The Joining: The Cycle of the Shards Book One

31: Critock and Phelps

     It turned out that Critock didn't have to walk very far at all to get to his next class, as it was Science with Mr. Phelps. While the clock continued to tick down until the time that Pt'ron would reveal himself and the Shards would wake from their dormancy, Critock took a respite from the constant worrying about the limited amount of time they had left. After everything that had just happened, compounded on the events that had led them to this point, he deemed it prudent to force himself to relax. Certainly he owed it to Shanna to trust her and her plan to get them into the office. Even there, there wouldn't be a lot of time left to find Pt'ron after they matched him in Principal Tompkins' system, but it would give them a good starting point.

Tom, however, had deteriorated throughout the day and now was almost in a full panic mode. As Critock entered Phelps' room as though he hadn't just been in there only minutes before, he realized that Tom wasn't going to be content to just sit near him and watch the extremely outdated lecture and quizzes. Instead, he quietly announced to his Marconian partner that he was going to start searching for the Shards in spaces only a wisp could get to, in case Pt'ron's plan involved a quick change. Critock knew that Pt'ron wouldn't let his guard down for a second to change into a wisp, and it was unlikely that Tom would find anything. However, preferring to suffer through the class in silence rather than a pestering soul in his ear, he just waved a hand and sent Tom away, with a promise to return before the lunch period had begun.

Critock continued to his seat, the first time today that he could rely on his own familiarity with surroundings instead of spending an almost awkward amount of time searching for which seat was his, trying to find the correct information in Kyle's mind before he attracted too much attention. The events yesterday upon his arrival were seared into his memory, and he simply walked to his seat and sat down just like every day that had gone by. He didn't retrieve any books, not knowing for sure exactly what to pull out. He simply folded his hands and waited.

Phelps, having returned from the loud rally, looked like he had been running a marathon. His clothes were slightly disheveled, and his face, which had already been showing the signs of age, had the appearance of extreme fatigue. Critock was hit with a sudden blast of guilt when he realized his teacher's appearance and likely general mood was a direct result of his incompetence by not killing the pirate the first time their paths had crossed, and of his unwanted arrival in Kyle himself. Not seeing any way he could reassure or apologize to the older teacher without giving himself away, he remained sitting silent at his desk, hoping for the second and final bell to ring so the class would begin, and both Phelps and Critock could move their thoughts to other endeavors.

Critock was relieved to see, as the time moved closer to the bell and the final students shuffled in, that Brian's two partners seemed to have been suspended along with the bully. Their seats were empty, and there was no sign of anyone else preparing to enter the room. The bell rang out it's shrill toll that informed the late arriving students throughout the school that it was too late for them and their fate was sealed, and then all was quiet in the classroom, with all eyes at the near-middle-aged teacher, his head down as he leaned against the wall near his desk. Whether they had seen it on the news first hand, or had heard a slightly embellished version from a friend or classmate, Everyone in the room knew what had happened, or at least what the media had reported had happened, anyway. It was going on that in the first period class that he taught, Phelps had not said a word, just handed out worksheets and went back to his desk, staring out the window. Everyone was uncharacteristically silent as they waited with concern for their teachers wellbeing.

It was another full two minutes before Phelps said anything, but when he did it wasn't what they had expected. "Show of hands, how many people in this class believe in aliens?"