September in Salus

September 18th

 "So what you're telling me is that you haven't gotten it yet?" Dom narrowed his eyes, giving Eli a scorching look. They were in the back of the library, near a large semicircular window that looked out over the sports fields.

"No! I've tried, but I haven't had much time! I don't want to break into his office, so what am I supposed to-" Eli froze. "Where did you get that?"

Dom was holding a smudged photograph. Its edges were ragged and soft. The four figures in the photo were instantly recognizable. "Where do you think I got it?"

"You stole that from my room!" Eli reached out for the photograph, but Dom held up a hand.

"I wouldn't come any closer. Of course I stole this from your room. I thought it would be good as a little extra insurance in case that video wasn't enough to convince you to help."

"Give that back to me!"

"Hmm. Maybe. First I need you to do something for me. Something in addition to your first task, that is."

Dom looked around, as if worrying that there was someone nearby that could overhear him. He whispered instructions into Eli's ear, and Eli recoiled in shock.

"I would get in more trouble for that than I would if that video got out! Just show everyone the video, I don't care. They can't think less of me than they already do. I'm done helping you."

"You're done helping me? Then you won't mind if I just..." Dom help up the picture. Tiny flames flickered off his hand and lapped at the picture.

"Stop! Stop! Please!" Eli's voice caught on the last word.

Immediately, the flames vanished. The edges of the picture were curled and blackened, but it was otherwise unharmed. Dom raised an eyebrow. "Want to rethink what you said about not helping me?"

***

Caelum felt well enough to attend soccer practice that day, and despite being kept busy running and passing, he had plenty of time to mull over the drill. Back in his dorm room after practice, Caelum sat at his desk and tried to think.

Obviously Dr. Nichols had the drill because he thought they were in danger of being attacked. If that was the case... Caelum resisted the urge to bang his head against his desk. If he could just remember what had happened that day, it might solve everything, but his memories of that day were locked away somewhere in his mind, and he couldn't find the key.

The key. Caelum sat up. Maybe there was some way to trigger the memories to return. He'd thought of this before, but the risk had always been too high. But now he was desperate. He had to do what had just popped into his head now, before he could talk himself out of it.

He pushed back his chair and walked over to where he'd tossed his bag onto his bed, being careful not to wake Dom. Tucking his phone into his pocket, he reached for his charys gun before remembering that it was still locked up in Dr. Nichols' desk. Though taking his gun would break even more rules than he was already shattering, Caelum wished he had the comfort of his gun at his side. Just in case. Being without it made him uneasy. Making sure his ID was in his pocket, he walked out of his room.

It was 10:30, so he wasn't breaking any rules yet. Curfew was at 11:00, though, so when he hadn't swiped his card to get back into his room, an alert would be sent to Dr. Nichols. Caelum had a half hour to get out of Salus before he would be in serious trouble.

The streetlights were still on, illuminating the pathways as Caelum headed toward the Arch. He thought maybe he should feel something, anything, about what he was doing, but he felt numb.