Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Forty-Three: Mother and Son

As soon as the plan was finished, a date was established, and that left the Clan Leaders with a week and a half to come up with a shared excuse as to why they likely wouldn't be coming home the night of the final battle. There was no way of saying how long the fight against Alba was going to take, and Tuila had suggested that they stay overnight in Hyperion to recuperate either way. After all, the fight was bound to be one of their most difficult yet. Alba had different advantages compared to Mersall, and there was no way of saying for sure if they would be able to find swift success. 

In the end, the Clan Leaders wound up sitting at their shared lunch table as they tried to come up with their excuse. They hadn't spent the night in Hyperion very many times, too focused on figuring out ways to come back before night fell so that such a thing was not a necessity. Xia stabbed her fork into cold corn bought from the cafeteria before she delivered it to her mouth. A few kernels fell free of her fork, but she didn't even seem to notice. If she did notice, she simply didn't care. "So... Next weekend, we're going to have to go into Hyperion to take care of this," she announced, though she took care to ensure that her voice was quiet enough to keep from being heard by any passerby. 

"So it seems," Gemini remarked with a small hum before she tilted her water bottle back and took a lengthy swig. She wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand before leaning forward and pressing her elbow and lower arm against the table. "We should come up with one common plan for what we're going to be telling our parents."

"I can host our fake sleepover if you'd like," Luke suggested. "My dad's schedule for work is posted the month in advance, and he's working out of town that weekend. I think that it would be best if we decided to do it at my place... I mean, it's not like we would be able to get away with not being there anywhere else."

"I already feel like we're sort of riding a thin line here anyways," Ocean confessed. "I know that we've gotten away with this once in the past, but... I don't know. I guess that once I get to thinking about all of the ways that something like this can go wrong, I just can't stop. It seems like everything is on the verge of falling apart at any given moment. Realistically, I know that isn't true, but..."

"Once the mindset and spiral start, it's impossible to escape them," Lex finished for her, earning her a firm nod from Ocean in response. "I get what you're saying... It's not nice to have to think about all of this so openly. I mean, if there's even a call that's sent to your house, then everything could start to go wrong and spiral out of control."

"We can't really cover for ourselves if anybody drops by to check on us or calls to see how we're going," Luke muttered. "We're just lucky that my dad isn't going to be around. If he was going to be in town, then... Well, I think that we all know how that would have ended. Without a place to pretend to stay for the night, our lie would be found out pretty quickly."

"Telling contradictory stories would be the number one way to get caught," Jayler agreed. "I mean, if some of us said we were going to Luke's house while others said that we were going to my place for example... It would be all too easy for our parents to figure out that we're up to something."

"And it's not like we can just tell them what's going on here," Xia muttered. "My mom would flip out if she heard me talking about magic. She probably wouldn't even believe me, and my dad wouldn't either. It would just start another screaming match, and if you don't mind my saying so, I don't want to be at the middle of that if it can be avoided."

"This is all riding off our own luck, huh?" Luke questioned with a nervous and awkward chuckle. "I mean, it's not like we have any way of saying for sure that this is going to work out any given way. If my father just so happens to come back early from his shift, it's game over. If any of us gets caught in this lie, we're going to have to tell the truth. There is no lie that would be able to cover for something like this, and somehow... I guess that's a bit more scary than the fact that we would have to talk about Hyperion in the first place."