There is an oversight in Chapter 8. I haven't posted the correction though it's now in the manuscript. It relates to Haruka's encounter outside the girls' toilet and closes off a plot hole.

If you guys want me to, I'll post the correction, otherwise I'll leave it as is.

Chapter 9.

(Caelum)

#

At the end of afternoon homeroom, Class Two-Aye’s homeroom teacher, Ms. Clarisse Fauntine Avenir, called Caprice and I to the teachers’ workroom that was located in the faculty administration building.

With our carry-bags in hand, we stood before her desk in the large room that was dedicated to the second year high school teaching staff. There was one such room for each of the teachers grouped by academic year. As such, the spacious area was a working area for some two dozen or so teachers.

Fauntine was a twenty something brunette, about Caprice’s height, with an ivory complexion complemented by a smattering of cute freckles. Attractive fit her well. I’d easily rate her an eight point zero on my preference scale. The rumor was that she was dating some university professor, but so far she hadn’t shown up for work with an engagement ring. Usually, she was friendly and approachable, but that wasn’t the impression I was getting from her now.

Fauntine studied Caprice and I in silence for a long while, tapping her fingernail against her work desk like a metronome.

Her intense scrutiny was making me nervous, so I was relieved when she broke the silence.

“I have no idea what’s going on between the two of you, but I’m not going to approve this.”

She showed Caprice and I her data-slate that displayed my request to move smartdesks.

Caprice’s request was right above mine.

I knew it, I told myself.

Fauntine put the slate down on her work desk. “Request denied.”

She tapped out the response to both our requests and sent it to us. Then she faced us with a dark expression and angry eyes.

“Do not bring your love troubles to my classroom. Is that clear, Mister Desanto afil Lanfear?”

I swallowed calmly though I wasn’t feeling calm in the least. “Aye, Ma’am.”

“Don’t call me that. It makes me feel old.”

“Aye, Miss Fauntine.”

“Better.” She faced Caprice. “What about you?”

Caprice replied in a monotone, “What about me?”

“Sort out our problems outside my classroom. Comprende?”

“Si, Señorita Fauntine.”

“Good. You’re dismissed—both of you. Leave before you give me a headache.”

I fixed up the straps of my carry-bag on my shoulder, bowed to her respectfully, then left the teachers’ workroom with Caprice not far behind.

I walked down the corridors to the elevator that offered access to the training facility under the Academy. To access the restricted floors, I needed to enter the access code given to me by Principal Mason’s personal secretary, the blonde babe, Nicola Weinberg afil Lorian.

Entering the lift car when it arrived, I punched in the code, and waited for the doors to close.

I had expected Caprice to choose to wait for the car to return, rather than ride it down with me. However, she stepped into the lift car and occupied the back corner opposite from me.

I took a quiet breath.

“Why’d you choose to move?”

“Why’d you ask to move?”

I glanced at her, and caught the glance she threw at me.

“Ladies first,” I said to her.

“Then answer me first.”

Geh—she’s right. Stupid of me.

I faced the lift car’s doors. “With your new fans in class it makes it hard to sit at my desk. I just wanted my space back.”

“I see. That would make sense.”

I shot her a hard look. “What about you? What’s your reason?”

“With my new fans in class, it makes it hard for you to sit at your desk. I wanted to give you your space.”

Damn her for using my excuse.

I turned away. “Well, Fauntine thinks you and I are having a lover’s spat.”

“Inappropriate since we’re not a couple.”

“I agree.”

An uncomfortable period of silence followed.

I realized it wasn’t a good point to allow the conversation to trail off, but for the first time in a long while I really was at a loss for words. It wasn’t like we could discuss the weather. We didn’t live on a planet but inside a collection of giant asteroids.

Regardless of our circumstances, neither of us said anything for a long while, and the lift continued to descend well below the school.

However, the enduring silence became a pressure that constricted my chest. I felt as though I was suffocating, so I blurted out what had been subconsciously troubling me since I spoke to her in the morning.

“Why did you really change your look? Not that I’m complaining since I think you look really beautiful.” My chest felt tight again and I had to take a quick breath. “But I really have to know.”

“You have to know?” Her voice was low and soft, bereft of inflexion. “Does it trouble you?”

“No…maybe…a little.” I inhaled deeply and shoved my hands into my trouser pockets. “Yes, it troubles me.”

