"Another test over," Marie sighed as she began packing her bag. School was over for the day and they had just completed their Social Studies test.

Floa groaned and rubbed her face. "Thank the Sovereign God. I thought my head would explode. The tests at this school are so much harder."

Marie grinned. "That's a good thing. Brain beats brawn any day."

Floa scoffed. "Not from what I've seen."

"Just be glad it's over," Callie said cheerfully. "Now we can go and play."

Floa groaned. "I can't yet. I still have to clean up after school for failing my last test. I was grounded for a week for that at home. Since when did schools punish kids for failing tests?"

"Since forever," Marie said. "Your old school is the odd one."

Callie giggled. "Don't worry, Floa, it doesn't take long. Besides, Tandi and Raven have to stay a little later too to pick up some of Raven's stuff from the art room. We'll warm up the castle for you."

Marie smirked and patted Floa on the head. "See you later, speckles."

"Bite me, princess."

Callie shook her head at the exchange and followed Marie out of the classroom.

There was nothing special about this particular school day. Classes had run normally, the weather was nice, the parents still stood at the gate chatting, and yet, Marie felt like school was so much better than it was supposed to be.

"You sure you don't want to be the princess this time?" Callie asked her as they passed through the school gate.

"Huh?"

Callie pulsed grey. "I don't know, you just seem like you're in a princess-like mood. Even Floa apparently thinks so."

Marie let out a weak laugh. "And what does a princess-like mood look like?"

"Well, you're smiling, your colour is brighter, and you've been a lot friendlier lately."

Marie eyed her. "My colour is brighter?"

Callie laughed. "Yeah, it's silver instead of grey."

Marie pouted. "It's always silver."

"No, it's usually grey 'cause you're always in a grumpy mood, but ever since the festival, it's been more silver, because you've been happier."

"Have I been?" Marie needed to think about it.

True, her life seemed better than it had been before. She wasn't looking for the bullies around every corner like she used to, she didn't dread the possibility of having attention focused on her, and she didn't need to feel like she had to hold herself back in anything for fear of offending someone and earning their animosity.

"Don't think about it too hard," Callie told her. "You might make yourself grumpy again."

They turned off the street and onto the path leading to the park. Since a week after the rock incident, they'd been coming almost every day. Floa insisted it was important they show that they could not be kept away just from one incident or it would encourage them to use such tactics again. They hadn't been attacked since so it seemed like it was working and Floa was the most experienced dealing with those types of kids.

"So I want to talk about the talent show coming up."

Marie perked up and went into manager mode. "Okay. You still want to do a song and dance routine, right?"

"Yeah, but I need you to help me practice."

Marie frowned. "Okay… but why? You can dance as well as I can."

"But most dancers have mirrors to practice in front of so I can't see if I'm doing the movements right. You said your mom tells you when you're messing up so I need you to do it for me."

"But the movements are ones you've made up, aren't they?"

Callie anxiously tapped her fingers together. "Well… I haven't actually decided what movements to do. I'm still making them up. Actually I was kinda' hoping you could help me. After all, you're not just my manager, you can dance too."

Marie stared up at the sky, thinking. Callie was right that she did have experience with dancing and choreography thanks to her mother's fan dancing lessons. So, why not? There was no reason she couldn't –.

Callie suddenly cried out, and Marie was shoved from behind, causing her to stumble onto the ground. She scrambled to try and get up again only to have her face shoved back down onto the hard, gravel path, sharp stones cutting into her left cheek painfully.

"Don't try anything," Admus' voice growled.

Marie went rigid even as her adrenaline surged. They'd come for them. Almost a week since the sports festival had gone buy, Marie had forgotten about the likelihood of reprisals. She'd let her guard down.

"Stop! Let me go!"

Marie squirmed underneath Admus to try and see what was happening to Callie. Every minute movement tore bigger gashes into her cheek. She could feel blood leaking out and onto the ground.

