Morningstar

Kobo notices that he is biting his bottom lip when he tastes the blood. It usually happens when he is deep in thought. This time, he is staring at Ilya. He has just noticed the way that Norm looks at her, but she doesn’t seem to notice. He knows how Norm feels about watching someone with different eyes while the other doesn’t look at him the same way.

“What would you do if you are lost?” Icarus asks as he enters the room. He is holding a white cup and a green apple in the other. He places the apple at the desk before turning around to face the wall. Kobo sees him move his mask a little before taking a sip from his cup and placing it back on.

“Find a way out, what else?” Tilray says.

“That’s the obvious answer,” Icarus says. “But what would you do in the moment?”

“Well, first I would say that we should not panic,” Kobo says as he looks at his hands. He doesn’t like to speak much. Speaking draws attention to him, and people will notice how unusual he is.

“Correct,” Icarus says. “What else?”

“Form a plan,” Lexan says.

“Contemplate all the possibilities,” Norm says, adding to Lexan’s argument.

“All right, and what would you do if you are lost with someone?” Icarus asks.

“Work together to get out,” Shin says. “What are these questions? The answers are obvious.”

“Now, would you work together to find a way out if that someone was someone that you do not like?” Icarus asks.

“It depends,” Tilray answers. “Why are you asking these questions?”

“Because the only clue that we have for the trial is a labyrinth. I am sure that they won’t throw you all into a labyrinth with the only objective is to find a way out. They will probably throw you in small groups and with some other team that you will have to face. I am sure that there would be deadly obstacles too. That’s why I am asking you that.”

“Oh, we will be facing another group for sure,” Killam says. “We will be facing Prophetic.”

“How do you know?” Fey asks.

“It is for the best if we do not know how,” Icarus says. “We are facing Prophetic. That is Lodge’s team.” He sighs as he passes a hand through his black hair. His hood falls down.

“What’s wrong with that?” Phoenix asks.

“Lodge graduated first right here at Morningstar,” Icarus says. “Fighting against him would not be easy.”

“But didn’t you graduate first from Nightlight also?” Fey asks.

“No,” Icarus says as he shakes his head. “I graduated third.”

“So, you are telling us that our chances are low against Lodge? I mean, he graduated first and you third,” Hakea says.

“It is going to be difficult,” Icarus answers.

“Difficult or near impossible?” Shin asks.

“I would say near impossible,” Killam says. “Lodge must have trained his students very well, while we had a day where Icarus lost all of his will to train us and one free day before the second trial.”

“He should have trained us more,” Tilray says.

“He graduated third,” Shin says. “He should have trained us way more.”

“Shut up,” Phoenix says. Kobo turns around to see her. She is sitting at the back of the room, besides Rin. She has her arms crossed and is leaning back against her chair. “Even though he graduated third, you forget that he was the assassin of the trial. He survived against five-hundreds of us, and whenever he killed one, he escaped with people following him. I have faith that he has trained us well. And also, I know that if he has a chance to fight Lodge, he would do it. He wouldn’t want us to face him, and of course, he will kill him.”

For a second, no one speaks. “Didn’t you hate him?” Shin asks. Phoenix shrugs.

“Whatever,” Tilray says, waving her hand at Phoenix. She looks at Icarus. “So, what are we going to do today?”

“Don’t you know?” Icarus asks.

Kobo rises an eyebrow. “Nothing?”

“Correct,” Icarus says. “It is your free day.”

“What?” Killam asks.

“This is our last day before the trial,” Shin says. “You should be training us more.”

“No,” Icarus says. “If I exploit you today, you won’t be ready for tomorrow. Use the day to relax. I’ll see you tomorrow for the trial.”

***

Lexan is on his way to Wither’s room with Wither and Vil. He doesn’t know what he will do today. He is not accustomed to having free days. “How was Jas?” Wither asks.

