Page 36 of The Divide that Binds Us

Chapter 8

The Right Players

Elite: Alice

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Everyone shuffles intothe gym early on this aggravating Saturday morning.I sit in the front row this time, so I don’t have to crawl over people to get off the bleachers.Evangeline is next to me wearing pink bunny slippers with matching gym shorts while Billie saunters in with a pillow tucked under her arm.Her hair is puffy and tangled, much to Evangeline’s delight.Most of us have the day off, so this mandatory meeting better be good.

“Oi.How much you wanna bet this could’ve been an email, too?”Billie asks.She yawns and places the pillow on her lap.

Evangeline smiles and scratches the back of her ear.“I’ll bet three cans of soda, yes?”

“Deal!”

Rebecca walks in with Brooke in her shadow.Deep circles caress their eyes, with frizzy hair hanging loosely on their shoulders.The members grow quiet, waiting.

“Alright, I’ll make this quick.I need documentation of anyone’s last communication with Natasha Redly,” Rebecca announces.She clears her throat as people murmur.Brooke steps forward.

Someone asks.I look up and see Rachel and Robert at the top of the bleachers, in uniform.Do they ever get a break?

“Natasha still hasn’t returned to the base,” Brooke replies.“We’ve reached out to her emergency contact, but they haven’t seen her either.It’s been a week.”

Panicked voices grow louder.I look at Evangeline and Billie.

“She’s missing?”I ask.

“This could be a big deal,” Evangeline murmurs.

Billie shrugs, yawing again.“I’m just saying, this...could’ve been an email.”

“Would you stop with that?”Evangeline smacks her leg.

“Okay, okay!Everyone shut up!”The rasp from Rebecca’s voice rips through the members’ chatter.

Master Azul strolls in with black boots and her uniform on.Her black leather gloves tighten around her baton.

“Apologies for my late arrival, team,” Azul begins.“I hope the news Rebecca brought to you isn’t too upsetting as we like to foster transparency.”

Her eyes lock onto mine longer than her normal visual sweep of the gym.

“Natasha Redly is officially declared missing.We understand she had some animosity toward Ultima before running away, but her failure to check in only leads me to believe something terrible happened.The family is aware and devastated.I only pray to our Superiors she’s alright.”

The tremors rock through Evangeline’s body as she quietly sobs beside me, wiping her eyes every few seconds.I look back at the rest of the team and see some with hung heads, a few shaking in disbelief, some red in the face with wrath in their eyes, and others sniffling or outright weeping.

This is a lot to take in, even for me.After that confrontation, we were back on Garnet Island for mere minutes when it rained blood from another dragon’s death.Now we’re getting news of missing a member?It’s scary; that could’ve been any of us facing Ultima.

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