Through her right eye she was able to see Callie. Murl and Drang were dragging her towards the castle. Callie was fighting them, trying to wrestle out of their grasp, but they held on firmly as they passed through the gatehouse and onto the bridge itself.

Marie watched helplessly as they dragged Callie up to the battlements on the gatehouse then pulled her onto the horizontal ladder above the pea gravel moat between it and the castle, and the drawbridge was raised.

Callie stared in horror at the ground well below them, as if they were above the black pits themselves. She struggled more violently as fear overwhelmed her senses and she thrashed for all she was worth. Drang struggled to keep hold of her, while Murl was busy tying Callie's tentacles in a knot around one of the bars.

A sensation like a fist being slowly driven into her stomach struck Marie as she realized what they were doing.

Ignoring the pain, Marie thrashed and struggled but Admus kept her down firmly, putting more of his weight onto the hand pinning her head in place.

"You're not getting out of this one," he snarled. "This is your own fault for messing with us."

His deed done, Murl grabbed Callie and helped Drang shove her over the side.

Callie screamed as she went over. Her tentacles went taught and tore from the strain as she swung back and forth. Blood seeped from them and dripped over Callie's face as she tried to swim in mid-air, struggling, her backpack slipping from her shoulders onto the ground below. Then, she let out a high-pitched screech that made Marie's beak tingle.

That was a very particular cry, that of an inkling child in mortal danger. That screech would draw in every inkyora in hearing range, and given the power of Callie's lungs, now belting full force, that range was far.

The strength and nature of Callie's screech caught the boys off guard and stunned them. Marie managed to squirm her arm free and jabbed her elbow into Admus' side. He exhaled sharply and his grip on her loosened.

Marie jerked herself free of his grasp and tried to squirm out from under him, but he grabbed onto her backpack and held her firmly.

"You're not getting out of here until –,"

Admus was sent flying off of Marie by a full body tackle. He tumbled across the grass along the path and into the pea gravel, Floa right on top of him, her mantle like stars shining in a burning red sky.

Marie shook off her backpack and ran to Callie, but she ran into Murl and Drang on the way. She tried to duck past them, but Drang managed to hit her in the side, sending her sprawling again to the ground.

Marie hurried back up, not wanting to get pinned down again, but Drang and Murl were running to help Admus with Floa. Marie hated leaving her to deal with the three of them herself, but Callie needed her more.

Callie's screaming sounded more and more anguished. The blood was staining her clothes now.

Marie made her way into the gatehouse and climbed up to the ladder. "I'm coming, Callie! I'm coming!"

She glanced back in Floa's direction and found she was not dealing with the boys alone as she first thought. Tandi and Raven were also there, rolling in the dust and gravel with the others, but they weren't fighters. Drang was able to keep them away alone while Murl fought to tear Floa away from Admus.

Marie focused back on Callie, moving across the ladder until she reached the rung her tentacles were tied to and extended her arm to her.

"Callie! Grab my hand!"

But either Callie didn't hear her or she was too overwhelmed by her own pain and fright. She didn't reach up for Marie, no matter how loud she yelled, she just continued flailing helplessly, tearing her tentacles just a little bit more each time.

Marie started to panic, not knowing what else to do. Callie was too far away for her to reach and if she stretched out further she wouldn't be able to pull Callie up!

The bushes on the edge of the playground burst in a flurry of leaves and broken branches, a blur of green and blue crossed the playground in seconds before leaping from the ground onto the battlements and next to Marie.

Priestess Winterveil leaned down over the bar and grabbed Callie by one of her flailing arms, and Callie finally regained some awareness of her surroundings. The priestess pulled her up by her arm then held Callie against her with her tentacles while she unfastened the knot tied in Callie's own.

Out in the pea gravel, Admus had finally gotten away and the three boys scampered into the bushes.

Priestess Winterveil climbed down from the ladder then from the gatehouse to the ground, holding Callie in her arms. The girl had gone suddenly silent.

"Are you children alright?"

Raven and Tandi helped Floa up. All three of them had fresh injuries and were covered in dust.

