three teams of C&R volunteers on the way. Two teams were hard at work clearing away the remains of a collapsed apartment building, while the third team was in the process of filling in the final craters left over from the Red Miles.

Through the hard work of thousands of volunteers, Greenflame Plaza was slowly but surely returning to its former glory.

"Why don't we take Oneiro Avenue?" suggested Cass, pointing towards the nearest road leading away from Greenflame Plaza. "Are you up for something longer than just a walk around the square?"

"I think so-" Argo's crutch wedged suddenly in a crack between damaged cobblestones, surprising Argo and throwing her off balance, sending her flailing forward into what was sure to be a bruising faceplant.

In a flash, Cass reached over and grabbed Argo by the arm, stopping her fall.

"Get off!" snapped Argo, throwing off Cass's grip as she regained her balance. "I did not say you could touch me. I can keep myself standing without your help, thank you very much."

"Sorry." Cass stepped back, resuming the walk. "Although to be fair, you were about to split your face open. What kind of friend would I be if I let you fall?"

"Whoever said we are friends?" Argo walked with Cass onto the violet-and-black brick sidewalk lining one side of Oneiro Avenue. "My friends are gone. My love is gone."

"You could be sitting alone right now, insulated from the world, but you're out here walking with me," pointed out Cass. "I think that speaks volumes."

"I have grown bored, I admit," conceded Argo. "I considered killing myself three days ago, and I am still pondering why I did not follow through."

Cass led the way across a street to the next city block. After a silence, she asked, "You were in love?"

"Once," replied Argo.

"No longer? What happened?"

"He called himself Inti." Argo glared at a group of passersby who were staring at her false leg. "He died on the Bloody Road, during the final charge. The Red Miles ripped apart the old Midnight Moon Hotel, and we were both crushed by one of the hotel's stone entrance columns. Inti was flattened."

Cass swallowed uncomfortably. "Oh."

"Our bodies hold a great deal more blood than I ever thought." Argo walked slowly with Cass across the next street, carefully navigating the cobblestones. "I had to lie there, soaked in a puddle of Inti's blood, because my leg was trapped."

"I am sorry."

"Why?" Argo looked away from Cass, focusing on the road ahead. "Did you kill him? Did you destroy most of Eastvale District? Did you cut off my leg without permission?"

"No."

"Then save your apologies for when they are appropriate."

Argo and Cass continued in silence, traversing several more city blocks until the Duskfall Post Office came into view.

Noticing several crumpled pamphlets littered across the cobblestones ahead, Cass paused to pick one up, smoothing out the paper, frowning as she read its contents. "The Eightfold Faith…?" she murmured, frown deepening. "Meetings in Royal House Square every eighth day of the month. Blessed Be the Witch of Light, Blessed Be the Sylph of Death, Our Salvation is at hand?" Cass looked up from the pamphlet. "Argo, what is this? Do you know anything about this?"

"No idea. I never leave home," grunted Argo. "Sounds like scared people looking for comfort."

"They're looking in the wrong places." Cass slipped the pamphlet into one of her pockets, approaching the Duskfall Post Office's main entrance.

"Which one is it?" Mr. Bailey, Anna's 3rd Period science teacher, frowned as he noticed Anna falling asleep in the back of the classroom. "Centrifugal force? Or centripetal force?"

None of the disinterested students raised their hands.

"Anyone? Bueller?" Mr. Bailey scratched his mustache. "Bueller? How about you, Anna?"

"Huh?" Anna picked up her head, still emerging from a hazily-remembered dream about waltzing with Tami Abramov. "What?"

"Were you paying attention to the demonstration?" asked Mr. Bailey.

"Uh-huh." Anna rubbed the sleep from her eyes, irritated at Mr. Bailey for asking a question to which he already knew the answer. "Hundred percent."

"Well? Did I demonstrate centrifugal or centripetal force?"

"I, uh…" Anna shrugged. "Honestly, I don't give a shit."

An electric awkwardness settled over the classroom as many of Anna's classmates looked at her, and some began to snicker quietly.

Mr. Bailey blinked, still processing what he'd just heard. "Excuse me?"

"Look, I'm just amusing myself by being here," admitted Anna. "At this point, it's really just for the nostalgia."

"If you hadn't been sleeping during class," accused Mr. Bailey, "you would know the correct answer. See me in detention after school today, and we will review what you missed."

Anna chuckled. "That's not happening."

"You're already on probation. If you want to remain a student at this school, you will see me in detention," insisted Mr. Bailey, his frown deepening as he noticed several students recording the conversation with their phones. "Put your phones away!"

