The Inevitable Eclipse

Chapter 4 - Out With The Old, In With The New

    "Good afternoon my fellow law-abiding citizens," Kit sang and lowered himself into his seat at their lunch table. Along with his lunch, he had balanced a textbook and crudely scribbled notes that even Ivy couldn't decipher, on his tray.

    "I don't like how you said that," Ivy commented, narrowing her eyes.The cafeteria was electric with noise that pulsed and thudded out of sync but nothing, not even her giddy, immature peers could ruin Ivy's day. The end of The Night Fall was in sight, the road was paved with lies but it was a straight road and the only way to secure her and Clarissa's future.

    Kit winked one dark eye. "With the amount of Restrictions in place, who hasn't broken a law or two?"

    Ivy bit her tongue, yes there were a lot of Restrictions in place but they were necessary to ensure the survival of their city. With so many other, just as competent, places to live, Tenebris relied on people like Clarissa to keep the city alive and full. All she wanted was the best for her citizen's lives and all Ivy wanted was to make sure that happened (as well as the small matter of rising above and proving to everyone that a little hard work could get you a lot further than inherited wealth ever could) and that meant destroying The Night Fall.

    "I haven't!" Commented Basma proudly. Where Basma was concerned, rules were nonnegotiable.

    "You haven't accidentally missed curfew?" Kit leaned forward. "Or said anything negative about Mayor Clarissa? Come on, surely you have, at least once, felt a little bit of sympathy for Void." Kit never seemed to be able to sit still, even then, he was bouncing one knee up and down.

    Basma shrugged and said, "Nope. None of that."

    "Then you need to learn to have a bit of fun," Said Saf, clinking her glass against Kit's.

    Any other day and Ivy would have leaped to Clarissa's defence and told them all about the benefits of the Restritions, how necessary they were, the same things that Clarissa had told her any time she raised a question about the Restrictions. However, she kept quiet, if there was any chance that Void, or anyone connected to The Night Fall, overheard her then her entire plan could be corrupted. Considering the amount of people in the cafeteria, statistically it was not implausible and that was not a risk she was willing to take.

    So Ivy kept her mouth shut. Which, in Ivy's case, was not an easy feat.

    "Be careful what you say," Ezra advised, his voice light, "You don't want to get into any trouble because of a throwaway comment around a lunch table."

    "Always looking out for us," Saf grinned and ruffled Ezra's curly brown hair.

    "I just don't want to have to bail any of you idiots out of prison!"

    "We love you too, Ez," Saf said.

    "Okay, okay, stop," Ezra shook his head. "Change of topic, I was thinking—"

    "Well this isn't going to be good," Kit teased.

    "Hey!"

    "What fun historical fact do you have for us today?" Ivy asked and nudged Ezra with her elbow.

    "Well, I wasn't going to do that, but since you brought it up, I saw this thing online—"

    Saf groaned, but Ivy cut in, "No, keep going, Ezra."

    "Shut up, Saf. Thanks, Ives," Ezra continued. "I'll save my theories on the Alexandrian Library for another day, what I was going to say, was that we should take a trip!"

    "A trip?" Basma repeated. "But we can't leave Tenebris."

    "Yeah, but Tenebris is massive! My uncle has a cabin up by the old woods, he said it's mine for a weekend if I want it, so are you guys up for it? Come on, with everything going on we need a break!"