The Ghost

13. What is the initiation?

Distraction, she needs a distraction. Her test is tomorrow and with her nerves she won't sleep a wink tonight unless she can find some distraction to keep her from worrying all night. Rosie keeps pacing in her apartment, she's alone because her friends left to put the finishing touches on their signatures for tomorrow.

She already got her signature bullets, and she is prepared for every contingency, but she still cannot get rid of the fear that she is missing something. Deciding that she can't do this on her own, she goes to the clubhouse to see if she can find her sister or one of her sister's friends.

When she gets there she hears someone shouting, but no one is replying. Glancing through the slit in the doorway she makes out some bright colors that she can't quite identify through the slit. Recognizing that only Ashley wears bright colors, she decides that it is Ashley and that something important is going on. Her sister was worried for a reason.

She listens closer to the words being yelled presumably through a phone, "She isn't telling me everything anymore! ... No! ... Paris didn't even know that was happening! ... Yes... I know that he was important... Well put one of your own men as the Director then! ... Ok how about you become him then! ... If you want to lose a key informant then go right ahead!"

At this Rosie gasps loud enough for Ashley to notice, so she knocks on the door acting as if she just got there. When Ashley opens it, she glares at Rosie with so much hate, but Rosie brushes it off asking, "Are the others here?" nonchalantly.

"No." Ashley snaps.

"Oh I thought I heard yelling as I walked up. Is everything ok?"

"It's fine!"

"Well I was looking for someone to go over my plan for tomorrow, I just don't know what's wrong with it but somethings missing."

Ashley sighs, but nods her head, opening the door wider for her to walk in. "What have you got planned so far?"

"Well I'm an expert marksman, so I was planning to snipe my target and have the bullet engraved with a K so I can try to get Katniss as my name."

"Ok, so I know you don't know your target or the terrain but how far do you want to be from the target?"

"About three quarters of a mile."

"What's the backup plan if you can't get a clear shot?"

"Shit that's what I forgot!"

Ashley rolls her eyes, "Well what else are you good at?"

"I don't know!" She whines.

"Alright, calm down. I'll just name a few things, and if it feels right say something: knives, carving, hand guns, poison, hand to hand, swords, bombs, hacking"

"Wait! That's it! I can hack the car they're in and crash it without needing to be anywhere near them! And if they don't get in a car then I can kill them with my rifle or I can hack something else that's near them." Ashley nods her head, a small smile playing on her lips, but then she is shocked by Rosie's next question, "What happened to Galaxy? She seems so closed off, even from you guys."

After taking a few minutes to think her answer through, Ashley replies, "She is, but she has had more hardships than any of us will ever know. It's a miracle she still knows her own name because she was left here at the age of 5 and wasn't allowed to tell anyone her name, so she spent 2 years waiting for friends who she was allowed to share her name with. She has been put through so much, sometimes I have to stop and take a second look to see the little girl who protected me on my first day."

"Oh... " Rosie takes a minute to process before she asks a question that has been bugging her since the day the Director was found, "What is the initiation?"

Ashley chokes on her own spit, she has no idea how to answer. "Well... umm... ok... I am not prepared to have this discussion go ask your sister."

"Fine, do you know where she is?" Rosie grumbles.

"I think she was up in classroom 412 talking with the Banshee."

Rosie nods her head at this, grumbling about having to climb the stairs to the classroom.

When she finally reaches the classroom she just barges in, "G, I have a question for you, I asked Ladykiller, but she refused to answer me."

When she looks around she sees Ghost standing above a woman, but she can't see who because her body is blocking them. When she turns all the way around however, Rosie starts to have a panic attack.

Noticing the signs, the Ghost walks to her calmly saying, "Hey, hey look at me. No, no don't look at her look at me. Follow my breathing. Deep breathe in... deep breathe out... inhale... exhale..." They continue this until she has calmed herself down.

The Banshee has stood up now, but just watched the exchange between her daughters wondering if they actually know who they are to each other.

Once she has calmed enough Galaxy asks her, "Alright now what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing." Rosie tries to brush off.

"E20," Galaxy draws it out in warning.

"Fine," Rosie turns to the Banshee, "Hi mother."

Galaxy glances between the two before sighing, "Do you want to talk alone?"

"No," Rosie says quickly.

Galaxy notices her discomfort and tries to figure out what is going on, but before she can think too much on it she hugs her sister, "she doesn't know I know who you are and who she is." Whispering in Rosie's ear. Before saying out loud, "You had a question for me?" When Rosie gives her a questioning look so she elaborates, "something about Ladykiller refusing to answer it."

Realization dawns on Rosie's face, "Oh yeah, what's the initiation? They said that "stop the initiation now" was written in the directors blood on the wall and I was wondering what it meant."

Ghost's face turns pale as she fights off the memories, "not something you'll ever have to worry about, I'm making sure of it. Now my little mentee, what are you doing up, you have a test tomorrow?"

Rosie looks a little guilty, but then turns to her mother, "yes I do, but I think we need to talk first."

The Banshee nods her head, "Probably my dear, but not tonight I want you to do the best you can tomorrow."

The Ghost scoffs at her, "You know, I never would have thought that a mother would willing give her child to this school if they knew what happened here, guess I was wrong, come on E20," and with that she grabs Rosie's hand before walking out the door.

Before the door can close all the way, Rosie glances back to see tears in her mother's eyes. When she looks up to see tears in Galaxy's eyes too, she squeezes Galaxy's hand in a sign of comfort.

They walk in silence for a bit before Rosie decides to break it, "I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight, want to watch a movie together?"

Galaxy numbly nods her head as she lets her sister lead her to the clubhouse. When they got there Ashley had already left, so they put a movie in and snuggled together on the couch. Rosie falls asleep before the movie finishes, so Galaxy throws a blanket over them both and sets an alarm on the phone, so they can get back without anyone noticing their absence before snuggling in to fall asleep.