BIG FISHES, rizuna ann

CHAPTER TWELVE

Steal all cards. Leave The Beach.

As easy as Arisu had confided his plan to them, Saki didn't believe a word out of it. It was the secretive tension on his voice that gave him away, the most unnoticeable peck of a crack on a ceiling that let the rain slide in, dripping until someone looked up. He hadn't thought about it alone, but Saki knew it wasn't Usagi the one who sewed the thread for him.

She poured the boiling water over the chamomile flowers resting at the bottom of her cup, let it steep for a couple of minutes, and thought over the steam that warmed her face.

She thought about Hatter, about his fantasy land that wasn't so different from hers, about the ones hungry of power and a plan that could either result in success or sign their death contracts. She thought about Usagi accepting to work along Arisu and her own silence, left to be tasted cold in her room by two people she trusted but was afraid to care about as she exited it quietly.

Somehow, she found her way around the mansion. Following the wall's patterns of missing pieces of wall paper, clefts, and splinters, her hands had started to finally mold the inside of The Beach and adapt to every turn she took and every corner she stumbled across. The first times were the hardest, but she got the hang of it the fourth one when she ended up in a kitchen and made a stop to prepare an herbal tea in the meantime she tried to recall the path she took.

However, as she walked back to her room, Saki noticed there was something wrong along the walls. As she leaned away from it, a burning sensation covered her right arm the same way Icarus's wing was licked by the Sun's tongue.

"Fuck!" She muttered. The cup rolled over the floor.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" A boy said, reaching up to her, though the instant he noticed her retreat, he quickly came to a halt. His apologies didn't stop nonetheless. "I'm so, so sorry!"

Saki held her breath for half a second to calm the trembling on her hands.

"Are you okay?"

Saki grasped her arm flexed against her thorax, making her press her lips closed and her nails dig into her skin to hold back a pained grunt. Ann's fingers twitched in an attempt to touch her shoulder blades to gain her attention again, but Saki exhaled slowly and answered as if nothing had happened before she could make a move.

"Yeah, totally." She inclined into the direction she heard her joining. "I, um, don't think we've met yet, what's your name?"

"Ann," For a moment, Saki thought the conversation would just die there and, even though she tried not to, she hoped Ann didn't let it sink. She hoped that she would tell her they met two times already, that she was there when she arrived and avoided her from being electrocuted, and that she was a bad liar. Fortunately, her voice fulfilled her quiet desires, "What's yours?"

"Saki." She smiled.

"I'm Tatta," The boy spoke up, "I'm really sorry, I'll make another tea later, I promise! It was nice meeting you, tho! Let's go Ann."

He didn't let either of the two say another word. Saki assumed there seemed to be better places to be for them than standing in the middle of a hallway, with tea getting cold on the floor, and her wandering alone. She was fine with it, it wasn't like she'll never be capable of getting her way back to her room. Even so, Saki waited until their voices were far enough to still be heard but to a safe distance from where she wouldn't be discovered.

She tried pushing further her exploring, her death wish, and kept close to the sound of their hurried steps, however, she was still learning, so the second she went for a turning she knew she'd lost track of them. Saki would've groaned out loud if it wasn't for the discussion that was about to take place a few meters away from her.