“You're hardly normal,” Lily said with a giggle. “Most kids aren't from samurai houses.”
Derek gave her a look. “Don't be mean.”
“Technically, it was a ronin house at the time,” Akane muttered. When she realized she had spoken aloud, she blushed and turned away.
Seena rolled her eyes under her daygoggles and patted Akane on the shoulder. “You're among friends. Why are you still all meek?”
Simon smiled. “Probably this one here,” he said, indicating Flynn with a nod of his chin. When Akane glared at him, he held up his hands. “Whoa, I'm not judging. I'm just saying.”
Laura rolled her eyes. “They're waiting for us at a park a couple blocks north. Come on.”
Everyone dutifully followed, but Adam was hesitant. “It's getting a bit cold. Is this really the best time for a picnic?”
“We can move inside if we have to,” Laura said. “Right now, this is the plan.”
Adam grumbled a bit, but didn't say anything else.
There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence for the next few minutes, as they walked out of the campus, to Kagurazaka Park. Luckily, that didn't last too long.
“Kids! Over here!”
Maria had already secured a table and laid out everything. Laura's dad was nowhere to be seen.
“Victor will be back soon,” Maria said. She started pulling the presents they had given her earlier out of a bag and placing them on the table. “Come, sit, sit.”
They crowded around the big concrete table set on the grass. There were a few, scattered around. It wasn't the most comfortable seat in the world, but it was better than using anything lighter. People would just steal the tables.
“Who else are we waiting for?” Derek asked. Laura ended up next to him, mostly to make sure that Akane sat next to Flynn instead. A little juvenile, but they were acting like twelve year-olds, so she didn't have a choice. Not to mention they still needed to keep her away from Simon.
“Robyn's not coming,” Laura said. “She's busy again.”
Akane shook her head. “After my party, she promised to make time.”
Laura shrugged. “Guess she didn't. It's no big deal, though.”
Derek grimaced as he accepted a soda from his mother. “She's been like this since we were kids. She's terrible with schedules.”
“You shouldn't talk about people when they're not here,” Maria admonished lightly, as she passed sodas around to everyone else. “Besides, with Isaac as that girl's father, I think it's a miracle she remembers to eat.”
Derek sighed, recognizing the hypocrisy but wisely choosing not to mention it.
“Where is Dad?” Laura asked, trying to deflect the conversation back to kinder subjects. The two were normally attached at the hip; if he was off alone, it had to be for something important.
“Just getting some more sodas,” Maria lied smoothly.
Ever since Laura had gotten her power, she had noticed them doing that a lot.
“I think we have enough,” she said as calmly as she could, nodding to the cooler chest. At the same time, she tweaked Derek's kneecap through his jeans. That was the signal. He should be smart enough to not immediately act on it.
“So long as he actually buys them, I guess there's no harm in getting more,” Derek said. “There are a lot of us, after all. Though I hope he's not too late.”
“Not too late at all,” Laura's dad called from the direction of the street. He had four cases of soda cans in his arms. More than they needed. “Sorry, the line was long.”
And that was another lie.
You understood on a general level that your parents lied every once in a while. It was quite another to know that they did it all the time.
Laura sighed, and made sure to tweak Derek's knee again, though he had probably figured it out for himself. It wasn't fair, really. Parents shouldn't keep big secrets from their children. Okay, maybe that wasn't true, but she had a sneaking suspicion these lies had to do with Butler, and in turn the screamers. That was something they needed to know.
Maria clapped her hands. “Now that everyone's here, we can start presents!”
Everyone started; Adam nearly choked on his soda.
“Now?” he asked. “I thought the plan was lunch first?”
“Well, we forgot the food,” she lied with a wink. “So I guess those sodas are all we're getting.”
“Here, do ours first,” Laura's father said, pulling a poorly-wrapped box out from under the table. Derek took it carefully—he had probably already figured out that it was some sort of weapon; only an idiot would shake the thing to see what was inside.
As he finished unwrapping it, he smiled and pulled out the item. “Six frag grenades. How thoughtful.”
“And a bandoleer for them and others,” Maria pointed out.
“Thank you so much,” Derek said graciously, as he carefully put them back in the box and into the middle of the table where everyone could see. “But where did you find them? Most stores haven't gotten their stock in yet, for some reason.”
“Katarina's Explosives,” Laura's father lied smoothly. Her hand reached out to tweak Derek's knee before he even started talking. “Just good luck, I suppose.”
Laura sighed, because she had a feeling that if I let them keep talking, she wouldn't like what she heard. “Can we move on, please? I think I'm next.”
A little bit miffed, Maria pulled out a small box wrapped in bright paper; Derek accepted it without a word.
He blinked when he got it open. “A watch?”
“Waterproof and durable enough to withstand even what you can throw against it,” Laura promised. “I remember you said you stopped wearing them because they kept breaking. This shouldn't have that problem.”
He smiled, his azure eyes twinkling. “Thank you.” He put it on, checking to make sure the time was right. It was, of course. “I'll be sure to keep it with me always.”
