Thorunn

4-2

Laine stared up at the walls of Ethaba High. They seemed to have grown twenty feet since yesterday, and he was never gladder he and Andy didn't share any classes. A light breeze washed over Laine, making him wish he'd brought his jacket. The Thorunn he'd experienced so far had never been cold, never would be, according to the school handbook Dustin had overenthusiastically read to him, but a metallic taste hung in the air, oxidised pennies left out in the rain too long, threading an ever-present chill into Ethaba's bones.

Laine rubbed at his arms one more time and headed inside. Dustin shot him a worried look when Laine slouched into homeroom, making no attempt to cover the bruising on his face. Dustin wilted under Laine's glare after a weak attempt at conversation and very timidly slid over the details of the mathletes competition. Only the arrival of their homeroom teacher saved the handwritten card from being shredded into a million tiny scraps.

Despite the clock on the wall marking the time in an inexorable crawl forwards, Laine could swear it stopped―and in fact marched backward―for how long homeroom dragged out.

Math was no better, and Laine drifted off more than once, regaining consciousness long enough to growl at Dustin whenever his classmate nudged him. He'd humiliated Laine enough by answering for him when their teacher had taken attendance; Laine certainly didn't need his help staying awake. He hadn't napped during the day since age five, and he wasn't about to start, no matter how the throbbing pain in his entire left side battered at him.

But as the morning wore on, Laine's back and left arm started to go numb, and by fourth period the pen he clutched might as well have been a block of wood for all the good it was doing him. It was study period anyway, so Laine ducked out of his seat when the supervising teacher was helping another student.

He paused at the bulletin board. Surprisingly, his winning play still cycled on it. Yoon Ah's doing no doubt―Andy most certainly would have hacked into the school's edda-net and pulled the footage if not convinced he'd get in trouble for doing so.

Andy's blind trust in his dad was a little scary. Even Yoon Ah had been willing to admit that Doctor Frenally's super secret basement lab, with the radioactive monster hidden in a cage, was super shady.

Laine turned to go and almost collided with Andy himself. He glared at Laine with red-rimmed eyes and made to shove past him, but Laine caught Andy's arm, wincing in pain and suddenly very aware of the circular narprolepscene tablets sitting against the lining of his jeans' pockets.

"Unhand me if y'don't fancy a matching black eye."

Laine held out his hands, wobbling a little when he released Andy. "I ain't here to fight. But Andy, man, you gotta listen. Your dad, my uncle―I heard them talking last night. Your dad is convinced whatever he's working on is both valuable and sensitive enough for somebody to try and break in and steal it―he's got no idea it was us―and he's reported it to the Consul. The Consul, Andy! And my uncle was going on about lokians and some group called the Cabal."

"Mum always tells me the smartest people have no common sense. I'm starting to see what she means." Andy looked at Laine like one might a very small child. "Let me make this as clear as possible. One, both your uncle an' my father―an' your father too, for that matter―work fer the government on highly classified projects. Two, the Cabal is a terrorist organisation that's been plaguing Skytown for the last few years, an' has made it their aim to see anything regarding the Consul torn down."

Andy took a step closer to Laine. "Connect the dots. Course my father's worried, worried a terrorist group might have gotten their hands on sensitive, confidential information that could be used to destroy his work, disrupt our lives, and realise the Cabal's dream of blowing Skytown sky-high. Now leave this an' me an' Yoon Ah alone 'fore you get us all accused of conspiring with known terrorists an' evil creatures like the lokians."