“Why?”

I found it hard to face her so I kept facing the lift car’s doors. “Because I want to know why you did it. Was it really for that mixer you’re attending…or was it for a guy?” Then I realized something obvious, and threw her a quick look. “By the way, when is the mixer?”

“Friday,” she replied smoothly, without any hesitation making me believe either she’d practiced the answer or it was the truth.

“Ah, where is it?”

Caprice cocked her head and slightly raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you curious?”

“Yeah. I’m curious.” I faced the lift doors and shrugged lightly. “Just curious. Don’t read anything into it.”

“I’m sorry, but Haruka asked that I not tell you.”

Was that really the truth? I wondered.

I glanced at her sidelong. “Are you looking forward to it?”

“If I say yes, will that trouble you?”

This time I looked at her over my left shoulder. “If I say it troubles me, will you still go?”

Caprice’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch wider, which for her was significant. Her emerald eyes were fixed upon me for a long while. Then a chime sounded in the lift car, and the doors opened to reveal a wide corridor leading into the underground facility.

Caprice stepped past me smoothly, and exited the lift car.

I hurried to the open doorway and called out to her.

“Tell me the truth, Caprice. Was it for someone?”

Abruptly she stopped, and stood very still for a short moment.

I realized I was afraid of how she may answer, but then she looked at me over her right shoulder with a faintly forlorn expression and replied with a tender whisper. “I thought blondes were your preference….”

She turned away, and resumed walking down the corridor.

I blinked slowly, unable to process her reply.

My heart began pounding so loudly I didn’t hear the chime, and I was belated surprised when the doors close on me.

The elevator car began ascending.

“No! Wait—!”

I pushed the button to head back down but the lift’s controller ignored me.

“Ah—you stupid machine!”

I punched the metal wall to my right, then leaned against it while supported by an outstretched arm. I hung my head low as I shook it slowly, finding it hard to accept the meaning behind her words.

There’s no way she did that for me!

I stared at the floor, my feelings a jumble, and my thoughts a mess.

No, it couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be.

Before I realized it, the lift was back above ground. The chime rang yet again, and the doors opened. When I raised my head, I looked into a pair of beautiful azure almond eyes, and saw a surprised yet happy smile spread across a heart shaped face.

“Caelum,” the Countess breathed out. “What a surprise?” She frowned for a heartbeat. “Are you leaving? Did you forget something?”

My mouth fell open slowly and I stared at her absently as I struggled to get my thoughts in order and my mind in gear.

“Countess…what are you doing here?”

She held up her hands and I saw that she carried a bag in each, probably filled with food, drinks, and other goods. “I thought I’d bring something down for you and the girls.”

She started to step into the lift car, but I quickly darted forward and stopped her with a raised palm. “Wait.”

She halted in confusion. “Ara, ara. Caelum what’s wrong?”

“Before you get into this elevator, you must promise me one thing.”

Simone’s slender eyebrows rose and fell. She still appeared confused, but now there was a hint of wariness behind it. “Ara ara. A promise you ask of me?”

I swallowed quickly. “Promise me you’ll be on your best behavior.”

The Countess’s eyebrows twitched. “Huh?”

“In return, I’ll double the promise I made to you earlier.”

“You mean, the promise regarding making the best impression before my family?”

“Yes. That promise.”

The Countess’s shoulders sagged slowly. “Caelum, what is going?”

“Promise me, Countess Simone Alucard Raynar.”

Her confusion and wariness remained steady as she studied me for a long while.

The lift chimed repeatedly as though asking if she was coming or going.

The Countess eventually sighed heavily. “Very well. I promise—”

I started to relax.

“—I’ll be the perfect girlfriend from now on.”

I choked and froze, and she slipped past me into the elevator car.

The doors closed, and the lift began descending…on a one-way trip down to Hell.

#

By some miracle, or perhaps because I was being spared now for a greater suffering later on, the Countess and Caprice failed to cross paths.

Training commenced, and after a half hour of warming up, I spent the next hour with Kaleb, practicing techniques over and over until I wanted to scream.

Then the last half hour was spent sparring – and I use the term loosely – with Maya and Rina.