One of Lexan’s roommate is Jas. They never got along. Even Jas was one who didn’t wake him on the day of the first trial. “He didn’t come to our room last night,” Lexan says. “He must have stayed at the infirmary, even though there aren’t any healers. Maybe Morning is healing him.”

“Or maybe he is dead,” Vil suggests.

“Don’t say that, Vil,” Lexan says. “Jas has only lost an arm. He can overcome this.” Then, he accidentally passes too close to a tree with a branch poking out. He gets stuck in the branch. “Shoot.” He pulls himself out, hearing his shirt rip under his left arm. “I need to change into a new shirt before a mentor or Morning catches me.”

“I can lend you one of mines,” Wither says.

“Don’t worry,” Lexan says. “I don’t want you to be short by a shirt. I’ll head quickly to my room and change. I’ll meet you in yours.”

Lexan proceeds to move quicker. He proceeds to his room, knowing well enough that everyone should be at training. He opens the door to his room and flinches when he finds someone inside. Jas is sitting on his bed. He has a handgun in his lap, and his hand is resting on it. Lexan’s eyes pass through Jas’s arm, which is covered in bandages. He tries to look away.

“Jas, I didn’t know that you were awake. I thought that you were still with Morning.” Jas doesn’t answer. Lexan scratches the back of his neck on an awkward attempt to look busy. “How are you feeling?”

“How am I feeling?” Jas asks. “As if I lost my dominant hand! I lost my shooting arm. I lost any chance of being someone after graduation or even getting to graduate! I am useless.”

“You are not,” Lexan says.

“I am,” Jas yells as he takes the gun that is on his lap. He points it at Lexan. Lexan feels a shiver go down his spine. “I am useless! I was one of the best students in here, and my chances of surviving have all gone to hell! And all because of Shin! I know he did this! I should kill that bastard!”

“Jas–”

“Shut up!” The gun trembles in his hand. “Shin did this! Shin made me a monster! And all because of a stupid woman! I-I-I won’t be able to survive. I will die. I won’t make it to graduation.” He moves the gun and presses it against his own temple.

Lexan then realizes what he is about to do. “Jas,” he says calmly, but his nerves are shaking. He cannot see anyone else kill themselves. He has to do something. He has to stop this.

He jumps towards Jas, but then hears the gun go off.

***

Icarus runs towards the boys’ dormitory, where Sonny told him to go. He doesn’t bother waiting for Sonny. He leaves her behind. When he arrives to the students’ dormitory, he heads to the room that he was told. Outside of the room, he spots Vil and Wither. They are crouching in front of someone. Morning is standing in front of a closed door. As Icarus approaches, he doesn’t pay attention to Morning but to Lexan, who is seated in front of Vil and Wither. They move when they see him approach, opening the path towards Lexan.

“Are you all right? Are you hurt?” Icarus asks Lexan. His head is between his knees and his arms are hugging his legs. He cannot see his face, but he can see splattered blood in his brown hair. “Lexan?”

“Mr. Hallow,” Morning says.

“One second,” Icarus answers, not looking at him. “Lexan. Tell me anything. Just let me know that you are all right, that you are not hurt.” Icarus hears a sob from Lexan. He places a hand on his shoulder and stands up to walk towards Morning.

“Come inside,” Morning says as he opens the door.

Icarus enters as Morning closes the door behind him. The first thing that he sees is Jas. He is lying on his side on a bed. Blood has stained the sheets and is dripping and forming a pool on the floor. The worst part is the scattered pieces of what Icarus knows to be the brain around the bed and floor. He spots the gun on the floor.

Icarus approaches the body to see what happened. He knows that Lexan did not shoot him; he didn’t have a reason to. By the looks of it, Jas must have pressed the gun against his temple and fired. The blood is splattered on the right side of the bed, on the side where Jas is lying. The shot must have come from the left side of his head, using his only arm, and gone out from the right. The impact caused him to fall to his right side.

“He shot himself,” Icarus says.