Before things got too awkward—that was always a problem with Derek, he had this way of creating dramatic silences—Maria grabbed another present from the pile, a flat one. “This one is from Ling, I believe.”
Across from Derek and Laura, Ling nodded.
It turned out to be a jacket. Not a great jacket, not leather or anything like that, but still nice. It would last a long while. Derek wasn't really a clothes man, but he smiled and thanked her nonetheless.
Flynn's gift was a flash card with some violent roleplaying game Laura had never heard of—she preferred strategy. Derek apparently had, and had been anxiously anticipating it. The two promised to play against each other later.
Surprisingly, Adam and Lily's present was similar, except the drive was a dating sim instead. Lily seemed to think the entire idea was hilarious.
Obould and Veronica had sent a gift card to one of Derek's favorite restaurants, one of those live shrimp places. Lizzy, via Ling, gave him a very nice outfit, a suit and tie which might have been made from real silk. That girl had too much disposable income.
Simon and Seena went the obvious route, and gave him a toy voucher. He didn't really buy toys, but it would cover healing and so on as well. It was a thoughtful gift, though an unnecessary one. It wasn't their fault they didn't know they got free healing as Paladins.
After Robyn's gift—a map of the city alleys that she seemed to have made herself—they were done. Laura asked Derek in a whisper why Akane hadn't gotten him anything, and he just said he refused any and all gifts from her on general principle. And then Laura's dad got the cake from the car, and her mind was elsewhere.
As usual, Gloria Nervi had outdone herself. Laura was glad that hadn't changed while she was hiding in the north. She always claimed that cakes were beneath her dignity as a chef, but Laura had no idea if that was an obscure Italian thing, some baker/chef rivalry she didn't know about, or just a lie.
But she always made an exception for Derek Huntsman. People did that quite a lot.
It was a beautiful cake, nearly as wide as the table, and covered in light
brown frosting. The words “Happy Birthday” were written on the top with blue icing—the same shade of blue as Akane's ribbon.
In all honesty, the cake looked a bit plain. But it tasted divine. It had the perfect amount of sugar density, and the cake itself was as light as an angel's breath.
Despite its size, everyone's first servings went fast. Laura was picking through her second slice when her dad started talking.
“So Derek,” he said. “Any plans for today?”
Derek shrugged. “Catch up on some reading. Not much else.” The second was a lie, and she would have known even without her power. He was still stewing over the hypnotism plan. And he would say yes eventually, but he wouldn't like it.
“What about the rest of the week, then?” Maria asked casually. A little too casually.
Derek noticed it too; he swallowed carefully before speaking. “A few more missions. Just making money and such. Why the sudden interest?”
“No reason,” Laura's father lied through his teeth. “We were just—”
Laura got up and left. She couldn't take it any more.
She heard people calling after her, and she heard Derek tell them to calm down. A moment later, he followed her at just less than a run.
Laura waited until they were far away from the rest of the group, definitely out of earshot, before speaking.
“Every word out of their mouths is poison,” she whispered, trying as hard as she could not to cry. This was all her power gave her? She would give it up in a heartbeat, if she could. “They lie, and lie, and lie...”
“Not everything,” he said, quietly. “Not everything, right?”
She blinked away tears that she refused to shed, not willing to turn and face him. “Maybe. Or maybe that's just what's slipping past my filters.”
Derek shifted on his feet. “It's possible... nothing. Nevermind.”
Laura closed her eyes. “It's possible they're doing it on purpose. Testing my limits.” Which just made it worse.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “That's what I was going to say.”
She started crying.
She wasn't sobbing. Her shoulders weren't shaking. She wasn't facing him, so he shouldn't even have been able to tell.
He walked over to her other side so he wouldn't have to turn her to face the others, and pulled her close.
It was strange, and she couldn't figure out why. It was the same as the last time she remembered, when they were eleven years old. He was still warm, and powerful, though perhaps a little bit less warm, and a little more powerful. It was comforting, but there was something wrong...
That was it.
She hadn't been hugged by anyone for seven years. Not since this idiot, the night before they started middle school. She hadn't let anyone so much as touch her if at all possible. Not even her own stupid father.
Then she started sobbing.
He whispered into her ear that it would be okay, kept whispering for however long it took for her tears to stop flowing, and dry in tracks on her cheeks.
She didn't know how long it was. But it was too soon when Derek said “Everyone's waiting for us.”
That. Moron. She was seriously considering shooting him in the face. She wasn't a tsundere like Akane; she honestly would be doing the world a favor to take this crazy bastard out of it. Seriously, who told a crying girl her time was up?
“Um, Laura?” he whispered. “It's just that hugs give me headaches, and...”
She frowned. “Headaches? Really?”
“Yeah. And we should probably go back soon anyway—”
“Then we can stay like this a little while longer,” she said quietly.
Headaches. Not quite as final as a bullet to the brain, but a fitting punishment for now.
Chapter 54: ABSENS
LING
Ling frowned once she was away from the others. Laura and Derek were still standing a ways off, while the happy couples stayed at the table.
“Okay, slow down,” she said into the phone. “What in Tezuka's name happened?”
