Triple Point

Chapter 90: Team Bonding

Elsie

Elsie was numb as the guards dragged her off to who knew where, and she didn't even care that her vision was obscured by a thick blindfold. It didn't matter when all she could see was Camilla's fear as she was being pulled away against her will, not knowing what awaited her. Elsie shouldn't have let her go so easily, and now she didn't even know how she was going to get Camilla back this time.

So Elsie was more than surprised when the blindfold was removed, and she saw Camilla in front of her, huddled in a corner of a room similar to an unfurnished version of their bedroom, with her knees to her chest and her head tucked behind them.

"Milla?" Elsie asked, not believing her eyes.

Slowly but surely, Camilla lifted her head towards Elsie. Her gaze looked blank and drained, but her eyes still lit up ever so slightly at the sight of Elsie.

"Oh my god," Elsie breathed in relief as she hurried to Camilla and quickly knelt down to wrap Camilla in a tight embrace, and she was relieved when Camilla's arms held onto her just as firmly. And when Camilla let out a shaky breath, Elsie held her even closer.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat.

Elsie's shock was the only reason she let Camilla go, and she spun around to see who else was there.

Along the center of the adjacent wall was Mack, who sat with his back against the wall and waved deprecatingly at Elsie in a grim greeting. Besides him was Finn, who was feeling up the ground with unusual interest. Hitomi stood in the corner at the other end of the wall, glaring at Camilla with her lips pinched with worry. Pacing around the room was Nakia, who seemed more irritated and frustrated than anything else.

And each of them wore the same silver collar as Camilla.

"What the hell is going on?" Elsie asked.

She expected at least Mack to answer, since he had initially gotten her attention, so when he silently looked at Elsie, then let his eyes drift towards Camilla, Elsie's gaze followed.

Camilla had also been looking at Mack, but she didn't seem as confused by his reaction. Instead, she turned to Elsie, then quickly glanced at Elsie's left hand that had drifted to Camilla's shoulder. Then Elsie realized what they meant: she still had her anti-eavesdropping watch activated, and they needed her to turn it off to prevent their captors from getting even more suspicious.

As naturally as she could, Elsie pretended to rub an ache in her wrist as she subtly deactivated the device. Only when the lights on her watch turned off did Elsie speak again.

"Are you okay?" Elsie asked Camilla.

Understandably, Camilla hesitated before she answered, but she eventually gave a small, short nod.

"They're suspicious of us," Mack finally explained, pulling Elsie's attention back towards him. "They think we're trying to stage a rebellion against them."

Elsie scoffed. "So we have to suffer because of their paranoia?"

Even though their suspicions weren't far from the truth, Elsie and her friends would never want to take over Exodos; they just wanted to leave. But of course Elsie wasn't going to say that aloud.

Mack shrugged. "Hopefully not for long. One of the guards told me that they'll be searching our spaces, and once the higher-ups realize that they can't find any evidence against us, they'll let us go."

His implication made Elsie freeze, but she tried not to show her worry. The most incriminating evidence she had was her written notes brainstorming on how to bring Camilla into the plan, but her vagueness made her ideas seem more like a teenager's haphazard plot to confess their undying love to someone. But she didn't know where Mack and Hitomi had been stashing away their gathered supplies, nor where Nakia and Finn were hiding their incomplete sketches of the base's layout. Since none of them seemed worried about it, Elsie convinced herself she didn't have to panic either.