Chapter 13: (August 29)

Will met Riley at noon on Saturday. It had been more than two weeks since she'd shown him the tarot card, and every moment they had spent together she'd seemed busy musing over its meaning.

Riley opened the door to House 1, quickly ushering him inside.

"What, are we being followed?" he asked, taking off his jacket and swinging it on the chair in the hallway.

"No, but I did some research since last time. Here, come with me." She took his hand and brought him to the second staircase in the House. This one was located in the corner of the entrance hall, and led down to the basement.

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about last weekend. I'm sorry we couldn't go back to the pub to find some answers. Apparently people from town were down at the beach whaling, and the Headmaster didn't want us to participate or leave to see it. I guess it might give the Board a bad image…"

"No, it's fine. I've actually been to see it once, when I was younger. But then I threw up and my dad never took me again. Here's the light switch." After stumbling around in the dark for a few seconds, Riley managed to find her way to the small panel at the bottom of the stairwell.

As she pressed a button, the basement hall lit up slowly. On each side of the narrow corridor were plain doors.

"I haven't been to your basement yet," Will spoke quietly. "What's behind the doors?"

Riley pointed to the first two. "Those are dorms for the Prefects. Everyone says they're luxury, but I've never been inside. The ones in the middle are laundry."

Will motioned to the doors at the far end of the hall. "What about those ones?"

"Well, as I found out a few days ago, the left door leads to a supply closet. The right one leads down into the sub-basement. But I didn't go down there so I can't be sure." She bit her lip and moved to the left side of the hall.

"Alright, supply closet it is."

The supply closet turned out to be more of a supply room. Turning on the light, the two could see that a large table stacked with boxes occupied most of the space. On each side of the room were cabinets and shelves. Snacks, toilet paper, old textbooks, and emergency kits were some of the few items stored there. As Riley looked around, Will removed the boxes from on top of the table, and dusted it off. Taking two kitchen stools from a nearby corner, he placed them at the end of the table that was the farthest from the door.

"So why is it exactly that we're convening here of all places? Aren't the girls in your dorm gone for the day?" Will asked as Riley opened up the laptop she'd brought with her.

"No, I don't think so. The storm has them all stuck here. It isn't supposed to stop raining until tonight." Her voice became softer as she buried herself in the lore of tarot cards and fortune telling on her screen.

"Riley, did you ever stop to think that maybe this isn't a message? That perhaps you or someone else was so drunk they just passed it into your bag as a, I don't know, practical joke?" He sounded anxious, and she knew it was from his linking with her.

"Will, you don't have to help me. But I know this is not just a joke. This is real. I can feel it." She lowered her computer screen, and watched his reaction with her olive-green eyed gaze.

"What have you found so far?" He opened her laptop and turned it slightly to face him, looking at the Word document of her compiled research.

/

Lito was in the living room when he heard House 4's doorbell ring. The other boys were either upstairs or out of the House, so he slid off the couch and sauntered over to the door. Opening it, he was surprised to see that it was Daniela. She was holding a bright pink umbrella in one hand, and a rolled up brown bag in the other.

"Lito, hey! Como estas? I just came over to see you. And I brought company…"

Lito stared in shock at the bag, and then back inside the house to make sure none of the Prefects were there.

"Oh don't worry," she said in reply to his worried look, "it's sugar cookies and cider!"

Looking over her head to the downpour, he hurried her inside, taking her umbrella and leaning it against the wall to dry. He turned and realized that she was slowly advancing him towards the corner. He held up his hands and walked around her.

"Look, Daniela, I'm glad you came, but I'm not feeling too well right now and it would be great if you could come back later."

She rolled her eyes and moved closer to him, placing her hand on his chest. He almost jerked back in surprise, but she continued talking. "You know, Lito, we'd be great together. You're attractive… I'm attractive..."

She winked and he became clammy with anxiety. He felt a connection in his mind and saw Capheus laughing and shaking his head. Trying to maneuver his way out of her grasp, he shook his finger at her.

"Ahahaha, umm, good one Daniela! Really. Funny." Lito shooed Capheus out of his mind. "But you see, the thing is… I'm not available."

"You're not? But at the party you said you didn't have a date."

"Well I didn't. But I'm dating someone. She's from Naucalpan. It's a long distance relationship." He added when he saw her expression.

"Well, it doesn't have to be a relationship at all. It's okay; you'll come around." She blew him a kiss and took up her umbrella again, shutting the door almost as loudly as the thunder outside.

"And she didn't even leave the sugar cookies?"

Lito turned and saw Hernando leaning against the wall.

"And you listened but you couldn't even help me?" Lito asked angrily, locking the door behind Daniela.

"I heard enough from the living room. And why are you lying to her? I know there's no girl from Naucalpan."

Lito brushed past Hernando, heading towards the library. Hernando followed him and sat down in one of the leather armchairs. Lito tried to ignore him for a while, but eventually looked up and said, "She doesn't need to know. Daniela is nice but she's too…" he squinted and gestured around, trying to make the other boy understand how very much stubborn she was.

