Stealing Icarus - Chapter 11

 

Author's Note: 

The following content has an unspecified narrator until it says so. 

“Mother?” I say , looking at myself in the mirror, “It’s done. He’s gone.”

A chuckle comes from the end of the line, “Good job you little disgrace. Finally did something useful, didn't you?”

My voice trembled, and then winced, if Mother had heard the whimper that had escaped my mouth she would never forgive me. Witches and wizards of such a high ranking were supposed to be cold as ice. Not vomiting and shuddering after their first kill. Another magician my age, in the City of Luminance would’ve already been responsible for multiple deaths of these humans. 

“Cut the call you whimpering fool, before those humans realize,” The woman on the other end whispered harshly. I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me, and pressed the “end call” button with shaky hands. 

I was ever so grateful of the fact that she couldn’t see me after I fell to the floor, sobbing at the blood that now stained my hands. 

Rani’s POV: 

Loud music booms in my ear as I move my head to the rhythm, wholly unable to sleep. Turning off the music would probably help, but I didn’t want to sleep, and nobody else seemed to either. 

Scarlet was laying flat on her bed, her eyes bloodshot and she was throwing and catching a ball repeatedly. Her other arm was laying beside her limply. It was like she was a video on loop, with her arm moving up and down to catch the ball but nothing else moving, not even the bat of her eyelashes. 

Shravya was wrapped in a white blanket and she was sitting on the edge of her bed, not really paying attention to the tablet on her lap that was playing a movie. 

Nithya was huddled up in an old shirt, with Magellan Academy written on it in fading curly letters, in the corner of her bed, talking to someone on the phone, presumably her brother from the way her facial expressions twisted from annoyance and fondness. 

I was sitting crossed-legged on my bed with earbuds that were blasting loud music and I knew that I would probably go deaf, but at the moment it was the thing keeping me awake and I was glad for that.

Sighing, I took the earbuds off and asked, “What time is it?" At the same time, Nithya and Shravya looked at their devices and said, 

“3:30 AM”  

I stared at them for a second and started to laugh, my sleep deprivation muddling with my head and making me think that this was the funniest thing ever. A few seconds later, they joined me and we laughed for a few seconds before quieting. 

Silence fell upon the room like a stricken bow and I heard Nithya whisper her goodbye to her brother, and cut the call. With a click, Shravya’s device turned off and life suddenly sprouted inside Scarlet, her motions becoming less rigid and her eyes brightening. 

I squinted at my friend, whose hands were lifeless and limp, holding a weathered ball. She was like that ever since Liam’s outburst. In my opinion, Liam’s reaction was fully warranted. I would have done the same, or more. 

Despite the uninterested façade Scarlet puts on, she really does care for everyone. She was probably the most sensitive of the group, a single insult could have her teetering over a rocky cliff, and she would swat away compliments like they were flies. I worried for her, she hated to be alone with no one to talk to. She believed that to be alone wasn’t to be lonely, and that being lonely, meant that you were tired of yourself and I knew that Scarlet was lonely. 

Nithya suddenly shot up straight in bed, “Did I put the ship on autopilot?”

Shravya turned her head slowly and said, “No”.

Nithya’s eyes widened and she scrambled out of bed, hastily shoving a jacket on when Shravya spoke again. 

“You didn’t, but I did.” Nithya stopped, the girl’s jacket hanging halfway on her arms with a furious glint in her eyes. She pushed her jacket off and flung it at Shravya, who was barely containing her laughter as she tried to twist away from the white jacket flying at her face. It missed its mark and landed on her lap, but it was enough to reduce Shravya to laughter, again. 

Scarlet had a small smile playing at her lips and I had to laugh as well. Nithya huffed and crossed her arms. 

“I’m going to check because I don’t trust any of you to tie my shoelaces without tying them together.” 

“You know that’s not true.” I teased eliciting a groan from the frustrated girl. She closed the door shut, leaving and taking her presence with her. 

Shravya started to drum her fingers on her knee, the noise unnerving me. 

“Does anyone know where Lucia is?” I asked, wondering where the colorful haired girl had gone. 

Scarlet sat up slowly and frowned, “I saw her a few hours ago, when we were all awake. She said that she was going to the balcony and take a breather.”