With Caprice involved, the match wasn’t two-against-one, but two-on-two. With her support, I was able to counter attack whenever an opening presented itself, rather than spend the entire time on the defensive. Caprice dealt with Rina’s ranged attacks, preventing the latter from sniping continuously at me. With the pressure somewhat off me, I focused on dealing with Maya’s offensive. Defending against her was a full time occupation.

However, I couldn’t concentrate. With my mind wandering and I couldn’t focus on the blocking techniques.

Maya pushed me back, and it was a repeat of the previous days of training.

Not only could I not find an opening, I couldn’t make myself an opening.

And so Maya slashed, sliced, and thrust at me as though she were lethal ballerina, and I was dancer with two left feet.

Somewhere along the way, I zoned out of the match altogether.

My heart pounded from exertion but my chest was tight whenever I remembered Caprice’s reply. It wasn’t just her words that unhinged me. It was the expression on her face as she gave me her answer – an expression of faint dismay as though the answer should have been obvious to me.

In Caprice’s mind, I should have already known the answer.

Yet by asking her, I had somehow wounded her.

As I realized this, my heart hurt, and then my feelings fell into a quagmire, and the compass of my heart began to spin haphazardly.

What if it’s true? What then? What do I do? Wasn’t there a line between us?

Gradually, I started to believe I was entering dangerous ground.

What if the line isn’t there anymore? What if Caprice quietly brushed it away?

My mouth grew dry and my heart began rolling around in a fluster.

No, that couldn’t be. That’s just not possible. But what if it is possible?

Gradually, the din of thoughts clamoring in my mind grew faint until a single thought spoke out in the resulting calm.

Would that be so bad?

And that was the real question – the question I’d been avoiding since I realized Caprice was precious to me.

Would it be so bad if we were more than friends?

Unfortunately, my mind couldn’t cope with the pressure and overloaded.

In response, I yelled out into the air from the very depths of my being, and vented all the pent up stress of the last few days. All my confusion, frustration, anger, bitterness, helplessness, fears, regrets, and heartache, belched out in a lung deflating cry that rebounded off the cavern walls.

To my utter confusion, my surroundings disappeared when swallowed by a chilling darkness.

It lasted only a dozen seconds, and was followed by a soft boom, and then a loud feminine cry pierced the air.

As my vision cleared, I realized a few things.

One, a breach between real-space and Pocket Space had just taken place.

Two, I was standing taller than I had a dozen seconds ago.

Three, I wasn’t wearing my skinsuit anymore, but was clad in an incredibly light armor that felt like a second skin.

Four, my bladed-gauntlets had reconfigured into the form that I’d used against Celica in the Vault Chamber.

And last but not least, Maya was lying on the ground some fifty feet away…and she wasn’t moving.

In a heartbeat, I launched myself toward her.

To my abject disbelief, I crossed the distance in a second, and skidded to a halt beside the unconscious girl.

What the Hell? I’ve never moved like that before!

I looked down and noticed that my legs were sheathed in a sleek, gunmetal grey armor that reminded me of Caprice’s Valkyrie Legs. Yet though they were similar, the Kaiser’s Legs were not reverse jointed, and their tapered feet had a slender heel attached to them.

Wow! New armor!

I allowed the discovery to distract me only for a second before my focus centered squarely on Maya.

Noticing that the Kaiser’s gauntlet-blades were in the way, I concentrated and intuitively willed them to fold back. They did as asked, first extending, then flipping back such that I could now reach down and pick up the unconscious Maya.

Blood trickled down her face from a cut across her scalp. Across her torso, her skinsuit looked as though it had taken the brunt of an explosion, and was quite simply blasted away.

My stomach twisted painfully as I understood I was responsible for this.

Somehow, I’d summoned a new form of the Kaiser’s Blessing, and before realizing it I’d unleashed its power upon Maya. Wearing only her skinsuit, Maya had been unable to defend against the Kaiser’s Blessing, and was sent flying through the air until she crashed heavily to the ground.

Aware of Caprice and Rina hurrying toward me, I turned toward one of the cavern’s two exits and half ran, half jumped over to it. A half minute later, I was striding tall and fast down the corridor to the facility’s infirmary slash medical center, where I delivered Maya into the care of the attending medical specialists. Leaving the women to their work, I stepped out of the medical center, and then relinquished the Kaiser’s Blessing to its Sarcophagus.

