Page 99 of Akarnae

“What is it with girls and bathrooms?” Jordan asked Bear quietly, as if forgetting that Alex was right there.

“I’m kind of stuck here now, I guess.” She was saddened by the thought that she wouldn’t get to say a proper goodbye to the Ronnigans.

“Yeah, that sucks,” Bear said. “We’d come and get you, but the academy’s security wards won’t allow us to Bubble in until Sunday afternoon like everyone else. If only we all had ComGlobes, hey?”

“That would be nice,” she agreed. “Will you thank your family for me? And tell them how sorry I am that I didn’t get to say goodbye?”

“Yeah, no problem,” Bear said. “You’ll see them again, Mum’ll make sure of that. You’re one of us now, just like Jordan here.”

Alex smiled at the thought.

“And we’ll make sure to bring all your stuff back with us, too,” Jordan promised.

“Thanks guys, you’re the best.”

“We know.”

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you both the day after tomorrow,” she said.

“It’s already tomorrow,” Jordan informed her. “Happy New Year, Alex.”

She glanced down at the time displayed on her ComTCD and realised he was right. “Happy New Year,” she repeated back to them.

“May this one be even more interesting than the last,” Bear added and she groaned, causing them both to laugh.

“Don’t eventhinkthat,” she said, before wishing them goodnight and terminating their connection.

That went better than expected, Alex thought as she exited the room and hurried down the staircase.

It was late, already after midnight, and she wasn’t sure if she should follow Darrius’s advice and seek out Jarvis. She decided to try his office just in case he was still up, but if he wasn’t there then she would look for him in the morning.

She couldn’t remember what floor the headmaster’s office was on, so she had to walk down the entire staircase before ascending it again to reach Jarvis’s office on the eighth floor. She knocked on the closed door, not really expecting an answer, and was surprised when it opened.

“Alex?” Jarvis’s tired eyes widened comically at the sight of her. His clothing was rumpled and he looked like he was about to drop with exhaustion. “What are you doing here? In the middle of the night, no less?”

“Hi, Jarvis,” she said. “Do you have a minute?”

He ushered her into his office, motioning for her to take a seat.

“What happened to you?” he asked, taking in her formal attire—and her injury.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really,” she said, waving away his concern. Now that she was safe and warm it didn’t seem as bad. “Just one of those wrong place, wrong time things. Come to think of it, they happen to me a lot.”

He looked at her seriously. “Alex, please. What are you doing here? No,howdid you get here?”

She handed him the Communications Globe.

His brow furrowed with bafflement as he turned the misty sphere over in his hands. “Where did you get this?”

“My friend Darrius gave it to me,” she answered. ‘Friend’ seemed as good a title as any for the man who kept popping up unexpectedly. “He said it belongs to the headmaster.”

Jarvis looked surprised. “You were with Darrius tonight?”

“You know him?”

He nodded—somewhat hesitantly—so she answered, “We ran into each other at the New Year’s Eve Gala.” When Jarvis continued to eye her strangely, she asked, “Is there a problem?”

“No, no, not at all. It’s just… I didn’t realise you were on such familiar terms.”

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