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 Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:55 pm
 Batholith was staying behind to help Shera. She was the weakest of them all—the one most in need of help. Verity and Frankie would be fine—Verity struck him as the sort who could run a hundred miles without rest once her bile was up, and it certainly was at that. But two people holding hands were much more likely to fall behind than one person carrying the other. Even if Shera hadn’t been sick, he would need to be protecting her.
Bath ran behind them both, giving them pushes when they needed it and generally watching out for them. Fena was running ahead, pulling Shera along, but the Chimera was struggling to keep up, and kept almost losing Fena in the crowd. Bath frowned. He was not going to let them get trampled. Er, he hoped not. At some point, Fena stumbled and Bath’s combat-booted foot fell onto Fena’s tail. The kid gasped and Bath winced. He’d apologize as soon as it was safe—he had to!
Safety wasn’t going to be soon, though.
There was a cannibal right ahead of them. Batholith didn’t think. He didn’t need to. Without breaking step, he reached down to his boot, pulled out the knife, and threw it straight at the apparition.
It sank into one of the glowing points of light under the hood and the b*****d howled with pain. Bath dodged around Fena and Shera to kick the cannibal in the throat with a ferocity that he knew could break bones. With a gurgle, it fell backward and Bath pulled his knife out of its eyesocket. He shoved it into his belt and grabbed Shera by her free hand. “You pull that hand, I’ll pull the other!” Bath shouted. “Careful over the body, or you’ll trip over it!”
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:58 pm
 Verity was almost to the door when she realized she hadn’t seen Shera in ages. Frankie probably had seen them more recently, but he was currently sobbing hysterically into her collarbone. She patted him on the back between his wings, her feet still moving forward and back as though on automatic pistons. She had to keep going. She had to get Frankie out of danger. She had no idea what she was doing, except that she was moving towards the door.
Thankfully, the hooded figures had dissipated. They weren’t gone, though—oh, no, not by a longshot. They were still there, they just weren’t all concentrated at the door like she’d half-expected. It made running to the door much easier, though not entirely easy. Another hooded figure loomed in front of her. Panicking, she swung her leg as hard as she could. The creature hissed at her. It was a very high-pitched hiss—and they weren’t bending over far in response. A…female, then? Or an androgyne without dangling neural clusters?
It didn’t matter. The creature was startled enough that Verity was able to dodge around them and through the door. A glowing portal stood in front of her. With a final leap, she flew through the portal and onto grass beyond. She landed on her shoulder and rolled to her feet, still clutching Frankie in her arms.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:59 pm
 Shera stared, gobsmacked, at the cannibal in front of her as an object appeared in its hood. It howled, a hideous, haunting sound, before a streak of crimson and black slammed its foot into the thing’s neck. Shera didn’t hear the snap of breaking bone, but she certainly heard a gurgle that sounded distinctly unhealthy.
Even a cannibal needed to breathe—and even a cannibal would find that difficult through a crushed windpipe. A strong hand had grabbed her free one and was pulling her forward. The hand was attached to a body with Batholith’s voice. Batholith had been the crimson streak, and Batholith was the one now holding her hand.
“Right, dodge the body,” she whispered. She followed that order as best she could, placing her feet carefully around its splayed body. Her heart skipped a beat when its arm twitched—she thought for sure that it would be grabbing her ankle. When it didn’t, she breathed a sigh of relief. The exit wasn’t far away. Still dodging bodies, still almost falling behind, and still clutching the hands of her companions, Shera and her little group burst through the doors and through the portals in front of them to a place unknown. Oreia, may it be safer than this one!
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:01 pm
 Fena gasped when Batholith reappeared behind them, but when the knife appeared in the creature’s head, he wasn’t gasping—he was grinning. Fena didn’t like violence. He hated it. Maybe that was why he was so upset with tonight’s events (as well as, well, every other reason to be upset), but for once in his life, his heart leapt with joy to see violence done. It wasn’t just the knife, either—it was followed up with a mighty kick.
Batholith had been with them all evening. He’d gone trick-or-treating with them. He’d let them put makeup on them, and he’d carried them home when it had gotten too scary to be outside. All that time, Batholith could have done all of this?
Fena didn’t know what to think, but he didn’t have any time to think, either. Bath had grabbed Shera and was shouting an order at him to move forward. Fena nodded and charged forward, jumping over the cannibal’s arm and head. He headed straight for the door, pulling the grown-ups along in his wake. He had to get outside, he had to get out of this place, and for the first time tonight, he felt like they might just be able to get back to safety. The door was right ahead of them, and in front of them were the portals. Fena went through first, followed by Ra and Batholith. They stumbled onto grass, gasping for breath from their mad dash to the door.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:03 pm
 Frankie didn’t wake up until his mother fell onto the ground. He opened his eyes and cried out—his mother was squishing him! And she was hurt, she had to be, why had she fallen like that?