“She's gone,” Turgay said flatly. He had tried to give her all the details first, like he always did when he got nervous, but at least now he understood to just give her the end.
She shook her head to clear it. “Right, okay... is there any reason for her to just leave?”
“Not that I can think of. We were just sitting there, talking about the... item. I was arguing with one of the scientists about it—they're getting really possessive, it's creepy, and actually—”
“Back to Lizzy,” Ling prodded him.
“Right, sorry. Anyway, she just got up and left. I didn't think much of it at the time, since she wasn't really involved in the conversation, but that was an hour ago, and I haven't been able to get a hold of her.”
Ling took a deep breath and sent her awareness into her surroundings, feeling the soil and grass beneath her feet. Not that she thought it would help find Lizzy, of course. The range was only a little more than ten feet. She just found it... soothing.
Now, what was the right response in this situation? Send out a search party? Yes, of course. But if she was kidnapped, then it would be dangerous. Sending in the wrong people would just be adding fuel to the fire.
“Has anyone gone looking for her yet?”
“A few of the new soldiers,” Turgay said, purposefully avoiding the word warhawks in case someone was listening. “With baselines for scouts.”
Of course. The aves were still getting heat for stealing the toy box, so they were having trouble mixing with the rest of the city. They stood out far too much.
Turgay continued. “We haven't heard anything back from them yet, and they missed their check-in.”
Well, they were clearly dead. But that wouldn't be something he wanted to hear. “How well-trained are they? Maybe they just forgot.”
“The security chief is pretty sure that wouldn't happen. And he won't let me call them, in case they're in danger and it gives away their position.”
Ling knew that made sense from her time with Derek and the 'sarians. But Turgay wasn't a military man, and she could hear the frustration in his voice. He thought that was a stupid reason to delay.
She frowned. She couldn't involve Derek and the others, not yet. Even ignoring the party, this was hardly the time or the place. Lily hated violence, Flynn was still a burden, the parents were just a couple of thieves, and Simon and Seena had their own allegiances. Not to mention that Derek would jump after that girl like a hound after a hare... no. She needed to work this out on her own.
“How many soldiers did you send out? Including the fle—baselines, I mean?”
“Twenty-five.”
Ling blinked. More than she had expected. “Okay, then something is definitely wrong. At least one of them would be able to call back. You got GPS or whatever on them?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Send out five more and wait.”
There was a pause of about a minute on the other end, where she could hear Turgay talking. Actually, if she didn't know better, she would have thought he was barking orders.
“We sent another twenty-five,” he said finally, a little breathlessly. “That should be enough.”
That was about when Ling asked the question she should have asked the moment she heard what was going on. “Why exactly was Lizzy there with you?”
There was a pause.
“If you choose now to start hiding things...”
“Fine, fine,” he said hastily. “Don't worry. I just needed to figure out how to word it. It's just... the item emits this field. We're calling it the Sauron effect. Anyone within a certain radius slowly goes insane with greed for it. You, me, and Lizzy are the only ones who seem immune. That's actually why I asked her to meet me, I needed to test that.”
Ling swallowed as he trailed off. “What,” she said very, very carefully, “is the first thing I told you about the fantasy genre?”
“Uh...” She could practically hear him
racking his brain for the answer. “The kid with the sword is the hero?”
“That was number two,” she reminded him, resisting the urge to reach through the phone and strangle him. “What was number one?”
He paused. “...if it makes you want to touch it, don't touch it?”
“Close enough. Regardless, it's pretty clear that your little toy screwed with Lizzy's brain somehow, so I am officially taking this out of your hands. MC, you there?”
There was a long pause, during which Turgay tried to speak. “Wait—”
“I know you can hear me,” Ling said, grinding my teeth. “MC, I have information regarding the whereabouts of the toy box.”
“Right, sorry, I'm here,” her real voice chimed in a moment later. “I wasn't before, but I have a couple programs lurking on a few—very few—phones to tell me when a couple words are used...”
“Yes, yes, you're a champion of the privacy act,” Ling interrupted before she could really get into a rant. “Lizzy was driven insane by the toy box. Where would she go?”
“She was immune,” Turgay insisted. “And I don't like involving MC—”
“There's a very real possibility she's one of the Composer's sleepers,” Ling cut in. She still couldn't believe it, but it was always the ones you least expected. Besides, it was good to get the worst case out of the way first. “It probably interacted with the—what'd you call it?”
“Sauron effect,” Turgay said glumly. “And I suppose that's possible. But Ling, MC is going to call Necessarius...”
“Not if you don't want me to,” MC said, her tone soothing. “Though I really think this is beyond your pay grade at this point.”
There was a pause as Turgay considered his options.
“Fine,” he sighed. “But don't blame me if there are unexpected consequences.”
“I'll call up the retinue right away,” MC said. “Turgay, text me the GPS codes. And Ling, what are you going to do about the other Paladins?”
Ling frowned. Nothing had changed. Telling them would be a bad idea.
But...
“I'm just going to tell one,” she decided. “Give me a minute.”
She closed her phone and returned to the table as fast as possible without looking hurried.
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