"Definitely not happening," maintained Anna, glancing at the clock. She stood up from her desk, walking towards the classroom door.

"Where do you think you're going?" spluttered Mr. Bailey. "You need to stay put-"

The 4th Period Bell began to ring, prompting everyone in class to pack up their materials and crowd the classroom door.

Ignoring Mr. Bailey's protests, Anna exited quickly into the hallway, losing herself in the swarms of students in transit. She made her way through the crowds to the nearest stairwell, waiting for the human traffic to gradually subside before proceeding downstairs.

While Anna walked down a final stretch of hallway to the cafeteria, the next 4th Period bell rang, signaling the beginning of class.

"Anna Carrero, please report to the principal's office," a school official announced over the PA system. "Anna Carrero, report to the principal's office."

Holding back her laughter, Anna pushed open one of the cafeteria doors, entering the cacophonous frenzy of a high school lunchroom.

Hundreds of hungry students filled the cafeteria. Some sat at the long collapsible tables occupying most of the cafeteria's space, opening their packed lunches, while others waited in the cafeteria line with trays of Aramark's finest slop. Individual cliques of friends tended to congregate around the same table or groups of tables throughout the school year. Because each table had limited space, everyone tried to secure a seat quickly, often creating cutthroat interactions between rival claimants to the final seats at a desired table. Losing a battle for the last seat at a popular table resulted in having to acquire seating either at another friend-group's table, or one of the reject tables where no one wanted to sit. At the reject tables, one could find the loners, the friendless, the shunned, and perhaps most scandalous of all: the nerds.

Quickly scanning the lunchroom, Anna spotted Adam sitting all by himself at one of the reject tables, hunched over his phone. She steeled herself, taking a breath and walking over to Adam's table. "This won't be awkward at all." She sat in the seat opposite Adam, but he was deeply engrossed in a text conversation on his phone, and did not notice Anna's arrival. Clearing her throat, Anna shattered Adam's concentration with an obnoxious, "Heeey."

"Shit." Adam jolted with surprise, looking up from his phone, his expression souring the moment he saw Anna. "Why are you haunting me?"

"Still salty?" Anna rolled her eyes behind closed eyelids. "I get it." Sure, she had cheated on Adam with Gino last year, and she understood that Adam was still simmering about it, but having sex with Gino was really not something Anna wanted to discuss right now. At all. In any way. "Listen to me if you want to live."

"Are you trying to roleplay?" Adam made no effort to hide his vexation. "Is that what's happening right now?"

"Go on your date with Cass." Savoring the sight of blood rushing to Adam's face, Anna added, "Yes, I know about your date with Cass, and I also know you both share a study hall next period. You can totally convince her to skip the rest of today's classes. I know for a fact she's open to it. Ask her out, have fun, but be sure to get home to play Sburb after, or you will literally die."

"Oh god, you're playing Sburb too?"

"Don't be a dick," chastised Anna. "I'm trying to save your life. Leave the school building before 6th Period. Understand?"

Adam frowned. "Are you planning a mass shooting? This isn't funny. Please go away."

"Not until I hear you say it."

Exasperated, Adam said, "I understand."

"Good." Anna stood up from the lunch table. "Remember. Get out before 6th Period."

Before Adam could reply, Anna walked away and exited the cafeteria. She proceeded through a series of hallways, passing the auditorium, the music wing, and the principal's office. Upon reaching the front lobby, Anna looked around one last time, taking a mental snapshot of the spacious room.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" asked the front secretary, who sat behind the reception desk next to the high school's main entrance.

"Nope," replied Anna, walking towards the entrance.

The secretary frowned. "You aren't allowed to leave without written permission."

"Sure thing." Anna pushed open the doors and stepped outside.

Thankfully, the rainfall had lessened from the earlier downpour to a much gentler drizzle, and Anna wasted no time jogging across the bus lane to the school's lower parking lot. Beyond the lower parking lot, late morning traffic raced along Route-113, generating the gentle white-noise sigh of wet wheels speeding on a wet road.

Anna jogged all the way through the lower parking lot to the traffic light at the intersection of Route-113 and Devon Drive. She stood in the rain, waiting for the traffic light to change. Staring at the Wawa across the road, she wondered if it was worth stealing a donut. "Not yet," Anna told herself. "Soon."

When the traffic light changed, Anna safely crossed Route-113. As she approached the Wawa, she looked to her right, glancing at the CVS next door. "Very soon."

"I don't understand why you've brought me here," said Argo, following Cass through the main entrance of the Duskfall Post Office. "I have no interest in writing letters."

