Chapter 21: Mud and Muck

The humans afflicted this way did not last long, their very being decaying into the ash that had begun the transformation in the first place.

If Bridget had thought that her new connection with Vex would serve as a solution to her problems at school, the next day’s Common Scenario class dispelled any such illusions. Sluggish and slow from a week’s worth of lost sleep, she was lagging behind in the current exercise, a fact that Niles seemed to take as a personal insult (much like he had taken the news of her recent success). When Briddy had excitedly announced her success to the Cell at the beginning of the class, his lip had curled, and he had dismissed her hard-won progress with a simple “it shouldn’t have taken you this long in the first place” before abruptly turning to face Lady Carmine at the head of the room, his back facing her.

Tuck had been happy though, and somewhat relieved to learn the cause of Bridget’s exhaustion, jabbing several questions at her before their teacher hushed them, explaining the day’s lesson.

“Out in the wilds beyond the Reach, the lands are unstable. You need to learn to react to your environment, adapt to its changes, and achieve your mission all the same.”

The mists that curled across the floor formed several wooden platforms, each looking like they were sliced from the middle of a tree, bark and all, precariously hanging from thick, ropey vines that circled their middles. Each one couldn’t have been more than twenty paces across, and they looked innocuous enough. Lady Carmine raised a slim hand, and they scattered into a ring around the edge of the room, hovering about five feet from the floor. A pillar rose in the middle, covered in thick vines of its own, atop which a large, golden figure of an Aspswan perched. It shuddered to a stop at around double the height of the platforms, the statue on top winking tauntingly at those below. The class collectively groaned, not looking forward to another “Fetch Eustace” lesson.

“None of that now,” Lady Carmine chided, her lips quirking in amusement. “The first group to successfully retrieve the figure and return it to me will earn a special reward. The rest of you will get passing grades, yes?” She flicked her fingers once more and the stones in the classroom wall churned, jutting in an ascending sequence just wide enough to climb up to the platforms.

Now Bridget and her group found themselves perched atop one, their classmates similarly scattered across others, desperately trying to keep their balance and avoid being knocked into a pit of churning mud below that Lady Carmine had added as ‘incentive’. Each bubble that burst from the muck brought an unpleasant scent of sulfur and earth mixed together, promising a messy end to any hasty decisions.

“Bridget, move up to the front,” Niles muttered, shoving her in the middle of the back. “You’re weighing us down back here.”

Grimacing, Briddy looked at the other side. The floor was beginning to tilt upwards, he was right about that, but she was the smallest among them, and her bulk would not offset that of three others.

“Quit standing around and go.” The lancer hissed, giving her another shove. She stumbled forward, feeling the wood pitch underfoot, sending their end further into a diagonal pointed straight at the pit below.

“Careful!” Tuck said, shifting forward with Briddy and catching her arm before she could go too far from Niles’s propulsion. “If we go that fast, we will end up in the muck.”

“It wasn’t my-” Bridget began, but Niles quickly talked over her, raising his voice. “I tried to tell her that, but she ran off anyways.”

“You-!”

“She never listens, that’s why we have so many issues.” The lancer raised his voice again.

Gail pushed past him, knocking into his shoulder with a solid thump, “Shut it, Niles.” She growled before beginning to nimbly slide her way across the platform, barely picking up her feet as she moved. With a long groan, the wooden structure began to stabilize, though the sway of the vines suggested it was not quite at equilibrium.

A shout rang across the room, followed by several thuds, and the entire Cell turned to find Parvati’s group deposited in the mud, sputtering and writhing as they attempted to disentangle themselves.

“One Cell down, darlings! No, no, I’m afraid you don’t get to try again, there are very few second chances outside the Reach.” Lady Carmine waved a hand, the stones leading up to their platform smoothly reinserting themselves into the wall as Parvati made her way over.

With a huff, the dark-haired girl threw her hands in the air, her silver arm winking as she stormed her way to the back of the rectangular room to wait.

“That’ll be us if you aren’t more careful, Bridget.” Niles admonished, shuffling away from the edge.

Briddy shot him one of the infamous Vasily family scowls before turning back towards where Gail stood, gesturing for her to come over. Crouching, she began to slowly make her way across, trying to mimic the sliding motion that her friend had taken. She only made it a few steps before Niles began criticizing, saying “You’re going to fall over like that, bending down makes you more unstable.”

