"Oh I'm not done just yet. Y'know, I think I will tell you about
this. Would be nice to see the look on your face right before you
die." She smirked. "Like how Connor Luswire was my brother. And I
killed him. And how that's not the real prinicipal who's behind
this all. Of course, you could die ignorant. Your choice."
Of course you did, he thought to himself. Still, he didn't
respond, didn't want to give her the satisfaction. She seemed eager
to finally give up her secret, though, so sure he'd never make it
out alive. But the mention of siblings called to mind something. Or
someone, more like. If Luswire locked the door, perhaps he could
try to reach Salene through these new vents. He himself likely
still wouldn't fit, but perhaps she could bring medical supplies,
or at the very least could carry his information back to the other
students. He just had to wait for this psychotic beast of a human
to leave him alone, let her assume Nadia would bleed to death and
he himself would succumb to whatever she had planned. Once she was
gone, however, hope could return. Or so he hoped.
Mrs. Luswire sighed. "Goodness, you're truly a bore. Do you
seriously care about her that much? Let's cut to the chase, then.
In exactly an hour, a bomb will go off, killing evreyone on this
island. I know where it is, giving me enough time to get off the
island. It'll all just be a gas explosion to the public, I being
the only known survivor. Then, my husband will find me, and we'll
rid the world of the rest of the unvirtues. Of course, there's that
Dan boy. He was a good one. Perhaps I'll spare his life. After all,
he worked so hard to help me after I told him I'd spare his mother.
Such a nasty temper though..gave me the perfect way to reel in you
meddlesome children." She paused. "Oh, and no, it wasnt me
spreading the gasoline. Or Dan."
Despite everything, his own ego included, Colt, finally responding
in the way he guessed she wanted him to, let out a strangled,
"Why?" At this point, he was seriously panicking, his usually calm
demeanor long gone. Medical related stuff wasn't his expertise;
he'd read the "Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook" once, and the
information from that was about all he had. He had no idea what
else to do for Nadia, no idea how he was going to get off this
island alive. If he kept her talking, he might glean more
information, but he knew that, with each passing moment, the
chances of Nadia surviving were decreasing.
Mrs. Luswire laughed darkly. "Why? Because, dear Colt, the leaders
of this world have no virtue. And you will neither, meaning that
the rest of the world does not. Because of this, no one has virtue.
The Society of the Broken Mirrors ends to change that. Once we get
rid of the root of the problem, the entire weed will die." She
walked across the room, picking up the necklace that Nadia had
dropped and let skid across the floor as she was stabbed. "My
husband started this. I meant him here, when I was a student. He
helped me realize so, so many things. My brother joined me as well
for awhile. Like my husband, he was a twin. We were triplets. When
Konnor realized what was going on, he tried to stop us. So, we
killed him, fleeing the schoo, all three of us. But then, my
husband, our wonderful leader, told us, that it was time to play a
game. To help them understand. Dan was converted rather quickly
when I threatened to kill his sister, he's been quite the
assistant."
It was at this point that he realized that he was subconsciously
trying to talk reason into a mad woman. Finally fed up, he decided
that he would have to give her word a run for its money. She'd said
she wouldn't kill him, and he figured he'd die anyway if he didn't
get out of here soon. Gently lifting Nadia's limp form into his
arms, he stood, careful to move her as little as possible. Without
so much as a glance at the woman who likely would be the reason he
never saw his family again, he steeled himself and began to attempt
to calmly exit the building.
She watched him go with another laugh. "Try and save her, but it's
no use. If you never find the enlightement, you'll die ignorant.
After all, Nos Sumus in Virtute." But, Mrs. Luswire did not attempt
to stop him as he exitited the building. Meanwhile, Salene was
walking torwads the building. Seeing Colt with Nadia, her eyes
widened and she ran to him, her brothers close behind. "What
happened in there?! Did Dan do that?"
It was all he could do to prevent his knees from shaking.
Everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion but sped up at
the same time. Registering Salene's question, he said, voice shaky,
"N-no. No. It was Ms. Luswire... Salene, she's going to blow up
this whole island." Colt couldn't hold back the tears anymore.
Turning his face away from the younger students, he clenched his
teeth, droplets of saltwater running down his face. He felt
unimaginably vulnerable, helpless, pathetic. The boy knew he had to
get Nadia medical attention, and now, but he had no idea where to
look or who to ask.
Salene took a minute to process what he had just said, the shock on
her face clear. She took a breath, closing her eyes and opening
them again. By now, Salene had grown used to stress and panic.
"Okay," she said evenly. First, she bent down and spoke quietly to
her brothers for a minute, before they dissapeared into the crowd
of students. She turned her attention to Colt. "Hey. You're going
to be alright. Nadia's going to be fine. If you give up hope now,
we won't get off the island. I told my brothers to go get the
school nurse. She has the supplies to keep Nadia stable, at least
until we get off the island. But about the bomb, if we can figure
out where it is, the'res plenty of students that can disarm it
easily. Now. Did Mrs. Luswire say anything, anything at all that
might have hinted at the location?"