Cass exchanged a nod with the postmaster standing behind the mail counter, crossing to the other side of the room, opening the door leading to a back corridor. "We're not here for the mail."

"Oh?" Argo walked with Cass down the hallway, passing a series of doors which would have led to the sorting rooms where mail was organized and processed.

At the end of the hallway awaited a locked door with a number pad underneath the handle. After Cass entered a brief sequence into the number pad, the locking mechanism clicked, and the door swung open, allowing Cass and Argo to pass through.

Cass vividly remembered the mountains of forgotten mail which had once filled the vast interior of the post office's warehouse.

The massive heaps of mail were now gone, replaced by dozens of towers of interconnected metal girder shelves, stacked one on top of the other, stretching nearly all the way to the warehouse ceiling. Little placard signs affixed to the steel girders identified each tower with a unique number.

Although most of the shelf-towers remained empty, a sizable group towards the back of the warehouse appeared to be in partial use.

Large, lidded bins occupied many of the active towers' shelves, each bin illuminated by a lamp mounted on the underside of the neighboring shelf overhead. A system of small PVC pipes traveled underneath every row of shelves, connected to the bins by a multitude of thin, clear, curved plastic tubes. Through small holes cut into the lids of every bin, resilient green plants sprouted exuberantly in the mounted lamps' full-spectrum light.

Volunteers from several Cultivation teams patrolled the aisles between active shelf-towers, checking the integrity of the pipes and lamps. Occasionally, a volunteer opened one of the bins to withdraw samples of nutrient solution, looking for impurities and testing the pH levels.

Cass spotted Gwen and Iris working near a shelf-tower, identified by little mounted placards as Tower 4.

Standing halfway up an extendable rolling ladder to reach Tower 4's higher active shelves, Gwen inspected sixteen young carrot plants emerging from a recently installed bin, relaying her observations to Iris at the bottom of the stairs, who diligently recorded Gwen's data into a dense notebook.

"Hey, Iris!" Cass waved as she and Argo approached. "Hey, Gwen."

"Hey, Cass," Gwen replied without looking away from her newborn sprouts.

"Cassandra!" Iris waved back. "What a delightful surprise. What brings you here? I would have greeted you at the entrance had I known you were visiting today."

"I worked all day yesterday with the C&R teams at the Bloody Road," said Cass, impressed by the fully-grown carrot plants occupying the lowest shelves of Tower 4. "I needed some time off."

"Level Nine, Bin Two, all units in good condition," reported Gwen from the top of the mobile stairs, touching the baby plants of a new bin to check for any signs of deterioration.

Iris wrote down the new information, giving Argo an inquisitive look. "Who is your friend?"

"This is my downstairs neighbor, Argo," introduced Cass. "Argo, this is my friend Iris."

Argo, wide-eyed at the scale of such a vast project, asked, "What is all this?"

"Welcome to Cornucopia One," said Iris. "If it succeeds, we plan on building more. This is how we will avoid starvation while the soil in the fields replenishes itself."

"I don't see any dirt," observed Argo. "Are the bins full of dirt?"

"Come have a look," invited Iris, selecting a nearby bin of mature carrots, gently lifting the lid to reveal the clear nutrient solution inside. Vibrant orange carrots dangled from the exposed bottom of the lid. "As you see, no dirt is used in Cornucopia One."

Argo leaned forward to sniff the nutrient solution. "How is this possible?"

"Plants need nutrients found in soil, not necessarily the soil itself," explained Iris. "The nutrients can be administered directly to the plants via a carefully maintained water-based solution."

"Level Eight, Bin Two," reported Gwen, inspecting the bin underneath the one she'd just checked. "Units One through Six in good condition." Spotting off-colored leaves on two of the plants, Gwen frowned, checking the wiring on Bin Two's full-spectrum lamp. "Units Eight through Eleven, and Units Thirteen through Sixteen, good condition." With her index finger, Gwen tapped the lamp, but she did not see any flickering. "Unit Seven and Unit Twelve are showing signs of nutrient deficiency. Lamp seems fine. Make a note for the Cultivation teams to check this bin's pH level."

Iris jotted down Gwen's latest update. "Done."

"This is remarkable." Argo gazed at the many empty shelf-towers elsewhere in the warehouse, trying to imagine what Cornucopia One would look like when every single empty shelf flourished with life. "I've never seen anything like this."

"None of us have." Gwen made her way down the mobile stairs, taking a break from her inspections. "I've read about hydroponics, but I've never actually tried it, and I never imagined attempting anything on this scale. Honestly, I'm a little surprised it hasn't gone horribly wrong."

"You should place more faith in yourself," encouraged Iris.

