Miraclebound | Miraculous Guardians Book 2

Chapter 17: Evil Doesn't Die

"You mean you spent the entire night out there?"

"Wow, even I'm not that desperate!"

"Chloe, you can't even go five minutes without your nail file."

"Exactly my point!"

"But your point makes no sense!"

"Hey, guys? Can we get back to the part where Nino spent the entire night sleeping on a bench and argue about fashion and life choices later?" Adrien suggested, leaning over the railing of the bunk to the girls gathered in a loose ring on the floor below. Nino groaned and stuffed his pillow over his face to stifle his embarrassment and beet-red face, doing his best to block out the overly loud and obnoxious voices of his friends at this far too early hour. 4:30 a.m. by his phone's definition.

"It's not that big a deal," he groaned, wishing there was a better place for him to hide where they wouldn't be able to see his embarrassment. "I just fell asleep! That's all!"

"On a bench! When it was forty degrees out!"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't mind the cold."

"What are you, cold-blooded? How did you not freeze?"

"He's a turtle," Chloe pointed out as she went back to fiddling with her hair. "It's kind of a given."

"I suppose I should be offended by that remark," Wayzz commented from near an alarm clock.

"It's true though!" the blond pointed out. The kwami shrugged in an identical manner to his holder and dove back behind an aloe to chew out Trixx for something or another.

"See? I rest my case!"

"Getting off point here," Adrien interjected, drawing their attention back to the topic at hand. "Dude, why would you even consider sleeping outside? You're crazy!"

"Tell me about it," Nino groaned, face still buried.

"On a side note entirely unrelated to my boyfriend's mental state," Alya added, sitting up straighter. "Anyone else notice how no one has asked us why we've come here in the first place? Not even once?"

"Um...they are the Guardians, Alya," Marinette reminded her. "I think they probably already know."

But the girl was already shaking her head. "Uh-uh! Because if they knew already, then why all the mystery? Why continue to keep us here when we could be out there helping them in their search? No, they can't know. And my guess is, they don't really care."

Marinette's gaze darkened and Nino saw it briefly shoot in his direction before pointedly looking away again. "Alya..."

"Now, I know what you're going to say, Marinette! You're going to say that I am being crazy and illogical, but think about it for yourself, girl! I mean, other than Rikard or Amora, have we actually talked to anyone? How do we even know the High Guardian is here? For all we know, Grimm could be running this whole shebang!"

"Now who's being overly suspicious?" Chloe commented. "Hypocrite."

"I'm just stating what I see as the obvious facts, Chloe!" Alya argued. "Look at where we are!" She threw out an arm gesturing to the room. "We trusted the heroes of the United States to get us here! Granted, we made it in one piece but we almost drowned in the process! And no one was even bothered to check and see if we are all right and only two people were present to assist us. That doesn't bother anybody else?"