“That’s what Mr. Cinder claims that happened,” Morning says. Icarus is going to begin defending Lexan, when Morning continues talking. “All of the signs point to that. However, this has not been the first time that Mr. Cinder has been associated by an incident of the same caliber.”

“Another incident?” Icarus asks. This is the first time that he has heard about it. He learnt the basic information about every student, but he did not learn their history.

“He was involved in another student’s suicide,” Morning says. “Even if his presence during this event was pure coincidence, the rest of the mentors will not see it that way. One of your mentees is presumed to be involve in the loss of the victim’s arm and now, another one is involved on his death. From the outside perspective, it looks like you are cleaning out the competition.”

“We are not,” Icarus assures him again. He decides to switch the subject. “What are we going to do with Jas’s roommates?”

“We’ll find them a room,” Morning says. “I’ll send someone to clean this mess.”

“Lexan can sleep in Wither’s room,” Icarus suggest.

“It doesn’t matter where he sleeps as long as it is in a male dormitory.”

“All right,” Icarus says as he nods. He heads to the wardrobe marked with Lexan’s name. He finds a folded bag inside, which is what the students use when they need to clean their clothes. He opens the bag and begins to place Lexan’s clothes inside. When he is done, Morning leaves the room and then him. He lowers himself in front of Lexan. “Come on. You’ll be sleeping with Wither tonight.” And finally, Lexan stands up.

Icarus catches a glimpse of Lexan’s lowered face before beginning to walk. He has drops of blood in his face. Wither takes the lead towards his room. He opens the door when they arrive. “He can take that bed,” Wither says.

Lexan sits on the edge of the bed as Icarus places the clothes in the wardrobe. After he is done, he returns to Lexan, “Are you going to be all right?”

Lexan shakes his head. “I-I-I won’t,” he admits. “T-This isn’t the f-first time that I let someone d-die.” Icarus only nods. He doesn’t need to hear him tell the story. He doesn’t need to speak it if he doesn’t want to.

“What?” Vil asks.

“I-I-I was involved in another suicide,” Lexan says. He sniffs and passes the back of his hand through his nose. “Her name was Lora. She-she-she was a beautiful woman. I and my f-friends were interested in her. But she was a player.”

“Which friends?” Vil asks. She keeps pushing.

“Vil,” Icarus warns.

“Radon, Jibe, Soar, and Asper,” Lexan says.

“You don’t have to tell us,” Wither says.

Lexan shakes his head. “I haven’t spoken to anyone about this. I need to.” He rubs his eyes with the back of his hands. “One day, Soar needed help for an assignment and called her to his room. She arrived, and then slowly, my friends and I started to arrive. And what was a study section, ended up becoming a drinking gathering. We ended up getting wasted.”

He stops talking. Vil is about to speak again but Icarus rises a hand, stopping her. “T-then, s-something happened,” Lexan continues. “I don’t remember who it was, b-but someone got on top of her. He tied her with the help of the others to the bed. And I saw when they began to… when they began to… undress her… I stood there, petrified. I was watching her body, which I wanted to see for a long time, but they were doing things to her that she didn’t like. She had tears on her face, and she couldn’t scream because they put a sock in her mouth. I knew that it was wrong. I-I-I-I knew that they were touching her. B-But I somehow w-wanted to be part of it…”

Icarus hears a sob come from Lexan. He sees tears escaping from his eyes. “I-I-I was a monster,” Lexan says. “I-I-I ran away. I d-didn’t stop them. I-I let them rape her…” He stays a few minutes quiet, letting sobs and tears escape.

Icarus feels his blood boiling. He has seen a lot in his life, and one of the things that he hates the most is rapists, and even more when they walk out free. Lexan’s friends raped a woman. They forced her to do unimaginable things. And they are all unharmed, untouched, working as part of Quin’s Angelic team.

“W-when she woke up, she… she threw herself out the window… She killed herself…”

Icarus sits beside Lexan and extends his arms. Lexan doesn’t hesitate. He places his forehead on Icarus shoulder as Icarus wraps his arm around him. He hears him cry his pain away.