Gone

Katy immediately looked to her phone the second she heard it ring. She was only momentarily disappointed that it wasn't Rachele's name that came up, but Kian's instead. She pressed the button to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey! Sorry, my phone died while we were out."

"Rachele is with you?"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah! No, we just went out to eat and walk around downtown. Sorry to worry you," he said sincerely.

Katy sighed, partly in relief and partly in irritation. "Why didn't Rachele answer her phone? I called her first."

"Oh. Uhhh…" There was a pause on his end and Katy could hear Rachele's clueless reply. "She didn't hear her phone ring apparently," said Kian.

"She didn't bother to check at any time today? You've been gone all day and there's Kishin mutts in the streets of Death City, Kian."

"I know, you're right. We should have told someone before we left. And we should have checked in. I apologize."

Katy let out a soft breath through her nose. "No, it's all right. There's not a whole lot you could do with a dead phone. I'm just glad you're both okay. Listen: William is out of the infirmary. He said we're not going to the East."

"I thought we already weren't going to the East," said Kian, "Grim was iffy about it."

"Well, now he's serious about it. They're keeping us here… And Odette says we should go and… we all agreed with her. What do you think."

There was another pause, and she could hear Kian relay the message to Rachele. She listened to their muffled voices briefly converse before his voice was clear on the phone again. "Well, it's either face Carvahlo and Avetta here or there."

"Exactly. That's what Tim said."

"I say vroom vroom."

"And Rachele?"

"She says yeah. So? When are we leaving?"

"Come back and we'll discuss. First we have to figure out how the hell all of us are going to sneak out of here with everything we need without being noticed."

(Page Break)

It was well after curfew and the team was scattered about the living room of William and Odette's apartment. They'd been brainstorming about supplies and everything they would need to pack that they wouldn't have the money for along the way, but William looped back to Katy's concern. "How are we getting out of here."

"Let's act like we're going out to practice," said Christian, "Good excuse for all of us to leave the castle together."

"But what about everything we have to bring?" said Nikki, "We were just talking about needing backpacks, duffle bags, full of stuff."

Christian blinked. "… We're not coming back to the castle until we get our resonance perfected." He raised a victorious finger.

"They're not going to allow any of that," said Tim, "We're not even going to be allowed to train in the woods anymore. It's gotten too dangerous."

"We're literally going to have to do this without being seen," said Kian. "So, what's the best way for that? One at a time? Wait for the rest at a meeting spot? Less noticeable if we don't go all at once in a crowd."

"Or a distraction," said Nikki, "and we sneak out while everyone is preoccupied."

"A distraction or diversion of some sort after curfew is going to be the only way," said William. "Somebody somewhere needs to do something to get the guards' attention in the back of the castle and we go out the front door. Cause a ruckus. Something loud that will make all of them come see."

"I could break a window and yell or something," Christian piped up, "and high-tail it through the castle to the front."

William leaned back and scratched his stubble pensively. "That could work." Tim nodded in agreement.

"Cool! Then that's our plan. Now all we need to do is get packed," Katy stood up, ready to start on just that.

After the team left, William went ahead and started to pack. They weren't leaving until tomorrow night and he wasn't supposed to go to class yet, so he had time, but there was no way he was going to sleep right now. And he must have been sighing a lot, because Odette spoke up. "What's wrong? Are you sore?"

"Yeah, but…" William rubbed the back of his neck and stuffed another bottle of water into his bag, "leaving…"

She approached his side and sat down on his bed. "You don't want to?"

"I do, I just… don't care to… leave Marie here with Scalpel Fingers."

Odette looked down with a small noise of understanding. "… She's a big girl. She can handle herself."

"Not when I found her," William dropped a box of floss in his bag.

She shifted a little closer. "What was he doing to her."

"He was gonna cut out her other eye," he said as if it were the obvious guess.

Odette dipped her chin. "… Her… you mean, like… he cut out the first one?"

William looked at her with an expression that clearly read, "Please."

"… Shut up."

"I don't know if it's out out," William clarified, "I never really asked Marie to show me, but please. Of course it was Stein." He dug through his bag, counting his items to make sure he had what he thought he had so far.

His partner stared into space. "… I never considered it. But I guess you're right. He… probably did."

"Precisely why I don't want to leave her. Who the hell is gonna protect her from him when he loses it and she's just trying to talk him down from—"

BOOOOM!

Odette jumped to her feet after a shockwave of impact. "What the hell was that."

William hurried to the door and threw it open, looking down both hallways to see other students poking their heads out, too. Some of their classmates at the end of the corridor were hollering and pointing to the other side of the castle before taking off in that direction. William was quick to follow and Odette was right beside him. They brushed past students and it wasn't long before they met the rest of their team out in the halls, too.

Smoke had billowed up from the lobby and began filling the castle, wafting down halls and through doors. There wasn't a fire within sight anywhere, but everyone flinched and gasps pierced the air when there was a horrible banshee wail that chilled all students to their very core.

Either that was one hell of a Kishin mutt, or a witch had broken into the castle. Christian was still trying to get a visual and Nikki was ready to jump over the banister and jump down onto the scene, but William's thoughts changed direction. "Now."

The crew looked at him.

He blinked, his chest already starting to move quickly. "We have to do it now."

"Now?!" Katy nearly squeaked.

He looked down into the lobby and saw more teachers rushing to the scene. William's heart began thundering against his breast. "Yes. We have to leave now." He made eye contact with his team again. "We're never going to get another chance like this; it's now or never."

The students looked among each other. "I'm not packed!" Christian said, his voice cracking.

"Then get the fuck packed; we need to be out of here in five minutes," he breathed, racing back to his apartment. He didn't care what they were doing behind them. This was their chance.

His hands were shaking as he finished throwing items into his bag. William slipped on his leather jacket and he checked on Odette who was finishing putting her bag together. Her hands were probably shaking worse than his were. Once he was ready, he went to his friends' apartments and hollered through the door to get moving to the front entrance. When he ran down the stairs, the commotion was like jumping into a raging ocean in a terrible storm. Debris had flown in every direction but the smoke was not as thick. He saw Death swinging a red and black scythe and Stein twisted his body and plunged his fist forward with his soul wavelength crashing into a giant dark blue creature. Kishin mutt for sure. At least it wasn't a witch or Carvahlo. But this thing was huge.

William flinched when students raced past him in their pajamas toward the chaos. Weapons changed forms and jumped into their meisters' hands. And that's when a more powerful tugging sensation pulled at the bottom of William's stomach to attempt to drag it down into the depths of his body.

The rest of the team was gradually gathering by the entrance, watching the fight unfold. The monster swatted away kids like flies and took a hell of a hit from Marie, knocking it into another wall, making it crumble and fall apart on top of the beast. Rachele and Kian were the last on the scene and every one of them paused to watch the fight, the same thought ringing out among all of them. Christian was the only one who spoke it.

"Are we doing the right thing?"

And it spoke everything. Of course they needed to help their teachers, their classmates. They should be in that fight, protecting their school like the rest of them. Protecting their friends. Protecting their home. Which begged the question yet again: should they even leave at all?

William's breath was coming fast as he watched the monster snap its jaws against a broadsword. "… If we don't leave, there won't be anything left to protect," he said loudly. His team looked to him. He barely shook his head and his voice was now unexpectedly soft. "We have to."

Tim sighed harshly. He repositioned his bag over his shoulder and ran through the door. That's when the rest began to fall off, breaking eye contact with the mayhem and proceeding with their plan. William was the last one left watching. His eyes lingered on Stein swinging Marie in her hammer form. He took a big breath to offset his nausea, turned, and sprinted through the threshold.

And they were gone.