"And perhaps other people should temper the faith they place in us," remarked Cass, producing the Eightfold Faith pamphlet from her pocket, handing it over to Gwen. "Take a look at this."

Gwen frowned, studying the pamphlet's content. "What the fuck is Eightfold Faith supposed to mean? And what's with the whole salvation thing?"

"Some people believe we will be delivered from the void when the Eight Heroes reunite," said Iris. "If you ever reunite. I wouldn't take it too seriously."

"I disagree. We should take it very seriously." Cass accepted the pamphlet back from Gwen, pocketing it. "There is no reasoning with religious people who believe they are right."

"Why don't we try some of these veggies, first?" suggested Gwen. "I think we're entitled, considering all the hard work we've put into this place." Selecting a bin on the bottom shelf, Gwen lifted the lid, liberating a single carrot and removing its leafy parts. "There we are."

Iris reopened her notebook. "Which one did you take?"

"Level One, Bin Seven, Unit Fourteen," replied Gwen, bringing the carrot over to a rinsing station, spraying off the nutrient solution with a water hose. "We can spare a carrot. Besides, all the carrots on Levels One and Two are due for harvesting, after the Cultivation teams finish with Tower Six's potatoes."

"Good." Iris made a note.

Snapping the carrot into four uneven pieces, Gwen kept one piece for herself, passing the others to Cass, Iris, and Argo. "Cheers," she announced, raising her carrot segment in a toast.

"Sláinte mhaith," wished Cass, returning the toast by 'clinking' her own piece of carrot with Gwen's.

Iris joined in the carrot-toast, saying, "Optimal health."

Already chewing on her segment of carrot, Argo frowned at the toast, tilting her head in confusion, trying to understand what Cass and Gwen were doing. "I am unfamiliar with this ritual."

"It's simple." Gwen bit into her carrot. "Wish us well, then follow it up with a clink."

"Perhaps next time." Argo swallowed. "Tastes alright."

Cass closed her eyes before trying her carrot, and she had to agree with Argo. "Vibrant flavor. I like how it still tastes kind of earthy even though it's never touched dirt."

"This is not our best," dissented Iris, chewing slowly. "Last time was better."

"Either way." Cass ate the remaining bite of her carrot piece. "You're doing good work."

Argo, looking at the dozens of unused shelf-towers, asked, "How long do you think it will take to fill every unit?"

"Are you interested in participating?" offered Iris. "We could always use more help."

Before Argo could answer, the relative quiescence within Cornucopia One was interrupted by the subdued sound of heavy bells ringing somewhere outside. As everyone fell silent, quieter bells could be heard further in the distance, muffled by the former post office warehouse's thick walls.

"Something is wrong." Iris produced a tiny windup pocket watch from inside her coat, checking the time. "This is not the changing of the hour."

Cass walked briskly towards the nearest exit. She unbolted and pushed open the door, stepping onto the cobblestones of the alley outside. Looking down the alley, Cass spotted people gathering on the adjacent street, and she hurried towards the commotion.

Emerging from the alley, Cass joined the growing crowd in the neighboring street. No one immediately noticed Cass's arrival, because everyone was looking up, staring at the bright yellow ball of light shining high in the sky.

Gwen stepped out of the alleyway, close behind Cass, stopping in her tracks the moment she saw the yellow light. Dumbfounded to see such a light after more than a year of living under a dark and empty sky, Gwen murmured, "Who is that? Is that what I looked like before you woke me up?"

"Yes, although your bubble was indigo. I've no idea who this one could be." Cass looked away from the yellow light, taking a deep, anxious breath, steeling herself for another journey into the void. "We need to call an emergency conclave. I'm going to have to leave again, and I don't know how many years I'll be gone."

"We're going to have to leave," corrected Gwen. "You're not going into the dark alone."

"I appreciate that." Cass smiled faintly at Gwen. "But you need to stay here. Help Iris. Be sure to attend every Conclave. Don't let Elunes and Atrex's politics interfere with Cornucopia One. Keep these people alive. They're all we have left."

Sitting on the bench outside the Wawa entrance, sheltered from the rain by the Wawa building's front overhang, Anna gazed across Route-113 at Downingtown East High School. She studied the colors and contours of the building, committing to memory many small details which had eluded her before.

Anna's phone vibrated, and when she checked it, she saw multiple message notifications from Theo Gibbons. Earlier in the morning, Anna had messaged Cruz and Theo about playing Sburb, and Cruz still had yet to respond.

