Galaxy woke later than the others, feeling pretty good for a Tuesday. She stretched before going to check on Gluzze. The dragon was still asleep. She laid her hand on her forehead to check her temperature. It seemed to be normal.
Damien came into the house as she was getting up. "I'm back." He announced. "Hey." She greeted him. For some reason her fur prickled, and she glanced around the room. "Is it just me, or does it feel like someone is watching us?" She asked. "Well I could electrocute the room, but you'd need to get Gluzze out." Damien proposed.
Galaxy shook her head. "I am sure it is just in my head." She said, deciding to change the subject. "How does the house look?" She asked. Damien was in his phone for a second, texting the two at school, before turning to Galaxy. "It's going good, all we need is furniture and we're set. My family scored a pretty nice house." He said.
Galaxy nodded. "That is good." She said with a smile. It went silent for a minute, and she glanced at the dragon in the corner. "I do not think Gluzze is waking up." She said, her tone changing. "I can give her a little shock to wake her up." Damien said, kneeling beside her.
"No," Galaxy shook her head. "That may bring unwanted memories from the lab back. I would not want to risk it." She said. Damien nodded. "Yeah, that wouldn't be good." He agreed. Galaxy growled in frustration, a puff of some coming from her nostrils. "I hate this." She said. "It feels like a cannot help."
"Yeah." Damien sighed and continued to text the other two. Eventually he looked back up to Galaxy. "How are her vitals?" He asked. Galaxy reached out with her empathy to search for any pain, kneeling next to Gluzze and putting two fingers over her carotid, watching her respirations. "She is good. She seemed to be in some sort of coma." She said. "Okay." Damien replied, leaning against a wall.
--
Star got the message in the middle of class that showed pictures from inside the Laboratory. She stared at them for a minute before internally deciding something; she needed to get this out.
She wanted to show her new friend too. If he decided to stay around her within the danger, or if he turned away from her, that was his choice. He needed to know what was going on and how she could put him in harm's way. She texted Cliff. 'Meet me outside the bathrooms near the office when the bell rings.' She sent him.
Within the next few minutes the bell rang. She only had to wait a minute before Cliff found her. "What's the matter?" He asked, reading her slightly anxious mood. "I... I have something that need to be said. I don't want to repeat it twice." She said, walking towards the guidance counselor's room.
Cliff nodded, a bit confused but trusting. Star got a text from Firetail. 'Hey did you get the photos?' He asked. 'Yeah, come to the guidance counselor's office if you can.' She replied before knocking on the office's open door.
The counselor, who she now recognized to be Mrs. Ward, glanced up. "Hey, what do you need?" She asked lightheartedly. "I have something serious to talk about." Star replied, cracking the door. "Trust me, it's a lot." She said.
Mrs. Ward glanced at Cliff, who sat down in a chair as Star came over and took the second one. "It's fine, I want him to hear it." Star said, catching her gaze. She nodded. "I understand that you got away from a bad household, if there is more going on there are measures we can take to help." She said.
Star shook her head. "That was a lie." She said. "When I was little- maybe ten or eleven- I was kidnapped from my home. From then on, I lived in the place called 'The Tau Laboratory.' They say they study vaccines, but they actually run experiments on creatures on the basis of discovering new powers." She said, laying the phone on the desk, showing them the pictures.
Fire entered the room, seeing the phone on the table. He closed the door behind him. "Star told me to come." He said. Star nodded. "I was just introducing the Lab." She said, turning back to Mrs. Ward. "Firetail and I both escaped from the Lab. Firetail, why don't you paint Jaguar a picture?" She asked.
Firetail nodded. "Jaguar Tau is the head of the facility, he's beyond this world. He's crazy." He said. "He organized everything. He keeps the lab going. He barely cares for the 'subjects.'" He said. The councilor was silent, taking it all in.
Star nodded. "And he's planning something big. We need to stop it, or it won't just be the five-hundred prisoners within the lab being hurt." She said. "Which is why we came to you. We need to find a way to get his widely public, and fast." She said.
Mrs. Ward finally spoke. "This is... very much out of my league. But I will get in touch with the authorities." She said.
"We we're looking to try to have this in the news. Do you have any idea on how we can do that?" Fire asked. "I'm not sure if you can by yourself, they may think it is a prank. I can get it to some people in the school system that are connected to the state government. From there I'm not sure what will happen, but whatever this laboratory is at least needs to have an investigation done on it." She said
Star nodded in thanks. "That sounds good." She said. Cliff spoke. "My father is the chief of police. I can tell him something like rumors of the lab having health hazards or something like that." He offered.
"That would be great." Star said. "And after they get in there they'll have to shut it down." She said, ears perked. Firetail got a text from Damien. 'How's it going on your end?' Firetail typed a response. 'Good, figuring out ways to get all of this out. How's Gluzze?' He sent back before looking up at Mrs. Ward. "Hey, would you happen to know any good therapists around here? We have a friend who really needs one." He said.
Star nodded in agreeal. "Oh, yes I can, I know a few good friends who would be open to more serious cases." Mrs. Ward said, writing down a few names and numbers on a piece of paper. 'She's still asleep.' Damien sent back. "Thank you." Firetail said, taking the slip of paper. 'Her vitals okay?' He sent.
"It's no problem. This is just... a lot to take in. And I want to do the right thing." Mrs. Ward replied, sending all of the photos to herself as well as the note Pheonix had written them.
"Oh yeah, if anyone asks you about this, deny everything. Other than that, I should probably get back to work." Firetail said. "Will do." Mrs. Ward said, turning to the students. "I'll write you two a note saying you were with me. Do you need to stay here for a bit to cool down?" She asked. Star shook her head. "I'm okay. Thank you though." She replied, turning to Cliff as they walked out of the office, into the empty hall. "There, now you know." She said. She was worried he would judge her for her messed up history, and that she was weird for not understanding things like some technology or social queues. Cliff nodded, not replying.
Firetail was right ahead of them. "So Damien says that Gluzze is in a coma." He said as Cliff split to go to their class with a wave. "Really? That's wonderful. I mean, at least that gives us a bit before we have to deal with another breakdown- actually, that sounds bad." She shook her head. "I just want to be able to help."
"Yeah, me too."He replied. "Welp, I gotta get back to work. I'll see you in a bit." Firetail said. Star nodded, heading to the classroom Cliff had entered a minute ago to get back to class, though she knew she wouldn't be able to focus anytime soon.