Nodding hesitantly, he took a moment to collect himself before
responding, chiding himself at his temporary loss of focus. "Kept
on going on about virtue. How she and her husband were soo virtuous
and we were all heathens. If we're never enlightened, we'll die in
ignorance, she's part of the 'Society of Broken Mirrors,' or
something, and some other psychotic melodramatic babble about how
it wasn't her first time stabbing a kid." Biting his lip and
squeezing his eyes shut momentarily, he prayed that the boys would
return soon.
"Okay," Salene said slowly. "Are you sure there wasn't any
particular word, or phrase that stood out to you? Even the tiniest
thing." She didn't know when the bomb would go off, so Salene was
hoping that Colt, despite his destressed manner, would have
something for her to work with. Meanwhile, the boys had returned
with the school nurse, a kind looking woman by the name of Nurse
Raven. Her eyes widened when she saw Nadia. "Oh, no, this was worse
than I thought." She looked up at Colt. "Young man, do you trust
me? I can keep her alive as best I can, but you need to put her
down."
Nodding slowly and somewhat reluctantly, he knelt, gingerly laying
Nadia on the ground. Realization flickered into his mind; if he was
going to stop the whole island and all of these children from
exploding, he would have to leave her here. Baring his teeth, Colt
hated the idea; he knew it was for the better, but that didn't mean
it was easy. Without really thinking about it, he slipped his hand
into hers and, though he knew she couldn't hear him, whispered,
"I'll be back, I promise." Letting out a shuddery breath, he stood,
glancing down at his other hand, the one that he'd first tried to
stop the bleeding with. A single tear slid down his cheek at the
sight of the blood on it, but he clenched it into a fist. Turning
to Salene with an odd new look of despair-inspired determination in
his eyes, he said with more certainty in his voice, "Other than,
'In exactly an hour, a bomb will go off,' yeah, there was one
thing. I don't recall the exact wording, but she said that we'll
die ignorant if we never find enlightenment. She seems like the
kind of psycho to try and throw us some clues, give away her plan,
see what we'll do. I don't know what it means, but it could have
something to do with light. Or learning, more likely."
Nurse Raven, with the help of Salene's twin brothers, lifted her up
and carried Nadia's limp form away. Salene was musing over what he
had just said. "If you never find enlightement, you'll die
ignorant." Something clicked. "Enlightement...learning." She looked
up. "Mrs. Luswire taught Literature and Writing. What place would
she find learning?"
"Classrooms, perhaps?" he wondered. But no, that would be too
obvious, certainly. Something else... enlightenment, learning,
paper, books... "Maybe a library?"
"Yes!" Salene said, "she loved that library, if anything, it's the
best place to start.. Now, come on, we have to find that bomb." She
started hurrying off for the library, oddly calm about the entire
situation. But in truth, she was terrified. But if she could keep
it together for her brothers, she could now. All they had to do was
find that bomb, and hopefully this would all be over.
Colt followed her, glancing back multiple times, even though he
could no longer see the nurse. It might have just been his
imagination, but the first couple of steps seemed to actually hurt
him. He knew it was for the best, though, and that now everyone
overall could have a better chance of survival. Salene seemed calm
as a cucumber, which was completely surprising to him, and not
something he would have expected from her.
Reaching the library, Salene threw open the doors. "Thank goodness
that the school grounds end so closely to the water. I think there
will be enough time to get it out of here if we hurry, but even
then it's not guarenteed. The important thing is that no one gets
hurt." She looked around the room. "But where is it???" She said
frustratedly. "If only I wasn't so short..."
"Well, we could get a chair for you to stand on," he remarked,
having to tilt his head down to make eye contact. Shaking his head,
a bit upset with himself for trying to make a joke, he glanced
around. "Maybe under a book shelf? In the librarian's office?"
Salene rolled her eyes. "Even in a time of crisis, tall people
flaunt their height." She moved forward into the room. "Alright,
Mrs. Luswire wouldn't put this in a obvious place, in case someone
found it too soon." She hurried between the rows of bookshelves,
calling over her shoulder, "She might have hid it in the walls, or
maybe in the office. What's important is that we find it, and
fast."
Proceeding to hurry to the office, the boy riffled through every
file he could find, knocked all the books off the shelves, pushed
aside cabinets, but found nothing. After about 6 minutes, the whole
subroom was demolished, and he'd found nothing. Frustrated and
running out of time, he hefted Mrs. Luswire's large encyclopedia,
flipped through it, and, with a sigh, jogged back out into the main
room. A large stone statue of God-knows-who stood in the centre of
the library. It almost seemed to be smirking down at him, only
adding to Colt's anxiety. Without a word, he lobbed the
encyclopedia at it, first making sure Salene wasn't close by, and
turned away to the right.