𝓟𝐫𝗼𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝓢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐞

Chapter #43 - Biana

Chapter #43 - Biana

"Hello?" Biana asked as she knocked on the door of the triangular office in Foxfire, "Mr— er, Magnate Leto?"

After a quick hail to Forkle, he'd said that he was currently working on his duties as Magnate Leto, but that they could meet at his principal's office. Biana was thankful for it, sure he could sense the direness of the situation.

"Miss Linh, Miss Vacker, and Mr. Dizznee? Come in."

The three friends exchanged a glance, and stepped inside. No Empath was needed to see that Dex was uncannily anxious— Biana guessed he was frustrated with himself for how the enhancing device had backfired. Tinker was definitely going to be talked to after that day.

Or maybe Dex's nerves had to do with his brother.

Either way, she mouthed a quick "It'll be okay."

Mr. Forkle was in his Leto form. He slicked back his raven-colored hair, "You kids are here to discuss your plan of thwarting the army, I assume?"

"Actually," Linh said slowly, "we already went through with it."

The principal's face went from shock to understanding to concern. "Oh. I... what happened?" They all took shaky breaths and gave him the rundown (Biana was still reluctant about Fitz having brought Gisela to Everglen), leading up to the question of, So what will we do now with those humans? Magnate Leto's expression twisted into something unreadable.

"That's definitely a turn of events..." he said, obviously choosing his words carefully, "I wish I had a miracle solution. Unfortunately, it never seems to be that way. If the humans didn't have abilities, the obvious answer would be to simply erase their memories— which would still be hard, with so many. Though maybe—" His blue eyes glazed over. "Well. That would merit a huge discussion."

"What would?" Linh and Dex asked at once. But Biana was distracted, glancing at the vaguely familiar scrolls— clearly apart from the various principal-related paperwork— on Leto-Forkle's desk.

"What are those?" she inquired. Her arm flickered out of sight from pointing at them.

"Those are the scrolls we recovered from the Lodestar storehouse. Right before the others came here, Glimmer was speaking to me about... unrelated matters," the way he cleared his throat made Biana wonder how unrelated they were, "and I thought we'd take a peek at them, since she knows a bit of the code they're written in. We couldn't fully read them without a Polyglot, of course."

"But you did catch a few words."

Magnate Leto nodded. "Mostly vague or useless ones, like 'vision' or 'legacy.' And 'ruthlessness' once too— likely to do with Vespera's plans."

The mention of Vespera's name triggered Biana to trace her fingers down the leftovers of her fight with the ex-prisoner, thin scars marring her neck. Scars that brought back nightmares. Scars she no longer covered with long-sleeved turtlenecks. Scars that made her stronger.

"Wait a second," Dex blurted, "You said, 'Right before the others came here.' I know Sophie came to talk to you later, but... who else?"

Biana and Linh shared a confused look— what was he getting at?

Magnate Leto froze.

"I KNEW IT!" announced Dex, hands gripping the sides of his tunic. "I KNEW he'd go talk to you..."

"What—"

"Mr. Dizznee's referring to his brother," Forkle told them, "Rex recently asked to join the Black Swan."

A few puzzle pieces clicked at those words.

"You didn't say he could, did you?" Dex frowned. "Nevermind, it— it doesn't matter. Not what we came here for."

He didn't talk again, though.

After a long pause, the principal said, "We've gotten off-topic. If you really want to know... I was considering if there was a way for the mentors in Foxfire to help train the humans. I'm sure most people will freak out at the idea, but... it would also be revolutionary."

The suggestion echoed within the office.

It would be revolutionary.

Then it suddenly occurred to Biana...

"You've been thinking about that for a while, haven't you? When Sophie came over to talk to Fitz, she mentioned the Council wanting to do something with Team Valiant. Were you talking to the Council about that, um, idea?"

"It was a barely formed idea, after the big discussion at Havenfield. And yes, I did mention it to the councillors. They had... mixed feelings." Leto-Forkle looked slightly flustered. "Though I didn't know they'd bring you kids into it yet."

"We never actually met with them," Biana clarified.

He exhaled, "Well, considering the humans are off confused in Miss Foster's old neighborhood— we don't have time to overthink things— maybe training them is the right next step."

The trio nodded. It seemed complicated... but also promising.

"And Dex?" Mr. Forkle added, "Don't worry. We'll do whatever we can to make sure your brother's okay."