When the black mist faded away into the corridor, I was pleasantly surprised to see myself dressed in my skinsuit. However, I had no idea how I’d succeeded in unlocking another piece of the Kaiser’s Blessing.

Leaning my back against the cool corridor wall, I heard the sound of footsteps on the hard rock floor, and turned my head to watch Caprice and Rina jogging quickly toward me.

From the opposite direction down the corridor, I heard the sound of high-heels clacking loudly on the rock floor, and a familiar feminine voice call out to me.

With each step those high-heels took, my heart shivered anxiously in my chest.

“Caelum—what happened out there?”

Caprice and Rina quickly halted, but then Rina chose to flee what was certain to become a tense situation by hurrying into the medical center.

She left Caprice standing in the middle of the corridor, the latter wearing an unreadable expression that spoke volumes to me.

The high-heels came to a stop a few feet to my left, while Caprice had come to a stop a few feet to my right.

“Ara ara. What have we here?” Simone asked in a flat tone.

“Is there a problem with your eyes? Is that why you’re asking?” Caprice replied in an equally flat voice.

I glanced at the two girls and swore I witnessed lightning behind their eyes.

Simone snorted under her breath. “I’d heard the boys in class talking about a new girl, so I checked the registry but there was no transfer student starting today. I had no idea you were behind the commotion.”

“My apologies for disturbing your daily peace.”

“Well this is certainly a new look for you.”

“It’s not against Academy regulations.”

“You certainly set tongues wagging.”

“Boys will be boys.”

“And you’ve certainly been turning heads.”

“I’m only interested in turning one head.”

“Ara ara. Could it be you’re finally serious about someone? Pray tell, who could it be?”

“That’s classified information. Sealed and compartmentalized.”

“…it’s what?”

“I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you.”

“…ara ara...how cruel.”

I sighed inwardly, and closed my eyes.

I knew this was going to happen. These two just cannot get along.

Slowly, I reached up and rubbed my temples. Usually after extended overclocking I endured a headache for a good half hour. However, right now I was enduring a different kind of headache. Correction, it could be said it was a headache with a different origin. But it was nonetheless a headache.

Simone recovered her verbal stance quite quickly.

“Oh, I see now. I do recall Caelum mentioning a preference for blondes. But he also has a preference for large breasts. Pity. You’re only halfway there.” She chuckled softly. “Best of luck.”

“Correction. I’m more than halfway there.”

“Huh?” I opened my eyes and stared quizzically at Caprice.

She was locking stares with the Countess, dueling as it were, so she didn’t spare me a glance.

What does she mean ‘more than halfway there’?

The Countess sounded faintly taken aback, as though Caprice’s unexpected rejoinder had unsettled her verbal balance.

“Ara ara. Swim classes begin next week. We’ll see what you mean then.”

“Correction. Swim classes begin the week after next.”

I realized I was nodding in agreement. For the Countess to get her dates mixed up, Caprice must have really rattled her with that enigmatic response.

“Ara ara. Caelum, are you looking forward to her revelation whatever it may be?”

I turned my head and faced Simone. “Countess, have you forgotten your promise?”

“Hardly. I promised to be the perfect girlfriend, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.” She folded her arms under her bountiful bust, pushing the twins up in the process. “And a perfect girlfriend stands her ground in the face of adversity…and adversaries.”

“…what are you talking about…?”

The Countess sighed dramatically. “Caelum, how oblivious can you be…?”

“What? Ah—”

A single thought strolled across my mind. Am I oblivious, or just stubbornly refusing to accept the obvious?

A gentle laugh reached my ears. “So it’s finally come to this,” Caprice declared softly.

I looked at her and saw something unexpected: Caprice smiling cruelly at the Countess.

“I’m so tired of your meddling,” she declared. “I’ve tolerated it for too long. You dragged us into your fight, and we were all hurt for it. And Caelum almost died because of it.”

Simone gasped faintly. “What are you talking about?”

“You dragged us into the fight between your elder sister and Caelum’s sister. And you lied to us as well. You knew about the Vault all along, didn’t you.”

“I did not know about the Vault.”

“As if the Raynar Witch would keep that a secret from you, knowing the Academy was in danger. Knowing you were in danger. Although I’m surprised she didn’t evacuate you first. Maybe Celica Desanto caught her unawares.”