But she had fallen onto grass, not concrete—and there was no grass near the stadium, was there? (Besides the fake grass in the middle). He could still hear screaming, but now that his eyes were open, he could see that the screaming was coming from glowing portals in front of them. Mom was still carrying him forward, but slowly, walking, stumbling, before sinking down on a piece of stone wall. She was still holding him as tightly as she had been before, but now she was shaking. Frankie kissed her ear and gave her a big hug. If she wasn’t running anymore, then they weren’t in danger. It was time to calm down.
Frankie looked around himself and was surprised to see the front of the Academy. They were at school? Really? Why? Was it just a couple of hours ago that they had been here to start trick-or-treating?
Maybe they should have stayed here if they were going to end up here in the end anyway. Frankie pulled himself out of Mom’s grasp and looked around. “Where are Ra and Fena, Mom?” he whispered to her.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:03 pm
They were safe. They were finally safe, and Bath hadn’t even had to use his knife again. Aw, s**t. Now he was carrying his knife openly on school grounds—because yeah, that’s where they were. Bath made a face. Ava would flay him if she caught him carrying a knife around—for the exact reason he had just taught that a*****e cannibal back there. Bath pulled Shera forward as he searched the crowd for Verity and Frankie, all the while thinking about what he should do about the knife.
Maybe he could drop it in the bushes? What, for a cannibal to find? Hell no. Besides, he might need it. He looked over at Shera and Fena. Well, they were the only ones who would know. If he cleaned off his knife and hid it back in his boot, he’d be okay, right?
Finally he caught sight of Verity and waved. She didn’t seem to see it, but that was okay. Bath pulled Shera and Fena back over to be reunited with their family, then sauntered over to the pushes to wipe off his knife on a leaf. No way he was putting a bloodied knife back into his boot.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:04 pm
They were safe. The Academy. If anywhere in the world was safe, it would be here. Nine, she hoped it would be here. Verity didn’t have to run anymore. She hoped. Nine, she hoped she wouldn’t have to run anymore. Her legs ached and her lungs felt like they were on fire. She didn’t think she could breathe well enough to walk right now, never mind run. And her arms felt like they had turned to stone with how hard she was clutching Frankie—and sadly, cute as he was, Frankie weighed more now than he had as an infant. She couldn’t carry him for much longer. In a few years, he’d be too heavy even for Shera to carry—
Shera. Where was Shera? Was she alright? What about Fena, her eldest child? Was he okay? Was Fena going to be okay? Where was he? And what about Batholith, that brave teenager she’d been yelling at not two minutes ago? What was she going to do? What could she do now?
She was shaking, but she didn’t realize it until Frankie kissed her ear and gave her a big hug. She squeezed him in reply. “I…I don’t know,” she gasped. He might be all she had left now. She might have lost it all now except for Frankie.
How was she supposed to go on without Shera and Fena?
Someone settled at her side, and someone was shouting “Mom!” over and over again. Verity looked up to see a pair of purple eyes looking into hers. With a scream, Verity lunged forward to snatch Fena up in her now-less-exhausted arms. She nuzzled him, clutched him tight and rocked him back and forth. “Fena, Fena, Fena!!” She turned her eyes to see Shera sitting at her side, looking even more exhausted than she herself felt. With another cry, she leaned against Shera, sobbing inarticulately.
She hadn’t lost it all after all!
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:05 pm
It was all over—at least, the running was. Shera was still being pulled along, but at least now it was at a slower pace. Her shoulders were starting to hurt, and for once, it was her arm shoulders. Batholith had grabbed her by the arm and was pulling her through the crowd. For what purpose, she didn’t know—until she saw Verity and Frankie.
She could have cried with relief. They were okay! Shera sat down next to Verity and wrapped an arm around her as Fena gave her a hug. When Verity screamed, twice, Shera laughed. She was okay. Frankie was okay, they were all going to be okay. Frankie was now sitting down at Shera’s side. She wrapped her free arm around her younger son and pulled him in tight.
They sat like that for a long time in bliss, eyes closed, arms just holding each other. At least, it seemed like a long time. Shera wished it could have lasted forever, but it was not to be. They were being rushed inside now, a pitifully small group of people, through the doors and towards a random hall. As they walked down the corridor to the bunker hidden below the Academy, Shera found herself walking next to Batholith. “Thank you for saving our lives, Batholith,” she whispered.
