The first trial ended after a few hours. Guarding the palace as Agares built it was annoying, but despite my feeling of impending doom, I didn’t actually run into any of the Void’s agents. In fact, by the time we reached the ground again after the end of the task, I was surprised to find Elonwy waiting for us.
“Aww, look at you,” she cooed as we filed out of the tower. “I remember my first final exam. The crafting section is always a pain, but you all did so well.” She eeped, covering her mouth. “Whoops, spoilers. I’m not allowed to tell you your score.”
“So you’re just here to mock us?” I asked wryly.
She snickered. “Obviously,” she said proudly. Then the smile dropped from her face. “But mostly I’m here to warn you. We’ve been catching Void cultists trying to infiltrate the exams. The others are going on nearby, the ones for the other years, and we’ve snatched up about a dozen agents. We even had a few professors try to intervene. They were all apprehended, but no one here has been caught yet. So be careful.”
I paused at that. “Wait…they got CAUGHT?” I asked quickly. “All of them?”
“I mean, presumably?” she said hesitantly. “We can’t exactly claim to know what happened to the ones we didn’t catch, maybe there were a bunch of them. But we caught a lot of them. Our security department is excellent.”
That was wrong. Too easy. My instincts were screaming that there was something wrong. But was I overreacting? This was the Frozen Moment Academy. There were Overgods in charge. Maybe they were just that good. “Can I…” I asked, trailing off as I tried to consider how to as the next part. “Can I talk to security? To warn them?”
She raised an eyebrow at that. “That’s not really how things are done,” she hedged. “But I guess it couldn’t hurt. Fine, come with me. There’s a day off between rounds to recover, so we have the time.”
I nodded, relieved. “Thanks,” I turned to Callie. “Can you get in touch with the other teams? Just check on our people and make sure none of them ran into problems with the Void cultists.”
Rolling her eyes, she leaned up and pecked me on the cheek. “Ok Mr. Worrier. I’ll check in. Your cabinet members are all plenty strong though, I wouldn’t worry. Just be safe, ok?” She frowned uncertainly. “This feels…off. Something is going on, and I don’t like it.”
Putting my arms around her, I gave her a tight squeeze. “I’ll be fine,” I told her warmly.
Stepping away, I nodded to the others before following Elonwy off the field and out to where her car was parked. “Look, I get where you’re coming from here,” she said as we walked. “After what happened to me, I’m as pissed about all this as anyone. But this is what security DOES. And they’re not taking any chances either. They’re using the same Drayven Subjugation Collars Janet used on me to contain the prisoners.”
“They’re WHAT?” I sputtered. “Aren’t those things banned?”
“For civilian use,” she corrected. “Security has permits. They’re not NICE, but they can even hold S-rankers. As you saw. Trust me, the cultists aren’t going anywhere.”
We climbed into the car and she pulled out. I closed my eyes to avoid my head getting scrambled by the drive, checking in with her as we rode. “Speaking of, how are you doing with all that? I mean I’m sure it’s been rough to deal with. Are you staying somewhere other than your place?”
“Yeah,” she said with a warm smile. “I’m staying with a friend. Thanks, Shane. It was…it was a rough thing to go through. I didn’t exactly LIKE Janet, but I trusted her. Enough that I never expected to need to keep my guard up.” She gritted her teeth. “I’m still so pissed I fell for it.”
“Hey, enough of that,” I said firmly. “You got taken advantage of by a friend. Or whatever you called her.”
She snorted at that. “I guess. But getting suckered is never fun.”
“What’s the alternative,” I asked with a shrug. “Never trust anyone again? Most people aren’t going to screw you. Taking that risk makes all the people you CAN trust all the more valuable. Trust me. I’ve been backstabbed before. Literally. A guy I trust stabbed me in the actual back with a knife.”
She chuckled. “And let me guess, you turned around and forgave him, then the two of you became good friends.”
“What?” I said in confusion. “No, I beat that son of a bitch to death with my bare hands. Then I made a holiday out of the day I killed him on my home planet. People dress up in embarrassing costumes. It was brutal. I said you should keep trusting people, not that you should be a SAINT. Do I strike you as that kind of person?”
She laughed, a silvery, relaxed sound that meant more to me than a hundred A-ranked chits. “No, you don’t,” she assured me. “I was just expecting something more…heroic. You have that kind of vibe.”
“Gods no,” I said emphatically. “I’m not a hero. I just married one. Trust me. Callie is the hero in our relationship. If you find the people who did this to you, take them out. Trusting people isn’t the same as forgiving the ones who screw you over. You absolutely should not do that. Screw them.”
We were both still laughing when the car pulled up outside the large, square concrete building. “Alright, we’re here. Follow me and try not to be too…you. Sander is kind of a stickler for protocol.”
I saluted as we climbed out of the car, heading towards the building with a churning pit in my stomach. I didn’t know why, but I was sure this was important. Maybe not bad, but big.