Hernando shook his head, quietly stating, "You need to learn how to be honest with people, Lito. And then you need to learn how to be honest with yourself." He stood from his seat and left the room.

/

Riley and Will were making plans to sneak out when they heard the door to the supply closet slowly open.

Riley turned to him and motioned to the door. Grabbing her laptop from the table, they moved to the far side of the room, hiding behind some boxes.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" the voice was gruff, and sounded familiar.

"Nomi?" Riley stepped out from behind the boxes to look at her friend. "How did you find us?"

Nomi laughed and edged around the strewn supplies, holding a laptop in one hand. "Uh, I live with you, I'm a hacker, and I'm connected to your mind and body."

"Sounds reasonable," Will replied. "But why are you here?"

Nomi turned her own laptop screen to face Riley. "You could learn to delete your history, you know. What's the deal with all this magic tarot stuff anyways? Halloween's not around the corner, last I checked."

Riley took out the card and showed it to Nomi. The girl flipped it back and forth, and then handed it back to her.

"Okay, but what does that mean?"

"Remember when we went to the Enhjørning? Someone there slipped this into my bag. 'The Hermit' is the card of introspection and soul-searching. When it's right side up."

Nomi frowned. "What about when it's upside down?"

"Loneliness, withdrawal, and…isolation."

Will sensed sudden feelings and memories emanating from Riley. She was young and alone. Scared of something. Of death, it seemed.

"Someone you knew died when you were very young?" Nomi asked quietly.

"Yes. She was sick." Riley looked down at the ground in contemplation, recalling the event. "But now is not the time to talk about it. I'm really curious to know why someone would give me this. Maybe we can go back to the pub tomorrow?"

Nomi shook her head sadly. "I don't think we can tomorrow. At least not until September. Only the Prefects are allowed to leave, or send us on errands."

"Whaling season," Will muttered.

Nomi frowned, placing her laptop on the table behind her. "Wait a minute," she breathed to the other two, and visited Kala.

The girl was at the Schoolhouse's library, staring at her iPhone screen.

"Kala? What is it?" Picking up the phone, Nomi's eyes widened at the message.

Kala looked up at Nomi, confused. "I don't understand. I just got this message a minute ago."

"If you could physically meet us at House 1's basement, we'd appreciate it a lot. I'm not sure what's happening, but it's kind of important and we need your phone."

Nomi was back in the supply room, placing her computer on the table. Will and Riley crowded behind her, watching as she tapped away. She paused and sighed. The two moved away slightly, settling back into their seats.

"Thank you."

Kala showed up in the basement corridor five minutes later, drenched to her socks in cold rain. Will waved her over and grabbed a blanket from one of the cabinets. Thanking him with a nod of her head, she wrapped herself up and sat down at the table.

Nomi didn't bother to look away from her computer, only held out her hand. Kala dropped the phone into her outstretched palm.

"Is it another card?" Riley asked.

"Yup. Let me pull it up on my computer screen. It's 'The Lovers,' if that makes a difference." They all turned to stare at Kala, who blushed a deep red.

Will focused back on Nomi. "But can you find out who sent it? The person must have known one of us, or Kala."

"Definitely, but the more important question is why they sent it. It may take some time to decode where this came from. The Internet connection in this storm sucks, and the only thing I have is my laptop. Unless, of course, I can access the school's mainframe after it passes, they might have more computing power and information. On the plus side, only half of this town even owns a computer, so it'll be easier to locate. No offense," she added quickly with a glance at Riley.

"Not my country, I don't mind. Is that what you have been working on since getting here? Accessing the school's files?" Riley pointed to the information on the screen.

"Yeah, but it's tough. They've got a pretty secure server. I've only managed to find some of it, which I haven't sorted through yet. Okay, let's see what the school's been up to…" She clicked on several documents and started reading.

Kala looked back at the door. "Should I leave? I'm afraid I'm not much help with computers."

Will shook his head. "You can stay, but you might want to wait around for your phone."

"No, she's good. I have all the data I need. But guys, come see this."

They moved to gaze over her shoulder, wondering what it was they were looking at.

Nomi smirked. "These are emails of the teachers communicating with each other. And it's not about grading. Who wants to know what really happened to Alvira?"

/

The Headmaster picked up the phone, waiting until the second time it rang. He slowly put it to his ear. "Hello? Who is this?"

A man's voice resonated over the line. "It's me."

"Why are you calling? I am busy."

"Yes, I'm sure you are. There's something we need to talk about…"

*End of Part 3*

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been supportive of this fan fic over the one month span since I've written it. It's been really great to write for a small community of Sense8 fans, and I really appreciate all the comments I've been getting to help me improve my writing. I was thinking of having a 64 Chapter arc, but I'll have to see as the story develops further. All I can say is: read it like a scenario. I may also change the update time in the future to four days, but Chapter 14 will still be posted on the 30th. Congratulations if you made it through this entire note. As always, have a wonderful day!

~C.o.D.