He shrugged. “Yeah,” he said. “I figured, I was hired to keep everyone safe—and as long as I haven’t been paid, my job’s not done.” He grinned.
Shera snorted. “I hope you won’t take offense if we don’t pay overtime,”
“Didn’t expect you to.” They fell silent for a long time. Bath broke the silence. “Shera, what I did to protect you guys—please don’t tell anyone.”
Shera nodded. “You have my word.” An Academy student had no business carrying a knife around, but she was glad that he had been tonight. Verity wasn’t there. She’d have a conniption fit if she’d known that their babysitter had been armed. But with what Shera had gone through, the Chimera was willing to be forgiving. “I’ll make sure Fena keeps your secret, too.”
Batholith breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Shera. I really appreciate it. I only brought it along because I…well, I expected trouble. Not trouble like this, obviously, but I guess I always expect trouble when I go out. I didn’t want to be in a situation in which I couldn’t defend your kids. That’s why I came to a babysitting gig armed to the teeth.”
Ah, so the facts of the situation had not escaped him. “I’m glad you did,” Shera said.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:07 pm
Fena had seen Verity and Frankie even before Ra had. Frankie was kneeling next to Mom trying to comfort her. Fena broke out of his parents’ grip and ran forward to his mother. He grabbed her and hugged her tight. “Mom!” he yelled. “Mom, Mom, Mom!!”
Mom snatched him up tight and squeezed him until he almost couldn’t breathe. He’d never been so happy to be unable to breathe in his whole life. He snuggled his head against her chest and took a deep breath. He was safe. His whole family was safe. Everything was going to be okay now. They were at school—and school was supposed to be the safest place in the world, wasn’t it?
Soon Ra was there too, and the whole family was together—the Grey-Crescents, together as a family. Fena wished he could close his eyes right now and fall asleep. He was going to have nightmares later, he just knew it, but right now he felt like no nightmares could possibly harm him—and no Nightmares, either. They were safe now. They would be safe.
He couldn’t sleep now, though. They were being ushered through the door, which was locked behind them, and then sent down a set of stairs behind a clock. Fena had passed this clock every day on the way to class—he’d never known that it was a secret door before. At the bottom of the stairs was a big bunker, already full of people. Fena and his family were sent to nurses to be treated for injuries. Fena’s only injury was his tail, which had an enormous bruise on it. It hurt to move it. Bath was there at his side. “Fena, I’m really, really sorry I stepped on your tail,” the teenager said.
Fena looked up at him and shrugged. “It’s okay,” he said. “I don’t think it’s broken.” He twitched his tail and winced. “Just maybe don’t do it again.”
Bath chuckled and patted him on the back. “Hey, Fena—I have a personal request.”
Fena tilted his head. “Yeah? What is it?”
“What I did back there—to help you get away from that one guy? Please don’t tell anyone about it.”
Fena frowned. But that had been awesome—why would he want to not tell anyone? “Why not?”
Bath sighed. “Your ra will explain. You look out for your family, okay, Fena?”
Fena nodded. “Of course,” he said. “Why, where are you going?”
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:08 pm
Frankie had been just about to ask the same question. Now that he had Lacyboots back, he was seated next to his brother trying to scrub a spot of red out of Lacyboots that he swore hadn’t been there before. Had someone been throwing cranberry juice around or something? Frankie looked up from his task at their babysitter. “You were the best babysitter ever,” Frankie said. “How come you have to go?”
Frankie had been hoping that Bath would stick around. Bath had obviously helped them all to escape. He’d been hoping that if Bath would stick around, then he might continue to protect them throughout this incident. After the fight at the stadium, Frankie knew that there were no safe places anymore. This shelter was going to be attacked, and he wanted Batholith to be around to protect them. Especially if he’d done something so cool that it had to be a secret! (He was totally going to ask Fenaret that before Fena had time to talk to Ra about it.)
But Batholith was shaking his head. “I have to go look for my boyfriend,” Bath said. “He was sick this evening—I need to make sure that he’s here and he’s okay.” Bath gave him a hug. “Thank you for the excellent Haunted Hallows this evening, guys. Thank your parents again for the lasagna, and thank you for the makeup and the costume, Frankie.”
With that, Batholith waved his hand and disappeared into the crowd. Frankie sighed. “I was hoping he wouldn’t have to go.”
“Me too,” Fena sighed.
Frankie looked over at him. “So what did Bath do, anyway?”
Fena made a face. “Well…”
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