Floa spat a glob of blood onto the ground. "I've been 'urt worse puttin' my shoes on. 'Ow's Callie?"

"I need to get her to the clinic right away. Do you children know the way?"

"I do!" Marie raised her hand, having just climbed down off the castle. "I know a shortcut!"

"Then take me now, as fast as you can. There's no time to waste."

So Marie ran, she ran with all the strength she had, with all that she was worth, only occasionally looking back to make sure she hadn't lost the priestess. All the while, she struggled to hold back tears.

She'd failed again, and this time, it had hurt the person she loved most.

Marie was no stranger to the clinic. She'd been there on more than one occasion to keep Callie company as she was treated for one physical injury or another. Her recklessness over the years had earned her several visits, but nothing close to the gravity of what she'd just gone through.

When they'd arrived, Priestess Winterveil had wasted no time and demanded the doctor see to Callie immediately. A quick glance from the doctor and she urgently took Callie to the clinic's emergency room, telling the receptionist to call for an air ambulance right away.

Priestess Winterveil went into the room with Callie but the rest of them were told to stay in the waiting room. Marie had been given the unenviable task of calling Callie's family.

After the receptionist finished calling for the air ambulance, she gave Marie a cold, damp cloth to hold to her face, then handed her the phone to call Aunt Mora.

Marie was proud of the fact that she managed to call without bursting into tears. She told her that Callie was hurt and she needed to come to the clinic right away. Once that call was made, Marie could hold it back no more. With her adrenaline ebbing and with her guard able to relax just a bit, the dam on her emotions crumbled and she started to cry.

Tandi and Raven pulled her over to the seats in the waiting room, sitting her down and doing their best to soothe and console her. Floa paced nearby, restless and angry.

Some time later, Aunt Mora burst into the clinic, her mother following close behind. The receptionist directed her to the correct room and she hurried inside.

Marie had her head down so she didn't see her mother approach until she was kneeling down in front of her chair.

Marie saw her face, but it was distorted by all the tears in her eyes. She couldn't tell what her mother's expression was, her vision too blurred to read the patterns in her mantle, but she could hear her voice.

"Marie, are you alright?" Her voice wasn't like the glacial calm she normally had, there was urgency to it, maybe even a hint of worry. Was she imagining it? Marie didn't care, she just wanted her there, wanted to wake up from this nightmare nestled within the protection of her tentacles, to be rocked back and forth in her arms until she fell asleep again so she could wake up from this nightmare.

Marie reached out towards her, the damp cloth falling from her hand and revealing the angry wounds on her cheek. Sobbing, she called out to her.

"Mommy."

Her mother's eyes went wide, and then she snatched Marie up in her arms and held her tightly against her. Marie clutched her mother's shirt and sobbed into her chest.

"I'm sorry, Mother. It's all my fault. I knew they'd come after us, I knew they'd be mad, but I… I just didn't want to be a coward anymore. I didn't want you and Nana to be ashamed of me."

"Marie, what are you talking about? What makes you think we'd be ashamed of you? What happened couldn't have been your fault."

"Cursed right it wasn't," Floa snarled. "It was those boys again. They strung up Callie like a fish, from the castle bridge. Marie couldn't have taken three of 'em at once."

"That's right!" Tandi said. "We all saw it. We tried to help but only Marie was able to get to her before the priestess came."

"It's my fault," Marie repeated, barely aware of her friends' words. "I let my guard down. I forgot that they'd come after us."

"For what?" Her mother's tone was insistent.

Marie sniffled. "For beating them in the sports festival. Callie and I beat them so bad they had to be mad."

"Just like the dodgeball game," Floa grumbled. "I thought they might throw rocks at us again or something gross, but…"

Marie felt her mother sigh, then set her back down on the chair before taking a package of tissues from her pocket to start cleaning her face and handed her the damp cloth back.

"I couldn't protect her," Marie croaked. "I failed again."

Her mother placed a hand on her head. "Marie, you aren't responsible for the behaviour of other people. I'll call Nana and she'll be able to do something. And don't worry about Callie, she'll be just fine."