Simone took an angry step forward. “I had no idea that the Vault Chamber existed. Silia didn’t tell me anything about it. Even after the incursion, she won’t tell me anything about the Vault.”

“What do you plan to do now? The Lorian Pride has chosen to support us Familiars, and our Guardians have agreed to co-operate. So how will you choose to manipulate us now? Do you plan to pull Caelum’s strings in the hope Rina, Maya, and I will follow his lead.” Caprice folded her arms. “Or can it be you believe you don’t need us any longer? Granted Caelum is weak, but he’s growing stronger. The more he unlocks the Kaiser’s Blessing’s Core Awareness, the more power he’ll summon. But the process cannot be hurried along. Too much too soon and his body won’t be able to cope.”

Caprice’s smile faded as she dipped her head at Simone.

“Or perhaps your goal has always been Caelum because he was chosen by the Kaiser’s Blessing.”

Though her arms were folded, the Countess’s hands clenched and her knuckles turned white. “Nothing you’ve said has a grain of truth to it. Absolutely nothing.”

Caprice raised her head and smiled again, and it was the coldest I’d ever seen on her lips. “I wasn’t planning on confronting you yet, and I certainly didn’t intend to face you here, but you’ve sorely pissed me off and I couldn’t help myself.”

Simone swallowed tightly, and her voice lost its melodious quality as it grew harsh. “Ara ara. My sentiments exactly.”

I could have sworn a cold breeze blew down the corridor a moment before an indescribable pressure built up around the two young women. Caught between them and with my back to the wall, I actually forgot to breathe for a handful of seconds.

Then a girl’s voice came out of left field and cut through the pressure like a fine sword.

“Come on you two. What’s with this atmosphere? You’re making my head hurt.”

As though her voice had broken the spell I was under, I turned to the medical center’s entrance to my left, and saw Maya standing a few feet into the corridor and few feet behind Simone. She was sporting a bandage around her head and forehead, while dressed in the remains of her skinsuit. At sight of the large angry bruise that dominated her torso, my chest tightened, constricting the air in my lungs.

“Maya….”

Though the bruise had to be hurting her, she stood straight and proudly as she planted her hands on her hips. “Relax, Pervert Desanto. That gloomy face doesn’t suit you. You’re better off wearing your usual lecherous look.”

“Wh—what?”

Rina poked her head out through the entrance. “The doctor says she’ll be fine.”

Maya made a needle plunging motion with her right hand. “They wouldn’t listen to my complaints and pumped that accursed Sora Symbiote into my bloodstream. The monster is already hard at work. Ah—this sucks. I can feel the bastard spreading through my body.” She closed her eyes as she rubbed her hair. “I’m going to lose my appetite for a week now. Aggh, man this really sucks! This is why I hate that thing inside me.”

I pushed away from the wall and faced her properly with heartfelt regret. “Maya, I’m sorry for what happened. I’m really, really sorry.”

She stared at me with one eye open. “That was payback…wasn’t it.”

I shook my head firmly. “No—absolutely not. I have no idea how that happened, but hurting you was never my intention.”

She humpfed and folded her arms. “Well…I have been treating you pretty badly. So I guess I shouldn’t blame you.”

I shook my head and briefly raised my hands. “Maya, I swear it wasn’t intentional.”

After a short while of silence, Maya humpfed again. “So, you finally decided to take me seriously.”

“Wh—what? No. I mean, I always take you seriously.”

“And you finally started showing some of that talent you used against your sister.”

I blinked, then remembered that Maya, Rina, Caprice, and the Countess had seen the recordings from inside the Vault Chamber. Severin had kept copies though he handed the originals to the Public Security. I’d heard the Sanctum, being rivals of Public Security, weren’t happy about that but Severin said he didn’t care.

Maya cocked her head at me. “You held your own pretty well against me, even though I was throwing you my all.” She exhaled bitterly. “I guess I’ve hit my limit with just the skinsuit. Time for me to level up….”

I swallowed quietly. “Maya—”

“How did you do it?” she asked.

“Ah—I don’t know. It just…it just happened. It was like something inside me snapped. I couldn’t take it anymore and everything fell apart inside my mind and body. I just…broke…and let everything pour out. Every repressed bit of anger and bitterness and regret—all of it. It just came rushing out—”

I stopped, realizing the path my words were following.

