Chapter 10 | Ethan | Ear

Ethan stares at the picture of baby Della, taken a year before he even existed. She's crying in a cradle, her eyes closed. A hairy hand larger than her head is patting her. He sighs. They never told him what happened to his father, but the case with Della is different. "The 5th district will be raided tomorrow and if we find them harbouring her, we will bury her with it." Bhilzal's words keep ringing in his mind.

He puts the picture in his pocket goes to Eric, who is messing with his bag. He has one of the five watches in the boys’ dorm, and it's at least five minutes ahead of anyone else’s.

"You woke up early," Ethan whispers, looking around the room. Most of the other men are still sleeping because of the party.

"No, it's ten." Eric removes a brush from his bag.

"I meant considering how you slept late.”

"And you know that because you haven't slept yet, is that it?" Eric closes the zip of his bag. "I don't know what happened yesterday, but you should sleep."

"I have something to take care of before that." Ethan looks up at the dim white ceiling. "Ah, I have good news that I forgot to mention in yesterday's drama. Zelmira will get her own room in a different building."

"That's strange. Why?" He stares at Ethan. "Did you tell them about our fights?"

"No, no. She got it for different reasons."

"That’s okay, then. I’m here if you want to talk about anything," Eric says.

“No...I can deal with this.”

Eric goes outside the dorm, bumping into Royce as he enters. He's the third Numen candidate from the 17th District with Ethan and Umida. Ethan has seen him and Časlav hang around with Della multiple times. He is wiping his wet long brown hair with a towel.

"Hey, what was that yesterday?" Royce asks, and Ethan stares at him. Was that directed to him? He can’t remember a single time Royce has ever spoken to him. “Hey dude, are you listening?”

"...it's complicated," he says.

"Was it about your dad?" Royce whispers, closer now. There's a fruity aroma emerging from his hair.

"No...they don't talk about him."

"So...Della? Did they find her?"

Ethan looks around before whispering, “She murdered two Krots. She’s dead if they find her.”

Royce laughs. “Man, I'm surprised she even got out. She always finds a way so...she should be okay."

Ethan nods, also having arrived at the same conclusion. Worrying about her won’t help her in any way.

After brushing his teeth, he goes upstairs and knocks on the door of the girls’ dorms. Charlotte opens it a little, staring at him, running her hand over her blonde bed hair and failing to fix it. "It's too early in the day for me to be seeing ghosts...so you must be the real Ethan? I thought you were going to be, uh, dead after they took you away. Boo, that's not exciting at all. I'm, like, super disappointed."

“Sorry, but I'm alive and well."

She smiles. "I am not sure how much I can believe that. I heard from Iris that you're a rebel scum. That makes you, uh, I think she said…dangerous and unreliable. I think that means I must protect my lunch from you now."

"I'm not a rebel," Ethan says, sighing. "Anyway, I need to talk to Zelmira. Did she tell you that she's moving to a different room?"

"Meeting another, uh, rebel scum does not help your case," Charlotte says, "but yes, she did tell us about that. Such a shame. I'll miss all the drama that she brings...is this another case of it?"

"It's none of your business, Charlotte."

She claps her hands. "Oooh, then it must be something scandalous. First Iris, and now Zelmira? She's probably married too, you know."

"I told you that's not my intention," Ethan says, rolling his eyes. "Just let me through—my head already hurts."

She peers inside then opens the door wide. "The coast is clear, young man! Unfortunately, no half-naked women for you to see today."

The inside of the room is a replica of the boys’ dorms except for the sports-themed bedsheets. A bed with a desk and chair to its side for each woman. Charlotte points to Zelmira, who is sitting on the leftmost desk in the room and Ethan scowls, realizing his position in the boys’ dorms is the same as Zelmira in this dorm. As he walks, he crosses Iris, who glares at him. So she’s still not over Della being his sister.

Zelmira reads a book with a cover of two Krots sleeping under bright white light, and her desk is covered by other dozens of books. To the bed next to her, Umida snores lightly.