Marie hung her head, whimpering. "But I'm not supposed to have to rely on Nana, I'm not supposed to be treated special."

"This isn't just about you, Marie," her mother snapped. "This is about Callie and your friends, about our family. These are the kinds of problems matrons and matriarchs are meant to deal with, this is Nana's job. If you want to take responsibility, then think about what you're going to do from here. Crying doesn't solve problems, well-considered actions do. Think about what you're going to do at school tomorrow, and how you will deal with those bullies when you see them. Will you stand up and face them if they confront you or will you cower and whimper?"

Marie sniffled and then looked her mother in the eye as sorrow and self-loathing made room for rage and resolution.

"I'm not going to be afraid of them anymore."

"Good."

Floa picked at the food on her plate with her fork, her mind anywhere but on her stomach. Her family sat around the table having dinner, her parents discussing the day's events.

"It's just awful," her mother said, angrily stabbing at the food on her plate. "How could a bunch of eight-year-olds even come up with something so horrible?"

Her father shook his head, his mantle red with blotches of darker read swirling around in its depths. "What would even make 'em do something like that? This is beyond what even 'appened back on the ol' turf."

Floa felt as if one of the butter knives on the table had been jabbed into her abdomen.

Marie had cried about the incident being her fault, but Floa knew better. She was the one who had manipulated Marie into trying harder, to bury the bullies in front of everyone and show everyone that they weren't the top fish they thought they were. While she had expected some kind of payback from them, she hadn't imagined anything like this. Like her father said, kids didn't do things like this, even back in Xapheerell.

Her mother said, "well, at least Floa's alright, besides a few scrapes and bruises… Floa?"

Floa looked up, coming back to reality. "Huh?"

"You've barely touched your food."

Floa frowned and looked down at her plate of breaded fish strips and rice. "Yeah… not that hungry I guess."

Her mother reached over and caressed her cheek with her thumb. "I'm sorry, Floa. We hoped that moving here would give you a more stable school life and wouldn't have you looking over your shoulder all the time."

Floa had to admit that she hadn't found much at this school that was better than the one she left. The education was probably better but she didn't care about that so much. The house and neighbourhood she lived in was nicer, but she barely knew her neighbours and the house was almost too big and with her room upstairs it felt almost like a journey just to come to the supper table. It was an odd sensation and she hadn't gotten used to it yet.

"You were very brave," her father said. "Standing up for your friends and fightin' right beside 'em. You did the ol' turf proud, Floa."

Floa nodded numbly. She didn't feel brave though. True, she wasn't scared of any of those bullies, but then, she wasn't really their target, Callie and Marie were. It felt like she was hiding behind them, in a way.

She thought about her dreams, how she hadn't had one of them in a while. Why? She still didn't have a good explanation for why Callie and Marie were in them either or why they were the villains when reality showed them only as victims. It was like seeing through the eyes of another person.

Should she bring it up to her parents now? Could they offer her some kind of answer? One look at the worried frowns on her parent's faces told her that now was not the time. They had enough things to worry about.

"I'm taking Floa to school tomorrow," her father announced.

Her mother stared at him. "What? But you have to be at work by then."

"I can show up a little late. My boss will understand. This is important. I gotta' show everyone there that if anyone messes with my little girl they'll have to deal with me!"

Part of Floa wanted to smile but another part was anxious. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that with or without her father, something was going to happen at the school gates tomorrow and that something would not be pretty.

Silvie paced back and forth across the living room. Her eyes occasionally flicked to the house across the street, as if wishing the lights to turn on to indicate someone was home, but it remained dark.

Natam sat in his chair operating the telephone and they waited for the other side to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Dad," Natam greeted. "How are you doing? How's Mum?"

"Oh we're both fine, just been solving the usual little problems. Fortunately, your Mum's not too tired out."

"We might be about to change that," Silvie said sourly. "We have you on speaker. Can you bring Reina in too? This is serious."