If I kept talking I’d reveal that facing that single question had been the last step to breaking the weakened seal around the Kaiser’s Blessing. It wasn’t something I was ready to reveal, perhaps not ever.

Would it be so bad? I swallowed tightly. No. No it wouldn’t. I closed my eyes. But am I worthy of her?

Maya’s voice intruded into the darkness. “So, how was I?”

I opened my eyes and blinked quickly, clearing my vision. “Excuse me?”

Maya planted a hand on her hip, and winced as the bruise around her torso bothered her. “When you walked in on me in the change room? How was I?”

“Oh.” I swallowed and remembered the lovely vision of her wearing sheer lacy black lingerie. “You looked hot.”

The corridor grew instantly frosty and Goosebumps broke out all over my body.

Oh, no! What did I just say?

Maya had a heated expression on her face.

Crap! I’m in for it now. And I’m boxed in from all sides! Geh—I can feel Caprice’s icy stare on my back.

Abruptly, Maya sighed heavily. “You really have no restraint, do you?” she muttered.

I straightened and though I kept my expression regretful, I was inwardly preparing myself for a vicious assault.

To my surprise, she waved a hand about and loudly said, “Ah, why am I not surprised. That’s one thing that will never change about you.” Stretching her body with her arms high above her head, she declared, “I’m off. I need a shower. No more training for me tonight.”

Maya turned smoothly and walked away down the corridor, heading in the direction that led to the change rooms. I might have been wrong, but her hips swayed more than they usually did. After a moment, Rina ducked out of the medical center and followed in her wake.

“Maya, wait for me!” she wailed.

A quiet cough filled the air. “Ara ara. That was unexpected. I feared you were in for a beating.”

The discreet clearing of another throat soon followed. “I agree. An unforeseen turn of events. Her degree of restraint was surprising.”

I peeked at the Countess and then fearfully glanced at Caprice.

With her arms folded under her breasts, Simone took a deep breath. “I think I understand the situation now.”

“As do I,” Caprice agreed without emotion.

The Countess nodded to herself. “I can’t quite consider her a rival just yet.”

“But being forewarned is being forearmed.”

I frowned at them both. Maya a rival? Are you kidding me? How can you even suggest that? That girl hates me! I frowned inwardly this time. Although, she wasn’t glaring at me like I was scum stuck to the bottom of her shoe. I shook my head. No, that girl definitely hates me. She’s just in shock. She’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.

Simone nodded. “For now, I suggest a truce.”

“Rejected. You and I have unfinished business,” Caprice said stated flatly.

“How can you say that at a time like this?” Simone questioned in an icy voice.

“Let me make something clear to you. We are not allies, and the enemy of my enemy is not my friend.”

“Geh—” Simone sputtered. “I wasn’t suggesting that at all.”

Caprice pressed on. “I will be waiting for you up above. Don’t try running away.”

With that she stepped past me, past the Countess, and walked down the corridor in the direction Maya had taken.

Simone Alucard Raynar lowered her arms, and affixed a chilling glare upon Caprice’s retreating back. “How dare she…how dare she order me around….”

I struggled to find my voice. “Countess—”

She cut me off with a cold look that could have frosted breath in the air. “Caelum, as your girlfriend I’m very disappointed in you.”

My mouth fell open. “As my what?”

She pressed a hand upon her chest. “I have been far too forgiving. As your self-appointed girlfriend, it’s time I set down some rules.”

“Wh—wait a minute? Don’t I get a say—?”

She pointed at me with a perfectly manicured fingernail. “Caelum Desanto afil Lanfear. I’ll have you take responsibility for this. “ She spun gracefully on her expensive high-heels and stormed down the corridor in pursuit of Caprice.

In a state of disbelief, I watched her vanish around a corner before I lost strength and sagged against the wall. “Wait a minute. Don’t I get to choose my girlfriend? Besides, you haven’t even confessed to me yet.”

An announcement sounded over the address system, startling me a little.

“Caelum Desanto. Report to the observation deck. Repeat: Caelum Desanto. Report to the observation deck.”

I stared up at the corridor ceiling, wondering if I was being summoned to face the music for injuring Maya.

Gathering air into my lungs, I pushed away from the wall.

“Can this night get any worse?”

Realizing what I’d just asked, I instantly regretted my words.

“No—don’t answer that! Please don’t answer that! I don’t want to know!”