Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 3 (Tuesday)

Ana glanced up at Verspri ducking into the cavern. She mustered a smile, "we saved you some stew--" he walked past her. She bit her lip, dumping out the charred crumbs from the bowl Tago handed her. She plopped it face down on her second stack inside their pot. "He'll come around," Tago told her. "He's got to get hungry enough at some point."

Ana just shook her head. She wasn't sure what her classmates had pieced together in the days previous, but none of them that knew what happened, had actually said what happened. Other than the plot to take over the school. And that they'd been "recruited" to help Mrs. Aterak. But the four of them and Kessa had agreed not to speak of Verspri burning down the admin building. That was his place to tell them. If he ever learned that what he'd done was an accident. How were any of them supposed to know the rain would blow the whole place up?

She took another bowl from Tago, careful to avoid his still-glowing hand. To his side, Ryn was beginning to breathe heavily, concentrating on making forcefields that neatly separated the carapace from the leftover food without actually slicing the bowls themselves. Ana didn't envy her job, but they didn't have soap and water to clean them the old fashioned way. She snorted. They'd found a new fashioned way, using forcefields and lasers, that made it ten times harder.

She started a third stack of bowls, thunking carapace to the metal pot. She tapped the bowl in a choppy rhythm, until Tago gave her a look. She quit tapping and sighed, bored.

Tamy approached, hands darkened with ash, and Ana mustered another smile. "Here's this, Ana," Tamy handed over a medium-sized cup, overbrimming with packed ashes. "I'm going to try and rub my hands off," she wiggled ash-coated fingers.

"You could ask Kwayo to lick that off," Ryn muttered. Tamy shot her a glare and stalked out of the cave. Ana wordlessly placed the ashes in the middle of the pot, huddling the stacked bowls close around it.

"Who's turn is it to carry the stuff?" Razón asked, lugging the water jug with both hands.

"The options," Ana said, "are Tamy, Kwayo, and Bella. So maybe you should ask one of them."

"It's not my turn!" Kwayo piped up. Ana glanced across the cave at him; he had Zillie propped over one shoulder. Of course, Tara stood on Zillie's other side, so...

"I think Tara's got him," Tago called back. Kwayo's expression darkened.

"Don't worry," Bella said, appearing from the deeper tunnels, "I can do it tonight. You can take this," she held up one of the beige interdimensional sling bags.

"Okay, fine," Kwayo ducked away from Zillie.

Too bad the bags weren't slightly larger. They could fit a spear inside one of them, but the mouth was too narrow for the pot. Or the water jug.

"That's the last one," Tago handed Ana the final bowl and stood, stretching his legs. She placed the bowl neatly on the fourth stack of five, then took the jug from Razón and twisted it atop the pot until it fit snugly.

"Is everyone ready?" Mrs. Aterak called. Ana looked up; their teacher wore another of the sling bags, standing patiently near the illusion concealing the cave.

Mutters of assent echoed across the smoothed walls. Ana let her illusion drop, sighing in relief.