KotLC Fanfic (The Sweet Secrets We Hide)

Chapter Twelve

*says nothing about disappearing* Here you goooooooo, it's veeeery short; 4596 words. I'ma keep the chappies relatively short now, and when I'm done with this book, I'll edit the other chapters so they're shorter and easier to read/write as well. I haven't written in a while because life is <<< and because I'm afraid that I'm not as good of a writer as I used to be, but if I'm not then sucks to be my reader lolz ig,,, Love y'all! Not sorry for the sort-of-cliffhanger <3

Please vote, and comment a ton! (I love comments, okay?)

Charlotte wasn't there when we made it back to the little room we first found. Kate and Lucky stood silhouetted against the faint red firelight; Fitz and Sophie hadn't joined them yet.

"You're here," Kate exclaimed. "Oh, thank goodness! You weren't answering through your earpieces. We thought something had gotten to you, but Sophie and Fitz hadn't come, so we didn't know whether to go check. It's been at least twenty minutes, guys."

"Ten," Fizzy told her, grinning at the exaggeration.

"Were your earpieces off, or something?"

"They must have gotten disconnected," she replied smoothly, taking it off to study it. I don't think they saw her twist up the volume dial again. "We were pretty far underground."

She didn't look at me. Uncertainty lingered somewhere in her gaze; she was waiting for me to contradict, to tell them that she was lying and demand why.

I should have. I should've said we'd turned them off on purpose to talk.

I didn't.

If I had, they would've asked why. They would've wondered what we were discussing. And what then? What would I have told them? My secrets would remain until I wished otherwise. Fizzy was respecting that.

Thank you, I wanted to whisper; I said nothing.

"We didn't find much. You?" Lucky asked, wringing her hands together as faint flashes of her light flared between her fingers. Nervous habit, I noted.

"It must have been a decoy. It was completely empty." I hesitated when their faces fell. "The Cognate Cadre hasn't come back yet, though. We've still got a chance."

"Yeah," Lucky said, her voice barely making it past her lips. "Listen, you guys stay here and wait for Sophie and Fitz. We'll go up and see what we can do to help those guys, okay?"

"Wait, what?" Fizzy blurted.

"But . . ." I mumbled at the same time. "Why? Can't we come with you?"

"Someone needs to wait for them and warn them if anyone comes, after all. Besides, Keefe was — he was right," Kate admitted, somewhat hesitantly. "Aria, you need to be a lot more careful until we find out whatever's going on with your mind."

My mouth was open, ready to protest, but nothing came out. My mind was blank. No! I wanted to shout. That's not fair! Why can't you leave me be? Why don't you want my help? But the firm look on Kate's grave expression told me she wasn't going to change her mind. I suppose they were right to be worried. Besides, my only goal was to find Charlotte and get home. If everyone else wanted to join in suicidal extracurriculars, they could be my guest.

"What about Fizzy?" I said instead, switching the words on the tip of my tongue in an instant. "I'll stay here, stay safe like a hypocrite while you risk your life if that's what you want, but if Fiz wants to join then why can't she?"

Fizzy seemed surprised by my words, but she turned her gaze upon Kate and Lucky. The other two remained wordless.

"It's probably best if you both stay, right?" Lucky suggested quickly. "I mean, we were put into pairs in the first place, so if we stay with our groups we can keep an eye on each other and all that. Nobody should be left alone so if we get injured or something we can help each other."