Chapter 16: (September 25)
The students at the Board said farewell to summer as September began, bringing with it the cold season, as well as the realization that school was far from over. Waking from her restless sleep one early morning that first week, Kala turned her head to watch as rain tapped the window in a thrumming noise. It reminded her of when she was a child, and standing outside of her father's restaurant to watch as the warm rain pooled off of the sloped rooftop, splattering into the streets.
"It's relaxing, isn't it?"
Kala started, nearly bumping her head on the bunk above her. Her heart raced quickly in surprise, and she could make out Wolfgang in the dark, lying down on the other side of her bed. She bit back a sound of surprise so as not to awake the other girls, and reached for her phone.
"It's four in the morning," she whispered, double-checking the time on the small screen.
"I like the rain," he continued, almost as if he hadn't heard her speak. "There's something nice about being all alone and hearing it. It used to help me sleep when I was younger."
Kala sat quietly and watched him as he spoke, her vision adjusting slowly to the dark blue light of the room. She could see that his eyes were closed, and he was resting his hand on his cheek. Opening them again, he looked at her. The same emotions she had felt from him at the Infirmary came back. His hate for whatever was in Germany was strong, although the feeling was slightly subdued with the calming rain outside.
Pushing her pillow up against the headboard to sit comfortably, she asked him why he'd visited her.
"I don't know," he replied softly, avoiding her gaze. "I think it's because I'm selfish."
She frowned and was about to ask what he meant when a peal of thunder outside her window startled her, breaking the connection.
Looking back, she noticed that Wolfgang was gone. As she pushed the pillow down again to fall asleep, a part of her mind wondered if perhaps it had been a dream. It certainly had felt like it…
/
As the weeks progressed, they continued to see each other on their way to class, or in the dining hall. Kala would give a small wave of her hand, and Wolfgang would nod in her direction, his face grim. Kala still wasn't sure if it had been a dream, as he had never acknowledged that their visit during the storm had occurred.
"Hey, are you okay?" a voice asked softly.
Kala snapped out of her train of thought, looking across the library table to where Nomi sat. The Board's library was located on the first floor of the building, and was quiet large. Soft light steamed in through the windows, naturally illuminating the studious teenagers.
"Yes, I'm fine." She smiled, although she knew the other girl could tell what was bothering her. "Where were we?"
"Well, we were paired up to complete our history presentation. You know, the one that's due in a week." Nomi lifted a stack of books off of the floor and onto the seat next to her. The sound made a loud thump, and a flood of shushes from the librarians was the response.
"Six days, I think," Kala corrected. "Have you found anything else?"
"On the Paris Peace Conference? Yup. But the thing is each book has only a few pages. We're going to have to do a lot of sorting…" She slid a stack of post-its to Kala, who shook her head.
"No, I meant have you found anything more on our teacher. Our old teacher."
"Oh, you mean about Alvira… no, that's slow going. The trail just stops with the Headmaster's email to the police."
"Then perhaps we should just stop looking. There doesn't seem to be anything more," Kala said, leafing through a book on French politics.
"Well, I didn't know you were one to give up."
"I'm not. As much as I wish we could find her, I feel like she is really gone, or that she doesn't want to be found. And I have a B- in mathematics. A B-," she whispered fiercely.
Another round of shushing came from the librarians, and Kala lowered her head to draw attention away from herself.
"Wow. Amanita and Riley need to take you out sometime, seriously. I think you're going stir crazy. And anyway, high school is supposed to be about fun," Nomi sighed, shutting another book and placing it on the chair, "and learning things you will never need in life."
"It's not going to be fun if I..." Kala paused and stared at the entrance of the library as two people entered. Nomi looked at her friend, and then back at the door.
"Kala, what is it?"
"Can we do this later? I need to leave." Kala smiled politely and looked around for another exit, but there were none. Steeling herself, she held on to her messenger bag and walked quickly to the front door, hoping to leave before…
"Kala?"
She turned at the sound of her name; spoken by a voice so familiar to her it was like her own.
"Hello, Wolfgang," she said. He was sitting on one of the library's old leather couches, a girl beside him.
"Do you know her?" the girl asked in a pretty Parisian accent.