“It’s a bit of a balancing act, as it were.” Tuck cut in before his cousin could continue. Briddy risked a look back to shoot him a derisive look. “Horrible timing on that one.” She said, grinning.

“Bridget! Will you quit joking around and focus?”

He seems to have a need to control others. A voice whispered within her, giving Bridget a small start.

Vex? She asked silently, eyes darting around.

An observation. Nothing more. The voice said and then fell silent.

Shaking off the surprise, Briddy continued her path across the platform, which swayed under each step, but evened out almost perfectly once she arrived. Several more sets of cries rang out while she moved, accompanied by various splats and splashes as their owners landed in the mud below.

Giving Gail a quick, relieved grin, Bridget glanced down to see Thurston and Abaget joining their group at the edge of the classroom, wiping muck from the clothes under their uniform. Eyes narrowing, she looked across those that had fallen from their platform. There was a pattern there, in that while all of them had some degree of dirt and mud clinging to their hair or legs, their Shrouds were pristine, devoid of any filth despite their owners landing in it.

Briddy recalled that her Shroud had tried to avoid her hands in the past when they were clammy or too moist, but it appeared that the fabric itself completely repelled the mud below. Turning to where Gail was balancing, she began to ask, “Do you think-”

“Bridget!” Niles barked from the other end. “Move up! Standing next to Gail like that is going to mess up her equilibrium.”

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Briddy rolled her eyes at Gail –who mirrored the action– and began shuffling away. Across the platform, Tuck did the same, the Cell now spread out in what could conceivably be called the four corners of the circular surface.

“Alright. Now slowly, Gail and I are going to start moving inwards.” Niles ordered, already beginning to move.

Bridget’s brow creased as she looked across to where Tuck’s impressive mass stood. Did Niles realize what he was doing? Leaving the smallest and the largest members of their group as counterweights seemed like asking for failure, and a one-way trip to the mud below.

“Niles, do you-”

“Hush.” The lancer snapped in response, pausing to hold a hand up at Briddy. “I’m trying to concentrate here and you’re distracting me.” His eyes glittered at her from behind his oval frames, daring her to disobey.

Biting her tongue, Bridget fell silent, watching as Niles ordered Gail about, telling her where to move, and when. The pair reached the center amidst several more sets of thuds from their classmates, accompanied by various curses and complaints as they picked themselves up out of the muck. Gail turned towards the vine-covered pillar in the center of the ring of platforms and leaned forward, swinging her arms to try and snatch a tendril to pull them closer.

She cannot reach it. Vex whispered, even before her extended fingertips just brushed the leaves. The bigger one would be better suited.

His name is Tuck. Briddy silently said, watching Gail swipe for a vine as the platform began to tilt underfoot. And it is not my decision to make.

A good leader knows when to use the right person for the right task. Vex replied, falling quiet after.

Letting out a small huff, Bridget looked over at Niles, who was urging Gail on. “Maybe we let Tuck have a try?” She called. “If nothing else he can hold onto Gail to let her lean out more.”

Niles shot her a nasty look. “Quit trying to boss people around Bridget, you’re not the leader of this Cell.” Turning towards the vines, he raised a hand. “Forset.” He intoned, the vines twitching, but not moving towards his fingers. Brow creased, he tried the spell several more times, to no success.

“Warded,” Gail grumbled. “Otherwise we’d just magic the damn statue down and be done with it.”

Sniffing, Niles turned back towards his cousin. “Tuck, get up here and help Gail.” He demanded, slowly beginning to move backward. “Unless Bridget wants to wave her relic around and make herself the center of attention once again?”

Bridget felt her hackles raise, and forced her tongue to stay still instead of tearing Niles a new whole to spew shit out of. Arguing back right now would only serve to prove his point, and the last thing this man needed was to be right. She watched the boys move in silence, slowly approaching one another as the ground shifted under their feet. Gail took several steps towards Briddy, evening out the distribution of their weights.

Shuffling to the side, the cousins met near the center of the opposite side, slowly circling while their eyes darted to what the other was doing, and to the edge of the wooden ring. They were almost in the clear, Tuck turning his back on Niles, when a bloodcurdling shriek rang out, startling him into jerking forward. His foot caught around his cousin’s ankle, and the pair slammed to the ground. With a groan, the platform tilted sharply, sending Briddy and Gail scrambling for the edge, in an effort best described as too little, too late.

