The Budding Metalinguist

L

As much as Lillian disliked being in contact with the DIAO, she knew it was her responsibility to call. She sighed and dialed the DIAO number. Diane answered promptly, picking up on the first ring.

"Department for the Investigation of Anomalous Occurrences," she greeted brightly.

"Hello Diane," Lillian responded stiffly. "It's me."

"Oh, hi, Lillian," Diane answered. "If you're calling for an update, there's really not much. We got further background checks on the Moreaus and nothing has turned up. Everything's checking out pretty easily. But I know Vanessa wanted to talk to you. I can patch you through if you like."

"Vanessa?" Lillian asked reflexively. Then, as a thinly veiled disguise, she continued the question. "What did she want to talk about?"

"I don't know, actually," Diane answered thoughtfully. "Let me patch you through." The line made a few odd clicking noises, and Vanessa's voice slowly came into focus. "Who is this?"

"Lillian."

"Oh, Lillian," Vanessa realized. Her voice contained a hint of a sly smile. "I've been wanting to ask why you and Galena stayed after two days ago."

"Oh," Lillian responded, in an effort to keep her tone casual. "We wanted to talk. I hadn't been in contact with you guys for a while, and she was asking why. My classes are starting to get harder. We talked. That's why I called today, I know I need to participate more."

Vanessa scoffed. "Lillian, this isn't a class. And who was the blonde girl?"

"A friend of mine," Lillian said reflexively.

"Yeah?" Vanessa prompted.

"We were at the thaumaturgy museum and on our way back to campus but I said I had to make a stop. Ingrid asked if she could come and I said it was fine."

"Ingrid," Vanessa said thoughtfully. "Well, I'm glad that you and Ingrid got that time together." She snorted. Lillian couldn't tell if Vanessa thought she was lying or if the Assistant Director was just expressing contempt at the idea of bringing a friend to a DIAO appointment. "I'll call and let you know if anything happens," Vanessa closed.

"I lost your number."

Vanessa immediately began dictating her phone number to Lillian. She didn't feel the need to run for a pencil and paper; Vanessa's phone number was unfortunate. The numbers were arranged in such a pattern that it would be difficult to forget.

"Thanks," Lillian said dismissively, and hung up.

❦

"I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer."

Dakota stared. "What do you mean?"

Rory scoffed in outright disdain. "I mean I have a life. And the longer I hide from it, the harder it's going to be to go back to it."

Dakota tried to feign confusion such that Rory would explain. He couldn't risk asking another question and insulting Rory again.

"I'm supposed to be at University of Portland. I'm supposed to be as faithful a friend as I've always been. I should be calling Lillian and Rachel every week to talk about how my classes are going and what I've been up to. Instead, I'm trapped in this tower listening to you talk about teaching my best friend metalanguage. Meanwhile, my other best friend gets a full-ride scholarship, and it's not even safe for me to congratulate her on it, because it might get back to Lillian. I'm tired of being the vanward soldier here. You know I don't need to be here."

"What do you mean, you don't need to be here?"

"You seem to be doing just fine with Ashley," Rory answered. "I'm not doing anything. I never talk to anyone. Ray and Em barely care about me, and they're still mad at me just for associating with Mira. You don't even really like me that much. Ashley couldn't care less if I left."

"But you came here," Dakota responded weakly, in an argument that was clearly completely devoid of any motivation.

"How about Rachel? Huh?" Rory prompted. "How do you think she's going to feel when she finds out about me? It's going to have to happen at some point. How do you think she'd feel if things suddenly start escalating with Lillian? Am I just supposed to abandon her?"

"Rachel," Dakota answered thoughtfully.

"Yes, Rachel," Rory snapped. "Rachel Shimada. Lillian's friend. My friend."

"Is she one of you?" Dakota asked reflexively.

"Does it matter?" Rory cried. "She's someone! She deserves to know what's happened to her friends!" With this, he whirled around and stomped up the stairs.

"If you're going to leave, just leave," Dakota snapped after him. "You don't even have to worry about telling me."

Somewhere upstairs, a door slammed.