When Zelmira hears Ethan's footsteps, she turnsto him and keeps the book away. She’s still in her nightgown but has fixed her hair, letting them loose. “Good. I would have made you regret it if you hadn’t shown up. Let’s go outside.”

Iris’ glare is stronger when he passes her to go outside with Zelmira, who closes the door and leans against the wall, saying, "You sure made a fool out of me in front of everyone yesterday...but it's alright. I believe that even idiots can grow a brain. I will forgive you. We can work together and—”

“No, I came here to reject whatever you have in mind," Ethan says. "I don't see why I should be ashamed of my sister’s actions, and if you want to tell Exalted Bhilzal of the fighting amongst us, go ahead. It will hurt us all, but it will hurt you the most since you are in the centre of all fights. You think you can match all of our testimonies?"

She purses her lips, and he tries his best to not smile. So his bluff worked ; she has no hold over him anymore.

"I am feeling merciful today," she says. "I will give you one more opportunity to make amends. Team up with me, or fail the Numen and regret everything."

"I'm not going to fail. I will pass the Numen with everyone else and force them to accept us."

She crosses her arms, leaning forward to whisper, "The 5th has many places to hide people…dead or alive. Your sister—or her corpse—won't be discovered. If she’s missing, the Gorons won’t risk you in their empire, don’t you think? You will be privy to information that rebels like her desire.”

“That’s ridiculous. The Numen is an exam to test for worthy individuals of other species to join the ranks of Gorons. It’s merit-based. They don’t judge based on past—”

She laughs. “I used to think my generation was moronic, but yours is something else. I know you have never experienced the human world but you seriously can’t be that naive, right? It’s always been like that, even before the Gorons took over. So many things in the human world claimed to not judge on nationality, race, age, gender, past, or anything, really. It's all bullshit. Different era, same lie.”

"Even so, I refuse to work with you. You're awful to everyone and a rebel. I can't see how you can help me at all. I will find a way, and it won't involve you."

She glares at him. "I'm cautioning you again while I'm being nice and charitable. You will regret this, especially after how you talked to me yesterday."

Ethan sighs and turns to go.

He hears Zelmira say, "You have until the end of phase two. I'll stay in the dorms until then—if you change your mind, come visit me."

"I won't change my mind," he says and walks away.

***

On the day of the phase three announcement, Ethan wakes up to a loud screech. A medium-size Krot looks down on him, its mouth wide open. He tries to get up and kick it but the Krot's paws hold his legs tight.

Its mouth descends and Ethan turns his head to the right to avoid getting bitten in the face. There's a sharp pain on the left side of his head, and a ringing sound that keeps getting louder. He clutches his hurting left ear, but his hand finds nothing but some gooey thick liquid. He looks at his bloody hand and screams, and it blends in with the other screams. He doesn't even know which one is his.

Through his blurry vision, he sees Eric grabbing the Krot and throwing it on the floor.

A bloody ear covered in some kind of sticky glassy saliva lies on Ethan's bed. He puts his hand to where his ear should have been in an attempt to curb the blood flow.

"Why?" he asks. He has never seen a Krot this angry. What has he done? What changed for it to attack him? "Why…me?" he asks again, warm tears on his face.

Verve runs outside the dorm as Eric grabs the Krot by its throat. Gu Lei and Bambaata join him in subduing the Krot. It still looks at Ethan, its eyes redder than any other Krot he has seen. It growls, “Stop your attacks,” and bites the air over and over, unable to move

"What attacks? And how dare you attack me like this?" Ethan asks, frowning. Is this related to Della killing the two Krots? Did this Krot find out that Della is his sister? How? His voice trembles. "I don't know what's going inside your stupid rabid head so tell me! What attacks?"

Iris runs into the room with Verve as the Krot continues to glare at Ethan with its two yellow eyes. She looks at Ethan and opens her pouch, fumbling and dropping a few packets of pills. Ethan closes his eyes and screams when she applies the disinfectant. As she applies a cotton strip over his head, he sees a large Krot arrive into the room

Behind it, Zelmira wears a backpack and holds a large bag by its handle. She smiles and waves at him, turning away to the exit.