Wolfgang quickly composed himself and looked up at Kala, nodding. "Yes, Kala and I met through some friends." He introduced them to each other without a glance at the blonde next to him.
Not one for snide remarks, Kala replied quietly, "It was nice to meet you, Camille. I hope you find everything you were looking for." She motioned to the books on the girl's lap, although Wolfgang frowned, taking her statement as a different meaning he didn't particularly like.
Kala turned when Camille - she supposed this was the Camille Myra had told her about- leaned in to whisper something to Wolfgang.
"Wait up!" Nomi called as she saw her friend exit the room, giving up on being quiet. The librarians all but protested, demanding that the girl leave.
"I'm going, I'm going…" She picked up the stack of books and jogged to the entrance, shutting the heavy oak doors behind her.
Kala was walking down the corridor, her bag bumping against her hip as she moved quickly. Nomi caught up with her just as she turned into the entrance hall.
"Hey, are you okay?" She looked down at the girl, who seemed surprisingly calm for what had just happened. But then again, Kala was a very calm person.
"Yes, I'm fine. There's no reason not to be."
"If you say so… I'll text you later with the history information. Don't get lost in the downpour, alright?" Nomi said, tucking the books away in her backpack. Waving goodbye, they parted outside on the lawn of the Schoolhouse.
/
Will knocked at House 1's door, pulling the hood of his jacket up as a light sheet of rain fell, soaking the students that ran back and forth from the School to their dorms. He was about to knock again when the door opened suddenly. To his surprise, however, it wasn't Riley, but rather Daniela.
"Oh, hey…" He gritted his teeth as several droplets of water made their way into his boots, drenching his socks. "Is Riley home?"
Daniela looked at him smugly, and then called back over her shoulder, "Riley! Will Gorski is at the door to see you! Again!" She waited for a few seconds, and then turned back to Will. "She's probably up in her room. Oh, you should come inside! It's raining." She said this as though it wasn't apparent to anyone but herself, and widened the door so that he could get in. Wiping his feet on the entrance mat, Will waited in the living room while Daniela went up to find Riley.
The girls descended the stairs after a few minutes, and Daniela walked into the kitchen to give them privacy.
"Hi… I didn't know you were coming to visit me." Riley smiled and sat down next to him on the couch, folding her legs beneath her.
Will reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, holding up an object in his hand. Looking at it closely, Riley sighed and lightly shrugged. "You too?" she asked, reaching for the card. She flipped it over in her hand, feeling the worn, rounded corners. A few of the letters were underlined, as they had been in the other cards. On the front side was an image she recognized from her research.
"The Emperor. It means structure, leadership, security. Or domination and control…"
Will watched her carefully and took the card back after she was done inspecting it. "You know what this means, right?" When she didn't say anything he added, "First you, then Kala. Sun. Me. Capheus said he found one too. It was stapled to his graded essay. It's getting ridiculous how creepy this is. Someone is sending all of us these tarot cards, and we don't even know why."
"It seems a lot of trouble for nothing if it is connected to that teacher. Did you hear anything from Irsa?"
Will shook his head, leaning back on the couch. A flash of lightning illuminated the room, and the light from the lamps seemed to flicker for a second. "No. I'm worried that something's gone wrong."
"It feels like everything's gone wrong, Will."
The sound of rain pelting glass became louder, and Will took Riley's hand in his own, watching the sky outside the window turn darker as time passed by.
A/N: I can hear the breaking hearts of all the Kalagang shippers… Don't worry, it's only temporary. Unless Wolfmille becomes a thing. But why have an OC/CC relationship when you can have a canon relationship? Anyways, I tried to incorporate a theme of "rain" into this chapter because it's raining a lot where I live. I also do my research, and it rains a lot on the Faroe Islands. Tomorrow is August 8th. You know what that means! One final note: Throughout the story, names, places, motifs, people's backgrounds, even "random" details mostly all have meaning. But it'll all fall into place anyways, right? Next chapter coming on the 11th. Have a super awesome weekend, and feel free to PM me on Saturday if they announce big news about Sense8 (We can Fangirl/boy together).
~C.o.D.