We arrived at the door and Elonwy pulled it open, letting me into the cooled security station. She led me to a desk in the back where a large man was seated in front of a computer, tapping away on a keyboard. He noticed her approaching and raised an eyebrow. “Elonwy,” he said stoically. “You’re back. I told you we had no new leads. That hasn’t changed in the last twenty minutes.”
“Not here for that,” she said with a tight smile. “Here for this,” she jerked a thumb at me. “My junior here has some question, we were hoping you might answer a few. He was the one who saved my ass from those Void bastards. He’s also dealt with them a bunch before.”
He glared at me. “I don’t care what he’s dealt with, this is a security matter. It’s not for students to interfere in.”
“Don’t you have students helping?” she said archly, gesturing around the room. “Your interns even got excused from the exams for this. You can’t spare some time to answer a few questions? He’s not asking to be put to work, he just wants to know what the hell is going on.”
I was surprised to hear about the other students, but looking around, I realized several people in the room were B or C-rankers. My eyes lingered on one absurdly tall man with long hair. He looked grimly implacable and was sharpening a sword with deadly precision. I hadn’t seen a lot of people that intimidating. He was even bigger than I was.
Briefly, I considered how familiar he seemed, but I shook it off as Sander finally gave in with a sigh. “Fine. Ask your questions.”
I turned back to the security officer, a literal god, and sighed with relief. I let my instincts guide me to the questions I needed. “Ok, you captured a bunch of them during the exams, right? Where are they being kept?”
He raised an eyebrow at me, his gaze suspicious. “Why would you want to know that?”
“Because if getting caught was their plan then maybe they planned WHERE they got caught,” I said bluntly. “Maybe the whole point was to get locked up together.”
“We’re not idiots,” he said coldly. “I didn’t start doing this yesterday. They’ve been dispersed throughout the Academy. We had one of our formation masters specifically distribute them to avoid any potential collaboration, not to mention the inhibitor collars. We’ve taken every precaution.”
I opened my mouth to continue, and he scowled. “In case you missed the subtext there, I am NOT telling you where they’re being held. So drop it. What else do you want to know?”
“I want to know about the prisoners,” I said bluntly. “One of them is…special. A former god from a lower realm who was ground down by exposure to lower dimensions. He got in suppressed and I haven’t been able to find him. He’s probably with the prisoners.”
He sighed. “We would have noticed something like that. All the prisoners were thoroughly inspected. You’ll just have to trust that we know what we’re doing. Look, I don’t have time for this. I appreciate what you did for El,” he shot my friend a surprisingly tender look for such a dour man. “Really, I do. But these questions aren’t going anywhere. I need to get back to work, and you need to go. If you think of anything important get in touch.”
With that, I was dismissed. I grimaced at the brush off, but at least he’d heard me out. I didn’t know if this had done anything but at least I’d tried. Elonwy and I headed back outside, climbing into the car. “Well, that was a total waste of time,” I grimaced. “On my part, I mean, sorry. I appreciate the help on your end.”
She shrugged. “Like I said, I get it. I owe you anyway. I’ll keep on Sander about this. I don’t know what’s going on but you’re right, it seems…weird. Too easy.”
I grinned at her. “NOW you’re thinking like a paranoid lunatic. Welcome to the club.”
Laughing, she pulled out of the parking spot. I closed my eyes again, blowing out a long breath. “So…any advice on what to do in the next trial?” I asked her hopefully. “Any tips you could give would be appreciated.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” she snorted. “I’d sooner peel off my own skin. The Prof would kill me if I gave away trade secrets. They’ll tell you what to do when you get there, until then just stay ready. Now, where am I dropping you off? This didn’t take as long as expected, so I can get you home fast and still have time to get back to the lab to check the results on one of my projects.”
I just laughed. Even after everything, Elonwy was still just as dedicated to her work. “Just drop me at home,” I said wryly. “I’ll head back to Common City tomorrow, but with Callie out checking on the others and under guard, I might as well sleep in my own bed.”
“I feel that,” she sighed. “Staying with my friend is great for my nerves but there’s something special about sleeping in your own space. I really miss it.”
Putting a hand on her shoulder, I smiled sympathetically. “Hey, you’re good. She’s gone, you’re working on things, and if you need someone to talk to I’m always around. I owe you too, you know. I would have died down there without you.”
“You do not OWE me for helping you save my own life,” she snorted. “But it’s a nice offer. I’ll keep it in mind.”
Arriving back at my residence, I climbed out, thanking her as I headed inside. I knew I would have trouble sleeping, but I was bone tired from all the work during the task, so I was pretty sure I could fake it til I made it. To my surprise though, my eyes slammed shut the moment my head hit the pillow. I’d have to remember that exhaustion was a good cure for insomnia. Not that I was likely to forget. I had a feeling I’d be using it again all too soon.