On the other side of the phone, Baron was silent for several seconds. "Fine, lemmie just figure out how to use the speaker function on this thing." A few moments later, Reina's voice came over the speaker.

"What happened this time? Was it those boys again?"

"Yes," Silvie admitted, "But it's different this time. Much worse. We aren't calling Marie's grandmother here, Reina, we're calling our matriarch."

Silvie could imagine Reina settling into her chair, adopting a more professional posture, her very state of mind shifting.

"I'm listening."

Silvie stopped pacing and recalled her days as a Security officer, remembering how she'd given situation reports. "Today, just after school, Callie and Marie went to that park they often go to. They were alone. Their friends were lagging behind for various reasons. When they got to the park, they were ambushed from behind. Marie was pinned to the ground and Callie was dragged kicking and screaming to the horizontal ladder on the little castle they have there. Once they were there, they tied Callie's tentacles to the bar and pushed her off, and Callie's afraid of heights."

Silvie paused to let give Reina and Baron time to process everything she'd said so far, then continued.

"Callie let out a distress call and a priestess nearby heard and came running. By then, Callie and Marie's friends arrived and helped get Marie free and keep the boys off of her while she helped Callie, though I think the boys were just trying to escape at that point. Marie couldn't reach Callie to help her up but the priestess arrived right then and got Callie down then to the clinic. After that, Marie called Mora and Mora told me. We went to the clinic from there."

Silvie waited for a response but she knew it would be at least a few moments. Reina had been angry enough when she found out someone had pelted the girls with rocks. After an escalation like this, she had to be beyond outraged.

"How is Callie?" Reina asked in a clearly controlled voice.

"She's at Inkopolis General. The clinic had to perform an emergency tracheotomy on her before they could send her away by air ambulance. Mora went with her and Gren was already in the city and met them at the hospital. I haven't heard anything yet. Most likely they're still trying to get the swelling down. Her neck had to take her full weight and that of her backpack after all. Hopefully, it didn't tear anything there but her tentacles were badly torn from what the children told me."

"The poor thing. I can't imagine what Gren and Mora are going through right now. How's Marie?"

"Her cheek was badly cut up from the gravel and saying she was upset is putting it mildly." Silvie shuddered as she relived that moment, seeing her daughter sobbing, body and clothes stained with blood and dust. The crushing moment had come after she went over to check on her.

"She called me 'Mommy.' She hasn't called me that since she was four years old." It had nearly broken her. She'd tried to instill a certain level of maturity and decorum in Marie so that she fit the image of a matriarch's granddaughter, and she'd often been complimented regarding how well mannered she was. But seeing her like that, calling her 'Mommy', her body had moved before she could even think, taking her injured and sobbing child in her arms and holding her close, and Marie, her mature and well-mannered daughter had clung to her like a frightened toddler.

"And what's Marie doing now?"

Silvie cleared her throat. "After dinner I gave her a hot bath then put her to bed early, though I doubt she'll get much sleep."

"Mother," Natam said, leaned towards the phone's mic, "we need you."

Without pause, Reina replied, "I'll be there tomorrow, probably around the time Marie gets off school."

"Thank you."

"Any instructions?" Silvie asked.

"Make sure Marie doesn't go to school unescorted, and make sure she doesn't do anything rash herself. She's probably frightened and angry. The situation is bad enough, we don't want to make it worse."

"I don't even want to think about what a worse situation would be like. We'll do our best, thank you, Mother."

"We'll put everything right, and be sure to tell Mora that too. They're not getting away with it this time."

Author's Notes:

Well, that escalated quickly, didn't it?

All jokes aside, it might be difficult for some to believe that a bunch of kids would go as far as something like this, but it's actually pretty shocking some of the things kids have done when they feel they have been pushed into a corner. You can say the same thing about adults.

Those of you who have read earlier stories in the series now know why Callie put so much effort into making sure she had strong tentacles. I had this incident in mind even as far back as that. Amazing what trauma does to people. Sometimes it's not all bad.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you look forward to the next one.