Pitching to the side, the wooden disk deposited them into the waiting embrace of the muck below, foul sludge and crashing bodies mixing in a muddled pile of confusion and disgust. Groaning, Bridget disentangled her mud-covered hair from Niles’ hand, pulling her head up from where it had slammed, chin-first, into Gail’s back.

“River’s rush.” The tall girl swore, sitting upwards once Briddy was out of the way. “What was that?”

Across the room, grey mist crawling across the patch of mud and dirt, Warrin’s Cell sat, freeing themselves from a very similar position to Briddy’s group. Kurtis was patting Gemma’s head, who seemed to be crying childishly about something or the other.

“Congratulations, Bridget.” Niles snapped, standing up and flicking his hands. “You ruined it for all of us.”

“Excuse me?” Briddy retorted before she could hold her tongue. Already riled, her anger flashed to burning hot, lying in wait to coat her words and actions.

That was not our fault. Vex remarked within her.

Oh, I’m aware. She shot back.

“Don’t act innocent. I have no idea what you were even thinking, Bridget. Really, can you not just fall in line for once?” Niles sneered.

Shoving herself to standing, Briddy flicked her muck-encrusted hair back over her shoulder, the ends made heavy by the dirt. “I didn’t do this Niles, it was an accident.”

“It was your idea in the first place. You just had to have Tuck move, you couldn’t leave well enough alone!” Niles’ volume rose, his face flushing with anticipation.

“I don’t know why you’re yelling at her, Tuck is the one who tripped,” Gail interjected, a scowl written across her brow.

“She’s right-” Tuck began, but his cousin exploded over him: “Because Bridget was busy ordering everyone around, distracting them!”

“Ordering them around?” Briddy was taken aback. “Niles, I made a suggestion. I was trying to help.”

Niles cut her off. “No, you didn’t. You cut in, yet again, because you always need to make it about yourself.”

“It was a suggestion, Niles.” Gail also stood, jabbing a finger at him. “And not a bad one, if not for something out of our control.”

The lancer turned to the tall girl, his tone taking on a wheedling edge. “You might have thought it’s that way, but she wouldn’t shut up the entire time, Gail. She calls it helping and then just ends up ordering everyone about. It seems compulsive for her.”

“What are you talking about?” Bridget asked, half to herself.

Rounding on her, Niles adjusted his glasses, a smirk spreading across his mouth as though she had sprung some kind of trap. “Let’s not play dumb, now. You always try to take over because you’re such a sore loser.”

“A sore loser?”

“You can’t stand the fact that our group chose me to lead over you.” He said, getting in her face and jabbing a finger.

Bridget took a moment, looking at him to see if he was serious. Was that really what all of this was about? It didn’t make sense. “You do realize that I never even nominated myself against you, right?”

“As though you would have gotten any votes if you did-”

“My point being,” Bridget continued. “What does this have to do with the fact that an accident caused this?”

“If you had just kept your mouth shut,” Niles began, before a loud, echoing clap rang out through the room.

“That is quite enough now, darlings.” Lady Carmine purred, bringing all of the attention in the room to her. Eustace’s golden statue sat on the ground near her feet, the victorious Cell who had retrieved it standing nearby. “You two can take this outside,” She gestured towards Niles and Briddy, who felt a current of shame creep up her spine, “And the rest of you should get off and clean up before your next class. Appearances are important, you know!” She flicked back a perfectly coiffed lock of ruby hair.

“If that’s the case, why’d you put a mud pit in?” Gail grumbled, flicking another clod of dirt off her arm.

Bridget turned from their teacher to find that Niles had already begun to storm his way outside, and after a moment of pulling to free her feet from the mud, she left as well. The unrelenting desert was more than happy to greet her with a smack of intense heat, and Briddy grimaced as she felt the grime on her body begin to harden. She barely got a few steps from the Somnasium Annex when Niles’ nasal voice rang out behind her.

“So what’s it going to take for you to start respecting me, Bridget? What’s your grudge? You can’t lose and you’ll throw a tantrum until you get your way?”

He crosses too many lines. Vex rumbled within her, and Briddy turned on her heel to face the lancer, digging in.

“Are you serious right now, Niles? You insulted me the first time we met. How am I supposed to respect that?”

