Close to the Covert Rains **Book One**

Chapter 27 (Tuesday)

Ana woke with puffy eyes, aching like a burn. She rubbed them; did tears often do this?

Ana didn't consider herself a crier. Last year when Cleo left they'd thrown him a big party, and by the end all the girls were sobbing and hugging and telling him they'd never forget him.

Gross. Ana had told him goodbye and that'd been it.

She had not, however, been prepared for Mrs. Aterak straight up telling them that people were dead. Death, especially here at school, often was distant and fake. If you were hurt, the medics came and fixed you up, and in many cases you were back up and running in less than a minute. But somebody was dead. Gone. No, three people were dead. It hurt her head to think about.

Her alarm went off and she jumped, swatting at it with a foot. That didn't work--she should've seen that coming--so she reached over, pushing the button to turn it off. "Dryda?" she called.

"Wha?" came a muffled response.

Good, she was partially awake. "I was just seeing if you were up yet."

Ana stood, stretching out her arms and yawning. What day was it? Oh yes, Tuesday. That meant she had power class first. She stumbled over to her dresser and dug through the drawers, finding a suitable t-shirt and some sufficiently stretchy jeans that (hopefully) didn't smell too dirty.

She went out in the hall, eyebrows furrowing at the chair wedged under the handle. Then she remembered Kwayo and the creepy needle in his bed and shivered. A chair seemed a flimsy defense against some crazy murderer, but what better option did they have?

She leaned over the chair to peer through the peephole, yawning at the empty corridor. She pulled the chair away and ducked out, her stomach grumbling.

In the bathroom down the hall, she stuck her tongue out at her mirror self. She pulled a few fingers through her hair, then gave up at the tangled mess. She'd just look like a psycho until she got back from breakfast. Way easier than working her tired brain into making an illusion, or actually fixing her hair.

She left, nearly bumping into Ella on her way in. The other girl looked exhausted, but Ana didn't ask. The event last night had gone pretty late, evidenced by Dryda's knocking on the dorm halfway through the night to be let inside. So Ana was grateful the free-for-all had been very first, even if she was less grateful about the messy tangles in her hair and the bruises on her bottom that'd formed after getting healed.

She hobbled outside, folding her arms at the chilly wind. "Really?" she exclaimed to no one in particular. "It's, like, barely even fall!"

Isaac emerged from the boys' entrance, giving her a raised eyebrow before heading to the teleporter. She didn't know whether his stare was for her shouting at the weather or her terrible appearance, but she glared back anyway.

She stalked to the teleporter--still glowing from Isaac's trip--and tapped the cafeteria again to make sure it'd stay open, then walked through.

She definitely wasn't expecting the sight that greeted her. The shed was gone. Like, completely. Not even a single wood post remained. Isaac stood a few steps away, equally confused.

She spun in a circle, spotting a sign poking up from the nearby lawn. She trotted over and bent down to read it. "Reconstruction in progress."

Well that was mighty unhelpful. She stood, hands on her hips, glancing across the empty lawn. Then her stomach growled, reminding her that she was here to get breakfast, not solve some mystery.

The cafeteria muttered with tired conversations, tables half-empty. Ana arrowed straight for the muffins table, barely glancing at the other options before taking the chocolate one. She almost left right then. Except. Did anyone here know what happened to the teleporter shed?