“Oh....don’t you think she would’ve been back by now?” 

“Maybe she fell asleep there?” Shravya offered. I sigh and rub my temple.

“We should go and wake her then, if she fell asleep without her suit on then she won’t be feeling good tomorrow.” 

“True,” Shravya murmured, and stretched like a cat, trying to get as much warmth as she could before shucking the blanket off. Scarlet got up, already wearing a hoodie and I turned my computer off, watching the screen power down before getting up.
Before we walked out the door, I raised my hand silently, 

“Do we actually know where Lucia is?” 

“I mean she said she would be at the balcony but that girl changes decisions faster than I can flip a coin.” 

“That’s true,” Shravya said, chuckling fondly towards the indecisive girl. 

“We should split up,” I offered.

“Yeah that’s fair. I can go over to the balcony? I can also check the infirmary since it’s on the way there.” Scarlet asked. 

Shravya gave her a thumbs up from where she was kneeling on the floor, still intently tying her shoelaces together while her lethargic hands were fumbling due to sleep deprivation.

“I can go over to the game room and Shravya can check the Meeting Room. Lucia usually leaves her scrolls over there, so she might be having a late night study session.”
Shravya snorted, finally finishing with her laces, “Late night? More like early morning.” 

“Oh!” Scarlet said suddenly, “We should get our comms, it's early morning, like Shravya mentioned, I don’t want to wake anyone up with your voices screaming at ungodly hours of the day.” 

“First,” I said, slightly offended, “our beautiful voices would lull everyone back to sleep-” 

Scarlet held back a laugh and I wagged a finger in her direction, 

“-And second, that’s a good idea.” The girl rolled her eyes and passed everyone one their respective comm sets. 

I went over to the mirror, since my lack of hand-eye coordination would probably end in me taking out my eye rather than hooking the comm set in my ear and noticed that I had a spot of blue on my hand. It had come from earlier, when I was painting my nails. Chuckling, I scratch the blue paint off and see Scarlet tilting her head backwards, telling me that she’s going to close the door. 

……………………………………………………………………………………………

“Lucia?’ I called out hesitantly, “Are you here?” The game room comprised of a large couch that was covered in blankets that no one had bothered to fold. Everyone would gather here a few hours before sleeping and would play a few games, or watch a movie. Nate called it team bonding but most of us already knew each other due to going to the same school for six consecutive years. Everyone except Scarlet, she had moved here a year after us and skipped a year. 

In front of the couch was a motion sensing TV that responded to certain signals. I snapped my finger once and the TV lit up, drowning the dark room in light. Grimacing, I blink a few times before taking my phone out. 

Quickly unlocking the device, I turned on an app that I had connected to the computer room, that I still hadn’t told anyone about, and logged into the security camera feed. Typing in a code, my fingers selected the game room camera. 

Waiting for a few minutes, while the feed loaded in, I looked up at the TV which was blank and waiting for a command. Hearing a ping, I looked back at the screen in my hand to see a frowning face with text above it stating that the feed was unavailable. 

Replicating the frowning face on the screen, I exited the app and stuck the phone back in my pocket. Had I forgotten to connect the wires again? Since it didn’t seem like Lucia was here, I started to walk towards the door, heading towards the computer room. 

Right as my palm covered the door knob, the comms pinged. I removed my hand from the brass knob as Scarlet’s shaky voice came over the feed. 

“You guys need to get here now. Get Nithya too.” 

Shravya’s voice cut out and buzzed for a second before saying, “Wait why?” 

“I’ll explain when you get here! Rani go get Nithya!” Taken aback by the urgency Scarlet’s voice, I opened the door and sprinted down the halls, panting by the time I knocked on the cockpit door. 

The door opened to show Nithya, leaning on the doorframe. 

“What’s up?

“Scarlet says that something bad happened.” 

The girl frowned, “Where?”
“At-well she didn’t say where but I’m thinking at the balcony.” 

A line creased in Nithya’s forehead and impatience pricked my skin. 

“Why is she on the balcony?” 

“By the stars, come on!” I grabbed Nithya’s arm and dragged the girl out, ignoring her exclamations.