“Insulted you? So we’re just lying now, is that it?” He sneered back. Behind him, Warrin’s cell came to a stop, looking between the two of them.

“You made unwanted comments about my appearance, suggested I wasn’t my parent’s child, and ever since then you take every opportunity to tell me what I’m doing wrong, and how you think I should do it.”

Niles shook his head, a look of feigned sadness masking his face. “None of that even happened, Briddy. You may have told yourself that I said that and based your whole little campaign off that, but I’m telling you now that it’s not true.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you don’t dictate reality, then. Because it did happen.” She held her ground.

Niles gave her a sympathetic look, raising his voice. “Maybe you should see your guidance counselor if you’re having these kinds of delusions. Is that why you stole my friends? Because you thought I might have insulted you?”

“Stole?” Briddy said incredulously. He had built himself so high into this lofty tower of his imagined morality. Well, now was as good a time as ever to shatter its foundation. “If you’re talking about Gail, Tuck, and Asher; Niles, they’re people, not objects. They make their own choices and their own friends, you don’t own them.”

He scoffed. “Well-”

She gave him no quarter. “If you think about your friends as possessions to be stolen, then that says a great deal more about you than it does about me.”

“It doesn’t-” Niles grasped for words that she gave him no time to find.

“I’m sorry, was that too much? Are you going to throw a tantrum until you get your way?” Ruba’s sharp tongue had proved a magnificent whetstone to improve the edge on her daughter’s.

Niles's face turned a magnificent shade of purple, and his eyes did, in fact, begin to look a little watery even in the midday heat. As good as it felt to push back, bitter regret began to coat the back of her mouth. Words could be wielded as wickedly as weapons, which she knew all too well.

You’re not your mother. Vex whispered.

“Doesn’t feel good to be spoken to like that, does it?” She said quietly.

A hand came to rest on Bridget’s shoulder, and her head snapped around to find Gail, looking past her at Niles with a hard look on her face. “Let’s go, Briddy. You’re wasting breath.”

With a grip, her friend steered her away from the sputtering lancer, and down the white stone path that pointed like a wheel spoke towards their dorms. As quickly as her anger had flared, Bridget felt it deflate, leaving her in a rush until all that remained was a small, simmering pit in her stomach. Glancing up at Gail, she saw that her intense brow was still darkened by a scowl, and felt the remainder of her anger curdle to worry.

“Are you upset with me?” She asked, watching as the tall girl glanced back over her shoulder.

“Upset? Yes.” Gail quickened their pace. “At you? No.”

Nodding, Briddy watched the stone path pass under their feet for a few moments, a slow awareness coming in of how uncomfortable she felt, sweating away in the heat while still covered in caked mud and grime. She went to say something else to Gail, but caught her glancing back once again, and followed her gaze to a figure slowly following them, surrounded by Warrin’s Cell.

“Why is he following us?” Bridget sighed.

“He needs to clean off too. You can come to my dorm to shower if you need.”

“Why? Our showers work fine.” She looked up in confusion.

Gail looked back, equal parts of bewilderment on her face. “He stays in the same house as you, doesn’t he? I thought you’d want some space.”

“Niles stays in Honor House?” Bridget couldn’t keep the shock from her voice. She only stayed in the dorms to sleep or change, and largely avoided Niles as much as possible outside of class. “I thought he was in Loyalty with you and Tuck.”

“Nope.” Gail turned, steering them towards her dorm with a firm hand that had remained on Briddy’s shoulder, radiating warmth through the silken fabric of her uniform. “Or else I’d jump off the roof, having to live with his whinging.”

“Just my luck then.”

The pair ducked into the stone of Loyalty House, climbing the stairs to the girl’s bathroom and beginning a quick rinse in the blue-tiled stalls. As Briddy cleaned the last of the muck from her legs, she thought over the fight with Niles, feeling ashamed for letting him drag her into such a scene.

It is not a shameful thing, to show your steel. Just be sure it does not become your first response. She closed her eyes against the relic’s words, still jarred by having its interjections frequent her thoughts so often. Even if they were right.

Bridget resolved to keep her distance, avoiding his dramatics so she could focus on Vex and their new progress as Relic and Heir. Her problems may not have disappeared since that night in the woods, but she could choose where to focus her energy so that at least those problems had less to complain about.