OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

022. Your Ability Restrictor

You know, I would've expected Neverseen dinners to be gloomy, diabolical, and dark, with rotting kernalfruits on dirty dishes.

Surprisingly, I couldn't have been any more wrong.

The room's lit up with a magical gold, and there's lots of laughter and chatter. A light show dances above the plentiful food, a laughing hijabi girl controlling it.

I realize she's sitting next to the person I saw earlier, Jae.

Oh. Tam's near Jae and the girl.

The hijabi girl nudges him as she makes her blue dragon fly above him. He raises an eyebrow, seemingly unamused, but his eyes follow the dragon as it flies to the glowing amber ceiling.

After meeting Melia, Alvar had to go, saying something about checking on Trix.

Apparently, Trix was Umber's boyfriend. Was.

After Ruy showed me and Rosaleen our rooms (he mentioned Rosaleen having to share a room with two other girls), I worked on some of the flawed weapons.

Rosaleen joined me in my room, and I tried teaching her the basics of coding. She definitely listened, but I'm not sure if she actually understood anything.

But still, when I told her the code for running an action command, she listened to me as if, in that moment, I was the most important thing on Earth.

Ruy and Melia then picked both of us up, leading us to the dining room. Melia talked to us about puppies, and Ruy listened, with a small smile on his face the whole time.

And then we made it, and it was... so different than what I imagined. When I asked Ruy about it, he said that after Gisela and Vespera finally resolved their conflicts, they worked together to make the Neverseen bases more... welcoming.

They also taught themselves and others how to cook and farm food, feeling uncomfortable with the slave-like system with the gnomes (who hated them anyway).

"Would you like to talk to Tam?" Ruy says suddenly, and I startle from my thoughts.

"Um—yeah—can I?"

Ruy nods, then gestures at four empty seats. "You can come sit with me, Melia, and Rosaleen once you're done. Or you can sit next to Tam."

I hesitate. Tam's been here for a while, so surely he'll be okay with me talking and sitting with Rosaleen. It's both mine and Rosaleen's first time, and she doesn't know Tam, so...

"I'll sit with you," I say. "But I'm gonna go talk to Tam right now?"

Melia nods. "Go ahead!" she says. "We'll be right over there waiting for you."

I nod, and start for Tam, who's eating quietly, listening to Jae and the Flasher talk. And then he looks up and notices me.

First, his eyes widen, and he looks around, as if I've broken in, but when no alarms blare, he realizes that I've been recruited.

And then he narrows his eyes, and his shadow stretches to mine.

What are you doing here? it asks. Did you—what are you—what are you doing, Dex?

I glance around us. There's too many people to say anything.

He realizes this too, and shakes his head. Blink twice if you're here for a mission.

I hold his gaze. I blink once, twice.

He bites his lip. You can't be here, his shadow tells me. It's too dangerous. Why are you—