Avia Academy

🌊Chapter Nine: Ultimatum and an Umbrella

"Oh my goodness, Claire! Have you heard? Please tell me you've heard," Alison demanded as soon as Claire arrived at the lunch table the first day back at school.

Unsure what it was she was supposed to have heard, Claire quickly glanced over the rest of the table. Surprisingly, only Orpheus was there, and he had his nose buried in a text book.

Claire almost guessed 'did Kayah go down in an unfortunate ship accident?' But she'd seen her cousin in passing, so she knew that couldn't be the case. Maybe Alison had finally dumped poor Lark? Rather than making a guess, Claire sat down across from Alison and shrugged. "What?"

"Of course you haven't heard." Alison rolled her eyes. "There was a bombing in Komore last week! Like, a big one, the Awakening did it, of course. I would bet it was you-know-who's parents if they weren't already in jail."

Claire followed Alison's line of sight to where Hadyn sat building a mashed potato snowman with Sylva on her dinner plate.

Alison raised a conspiratorial brow and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Gods, maybe she did it, you know?"

"She didn't," Claire answered a little too quickly. She frowned, surprised at herself.

Alison's other brow shot up to join the first.

"I mean she'd obviously be too stupid to pull off something like that," Claire said. "But m-maybe you're right. She's for sure crazy enough to try it."

Alison sniffed. "I'm pretty sure I'm right. I have a sense about this stuff, you know? Daddy says I should be some sort of criminal investigator when I graduate- if I'm not Chosen, of course. Pheephee, do you think I have what it takes to be a detective?"

"Hm?" Orpheus mumbled, looking up from his studies.

Alison tugged on his arm. "Do you think I could be a detective?"

Orpheus looked to be giving the thought serious consideration, then he nodded. "You'd be great. Nothing gets past you, Ali."

Alison's purple eyes glittered as she giggled and straightened up in her seat, fluffing her cloud-like black pigtails. "Oh, stop Pheephee, you flatter me too much!"

But Orpheus had already lost interest, and was now smiling over at Claire. The was not the first time for such an occurance, and Claire would later learn of Alison's displeasure for it. But at the moment, she only saw Orpheus's lovely dimples.

"I hope you had a good break," he said. "I um, I got you something while I was visiting my family. It's not much but... well, I forgot it in my room. I can give it to you when we prac-" his expression changed, remembering Alison's presence. "I can give it to you tomorrow, ok?"

Claire's stomach flipped and her cheeks heated. "Oh. O-okay."

Kayah and Lark arrived at the table together and took their usual seats on either side of Alison. Lark greeted Claire quietly, gave Alison a kiss on the cheek, then launched into conversation with Orpheus.

Kayah, wide-eyed, slammed her hands on the table. "Claire, oh my Gods, have you heard?"

"About the bombing?" Claire sighed. She'd heard. She'd seen. She still had a bit of a bump on the back of her skull.

Kayah nodded feverishly. "Supposedly there was some sort of play going on in Komore's amphitheater and Awakening members bombed the thing! No one died, but a ton of people got hospitalized. No one caught the people who did it, but they found a few creepy looking masks abandoned at the scene."

"See but I heard it wasn't a play," Alison cut in. "It was an Awakening rally!"

Kayah frowned. "But that wouldn't make sense. Why would the Awakening bomb themselves?"