Close to the Covert Rains **Book One**

Chapter 23 (Wednesday)

Verspri stared at the math homework on his desk, shaking his head at the ridiculously easy variables--but also frustrated with them, because they'd been learning about variables for the past two weeks in class. Sighing, he scribbled out the answer to the first problem on the page, eating one of the mini candy bars from the plastic cup on his desk. Their teacher had given them candy bars to help "visually represent" the variables, but they just slowed Verspri down.

Some strange trumpeting echoed through the dorm, and he paused. It trumpeted again, like a strangled cat.

"Kwayo, will you please stop that!" Teremki shouted from his room.

The trumpeting stopped, followed by cackling laughter. "Not until you guess what animal that is!"

He trumpeted again.

"A dying cat!" Verspri shouted back, tapping his pencil on the desk.

"What? No!" Another trumpet.

Fuming, Verspri shouted again. "Well, whatever it is, it'll be dying if it doesn't stop!"

Eerie silence.

"Whoa," Teremki said, right from the doorway.

Verspri spun around, taken aback by his two clones behind him. "Hey, what are you guys doing out?"

Segundo and Trio turned to him. They both just shrugged.

"Did you just do like, a three part choir?" Kwayo called. "Because that was awesome. Oh, what if I joined in on the brass section!"

"Kwayo!" Verspri snapped, and nearly jumped. He and his clones were all speaking at the same time.

He took a deep breath and tried again. "Kwayo, could you please stop? See, I'm even being nice about it," his clones stayed silent.

"Fine, I'll stop that," Kwayo appeared over Teremki's shoulder, bouncing on his toes. "But can we please create a band? We could call it Musical Turtle Drums and the Verspris."

"Ew," Teremki grimaced. "First off, that's an awful name. And neither of you have any musical experience."

"Hey, what class is that for, Verspri?" Kwayo pointed at the plastic cup on the desk. "Is that candy necessary, or can I have it?"

"No, you can't. What is wrong with you right now?"

Kwayo stopped bouncing long enough to take a breath. "Ella asked me on a date. Well, not really a date, but she asked if we could watch a movie. On Saturday."

Verspri blinked. "What?"

"They're showing a movie on Saturday in the art building. Ella invited me," Kwayo scampered off, followed by a loud crunch from the living room.

"Kwayo--" Teremki disappeared from the doorway. "You're gonna be in trouble for that. I'm not fixing it. You broke it."

Kwayo mumbled a response, and Teremki's door slammed shut. Verspri sighed and reached backwards to touch his clones, then, blinking sparks from his vision, went back to scrawling out math problems.

"Do you know how to fix a chair?"

Verspri spun around again, finding Kwayo bouncing in the doorway.

"Whoa, whoa whoa. Don't do that creepy synchronized talk again," Kwayo quit hopping. For two seconds. "It'd be awesome on a stage or something, but not when you're about to yell at me."

"I wasn't about to yell at you," Verspri tried very hard to not let his clones emerge. "I was just going to tell you the one time I broke something in our house my parents kicked me out. So no, I have no idea how to fix a chair."

"Oh..." Kwayo paced into the room. "That got dark. Wait, for reals?" he plopped onto Verspri's messy bed, nearly bouncing the backpack and half-folded laundry to the floor.

Verspri nodded. "Yup. How'd you think I ended up here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I thought you just got a letter like everyone else, then they came and picked you up in a fancy car after you said your tearful goodbyes and promised you'd return over the New Year."

Verspri carefully set his pencil on the desk, taking a deep breath. "Does that actually happen? What about--"

Kwayo snorted. "Ha. The letter and fancy car stuff's true, but hardly anyone actually cried about leaving. We were all excited to finally get away from people that only looked at us with horrified stares."

Verspri stared at the ground. Until Kwayo clarified, "I mean, not everyone. Some people's parents came here when they were kids too. Like this one boy from last year--"

"Yeah, I think I've heard about him. Cleo?"

Kwayo nodded. "But that is still kinda dark. You were actually kicked out?"

"Yep. My mom saw me with Segundo once before that--I think it was only the second time he'd popped out ever, but the first time I was by myself--but I don't know if she believed anything weird was happening yet. She probably thought she was just crazy, seeing double of her son out by the pool... But then one day I was practicing the piano--which I absolutely hated--and Segundo appeared and started kicking it and smashing it and throwing things...my parents ran into the room and had these awful looks on their faces, like I'd just summoned a literal evil twin.

"My clones...um, weren't always as in-control as now, if you know what I mean."

"More like Cuatro?" Kwayo asked. "All cuckoo and stuff?"

He shrugged, looking down at his feet. "Kind of. Like, Segundo kept trying to kill himself. Then when Trio appeared Segundo started getting a little better, but Trio was always violent and trying to hurt things."

Kwayo frowned. "That's rough. How long were you on your own?"

"A month? A few weeks? I don't remember. My parents packed a bag with some of my stuff and I just wandered around the city--we lived near Boston--until a weird van drove by and asked me if I'd like a ride," he shook his head. "I honestly don't know why I said yes."

"Probably a telepathy trick," Kwayo pursed his lips. "Your parents are mean. If anyone asked me how I got here, I'd just say I came from the Hopi reservation and call it that," Kwayo hopped off the bed and shuffled to the door, but stopped. "Teremki was wrong, actually. We do have musical experience."

Verspri smiled crookedly. "Maybe we should start a band. Invite Isaac too."