In his messages, Theo expressed surprise that Anna was contacting him, greater surprise that she was playing Sburb, but to Anna's relief, Theo ultimately agreed to act as her server player, effectively saving her life. The phone continued to vibrate as new messages arrived from Theo describing an impending apocalypse, warning Anna about Sburb. "It's not what you think it is," stressed Theo's latest message. "It's not a game."

Anna messaged Theo: "yup evry1 gnna die, i know, ill msg wen im rdy 4 u. thx."

Yawning, Anna slipped the phone back into her pocket, eagerly awaiting her next opportunity to take a nap. Since waking up yesterday, Anna had not slept, except for isolated naps during her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Period classes. None of the naps had been enough to curb her sleep deprivation.

Dense gray storm clouds churned in the sky, surging eastward, driven by powerful high-altitude winds. Every few minutes, the wind and rain squalled briefly into a downpour before returning to a gentle patter.

Spotting movement from one of the high school's entrances, Anna pulled out her phone and accessed its camera, zooming in the camera view. She grinned when she saw Adam emerge from the school building, accompanied by Cass. "I'm proud of you both."

From her sylladex, Anna retrieved her journal, opening it to the last page, where she crossed out another item on her temporal things-to-do list. After closing the journal and putting it away, she glanced again at Cass and Adam through her zoomed-in phone camera, tracking their progress all the way across the school's lower parking lot to Adam's car.

Cass sheltered underneath an umbrella while Adam searched his pockets, presumably for car keys, because neither he nor Cass were getting into the car. Upon realizing his pockets were empty, Adam said something to Cass and turned away, hurrying back across the lower lot towards the school building.

"No, no, what are you doing?" Anna frowned, checking the time as she watched Adam make his way through the thicket of parked cars. "Turn around. You're out of time, you fucking idiot, turn around."

Underneath the wind and the rainswept sigh of traffic speeding along Route-113, Anna began to hear a deep, growling rumble in the stormy sky, provoking goosebumps across her body and sending tingles up her spine.

Heart racing as the rumbling in the sky intensified, Anna stood up from the Wawa bench, stepping into the rain. She put away her phone, watching helplessly as Adam approached the bus lane surrounding the school building. "Adam, stop!" she shouted, fully aware that Adam could not possibly hear her, but determined to try anyway. "TURN AROUND!"

The growling rumble from beyond the clouds intensified further, escalating into a frightfully earsplitting roar, sounding somewhere between a manic freight train and a howling tornado, powerful enough to rip open the sky. Anna silently watched the fiery momentum of a falling meteorite tear a vast hole through the dark storm clouds. Less than half a heartbeat later, a blistering surge of heat, flames, and superheated rock thundered like divine wrath down from the sky, slamming with full force and fury into the school building.

Vanishing in the fiery explosion, Downingtown East High School ceased to exist.

Even from hundreds of yards away, Anna could feel the heat of the explosion, and she was nearly knocked off her feet by the hurricane-force winds kicked up by the blast. Every glass window within a wide radius was instantly shattered, including the windows and windshields of passing cars, causing multi-pileup mayhem on Route-113 as several cars and trucks crashed into each other.

Anna sprinted across the Wawa parking lot, bursting into the neighboring CVS. "Karen!" she called out, looking for the pro-life cashier who'd humiliated her yesterday. "O Karen, where art thou?!"

The graying middle-aged cashier rose timidly from her hiding place behind the cash register, shock and confusion written all over her face. She frowned, recognizing Anna from yesterday. "…you? What…? What is-"

"The high school just blew up, Karen," Anna informed the bewildered cashier. "Pretty sure everyone inside is dead and on fire, so when you look for your son, I'd keep your expectations low."

"…Blake? He…? No." The cashier gaped in horror, tears streaming from her eyes as she saw the fires burning across the street. She hurried towards the CVS entrance, screaming, "Oh my god! No, no, Lord God in Heaven, no, blessed Jesus, please no! Heavenly Father, please don't let my son be dead! Please don't let my son be dead!"

Karen sprinted outside, and in her haste, she slipped on the wet pavement, striking her head on the concrete as she went down. Blood seeped from a new gash in the cashier's head, and she did not get back up.

"Oof," winced Anna, snatching multiple boxes of Plan B from the contraception shelf. "Right on the noggin. That's gotta hurt." Before leaving, Anna also grabbed several boxes of condoms, and then she quickly raided the candy shelves, stowing a wide variety of candy bars in her sylladex. Satisfied, she exited the CVS, stepping over a groaning Karen.

Karen opened her eyes, pressing a hand to her bleeding head. "You…" she mumbled as Anna walked away. "It was you…"

Ignoring the traumatized cashier, Anna hurried towards the burning ruins of her high school.