Dealing with things at the post-office went smoothly and just a few minutes later, we exited with Sophia easily carrying a box sent to her by Glenna’s husband, containing what she had stored in her dorm room.

“What do you think they will tell people?” I asked, curious how her former school dealt with the fall-out of the events.

“I’m not sure, Galatea, could you look that up?” Sophia asked, making me smile. Back when Sophia and I had lived in the bunker, the two of them had talked quite a bit, mainly because it was the only being other than me with whom Sophia could talk, and it seemed that their friendship was easily reestablished. It felt a little strange when Sophia talked to Galatea while looking at me, but I would get used to it. And it was not wrong, Galatea ‘lived’ inside of me. Which reminded me that I still needed to build that capsule, just in case something went wrong.

After Sophia’s request, Galatea relayed the information to me, using our direct connection to speed things up, making the transfer nearly instant. What I saw made me shake my head, her former school had essentially suffered a terror-attack carried out by Powered and their response was to make like an ostrich and bury their head in the sand. Sure, I knew the circumstances of the attack and had a certain amount of certainty that it would never be repeated by the same perpetrators, but the school was unaware of that. They had simply stated that there had been a gas-leak to cover up the attack and provide a thin fig-leaf for the evacuation. Anyone with enough neurons to form a synapse would notice that gas-leaks had a certain smell to them and while they might come with explosions, that was not what had happened. It helped that the attack had happened at night, were most people were sleeping anyway, reducing the notice drawn by everyone falling asleep, but still, someone had to have noticed something.

But with simply covering up the attack, Sophia’s disappearance was explained as a sudden withdrawal, due to personal reasons, at least that was what they had written into the files Galatea had managed to access on the fly, reminding me once more that their data-security was lacking.

I explained what Galatea had found to Sophia, causing her to shake her head in disbelief.

“That is a scary thought, without even knowing the circumstances, they simply waved it away. I wonder how much Curadh has told them, did they know I had been freed or was I simply written off like some sort of bad investment?” she wondered, making me want to hug her, but with her carrying the box, that would have to wait.

When we got to the dorm, we ran into Tanisha and Karen who were just entering. When they noticed me, they did an almost comic double-take, their eyes switching rapidly from Sophia to me, and back, before they looked around the area, as if searching for something.

“Karen, Tanisha, Hi. Let me introduce my…” I stopped while my mind tried to come up with the right word to describe Sophia.

“...my Sophia.” I finished lamely, not quite sure what to call her. Friend seemed too distant and just not enough, Girlfriend was too soon, partner had too many connotations that I did not want to get into and so on.

“Sophia, these are my roommate, Tanisha, and our suite-mate, Karen.” I finished the introduction, without making more of a fool of myself than I already had.

“Hi, I’d shake hands, but…” Sophia greeted them with a smile, shrugging while holding up the box she carried in explanation.

Karen managed to get herself under control first, smiling and greeting Sophia with a small wave.

“Hi, Sophia. Are you moving into the dorm?” she asked, curiosity shining in her eyes.

“Yes, I’m starting a little late, I was just released from the hospital. Diana was kind enough to show me around.” Sophia explained, giving me a friendly smile.

Tanisha added her own greeting and we trooped into the dorm together, Sophia walking over to the administrator’s office, to get her own room-assignment and key.

“So, what is going on here?” Karen whispered while Sophia was in the office.

“What do you mean? I am merely showing her around.” trying to play things off.

“Bullshit.” Tanisha retorted in a whisper. “I might not know you that well, but when you walked up, you looked so…” she stopped for a moment, “happy and carefree?” she finished with a frown.

“In the time I’ve known you, there was always a tension in you. But just now, it wasn’t there. And ‘your’ Sophia?” Karen continued.

Tanisha nodded along, “I noticed that, too. The tension was even there when she was asleep.”

For a moment, I was lost for words, so I simply shrugged, before telling them that we might talk later. I was just in time, moments later Sophia came back and I was reminded that she had enhanced hearing.

“Diana and I are old friends, so now that I’m here too late for normal orientation, she’s showing me around.” she explained. Part of me wondered if that had been smart, showing that there was more to her than the eye could see, but it was done.

We walked towards the elevator but Sophia simply passed it, putting the box under one arm and opening the door to the stairs. “I’m just on the second floor, no need to wait for the elevator.” she stated, making me a little sad that she was two floors down from me, but still, it was far closer than she had been for months.

I was a little surprised when Karen’s breathing got a little strained after climbing just two flights of stairs, but there was nothing to it. I might gently suggest some additional exercise, but that would have to wait until we had privacy.

When Sophia got to room 2-24, she knocked first before opening the door with her key, letting herself in. I followed inside and we were greeted by a girl just getting up from the couch. The room was a mirror-image of the one I lived in, just with a few more decorations, potted plants and a poster or two.

“You must be Sophia. I’m your roommate, Leona. The admin called ahead, so that someone would be here to receive you.” she greeted Sophia with a smile. Sophia set her box down at the side, to shake Leona’s hand.

“Yes, I am, Sophia Collins, nice to meet you.” Sophia introduced herself before introducing us. “This is Diana, a dear friend of mine from back home, she’s showing me around the island, in addition to Tanisha, her roommate, and Karen, their suite-mate.”

Leona blinked surprised for a second, looking at me.

“I know those names, you are in 4-42, aren’t you?” she asked, her eyes going a little wide.

“We are, why?” suddenly, I was having a bad feeling.

“Everyone knows about you, when that rape-gang tried to harm all of us, it was you that protected the dorm, wasn’t it?” she gushed, making me develop an instant headache while Sophia looked at me with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

“What did you hear?” I asked with a sigh, and heard a distinct giggle from behind me, sounding like Karen. While I was happy that she was not too traumatised by the events of that day, giggling was going too far.

“There were five rapists that broke into the dorm and you fought them, keeping them away from us until the campus police could arrive!”

“And they were all at least seven feet tall, covered in scales and breathing fire.” Tanisha added sotto-voce, causing Sophia to laugh.

“Which room is Sophia’s?” I asked, not wanting to deal with that right now, “While I help her unpack, Karen can tell you all about her former boyfriend.” I suggested, feeling quite pleased to toss that hot potato to Karen, a just punishment for giggling.

“Don’t you know the first rule of storytelling?” Leona asked, now with a frown on her face. “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Who cares about what actually happened, what counts is the story, the emotions evoked by the telling. Don’t you know that the world is a stage, and we are all but actors?!” she proclaimed, her voice pitched to carry far, without seeming to shout.

“What was your major again?” Sophia asked, now full-on laughing.

“Why, I’m studying drama and theater. Is it that obvious?” Leona answered, joining in the laughter. Now, I was truly having a headache.

“Come, I’ll show you where you sleep. Zahra and Josie are currently out, but I’ll introduce you to them, later. Have you eaten?” Leona started to ask questions in a rapid-fire manner, dragging Sophia along with her. Now, it was my turn to laugh and pick up the box Sophia had carried, following along.