Don't Teach Kids Murder

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Author's Note

Hey again everyone! Publishing this nice and early today as I'm heading to the airport soon to catch my flight back and I won't have WiFi for the rest of the day.

Chapter upload schedule will be back to normal starting now, with updates every Tuesday. New cover will hopefully be done by next week! In the meantime, read on...

* * *

Nora crouches in the space shaded by one of the lockers, just barely out of sight of anyone walking past. Can't risk showing my face here. Lizzy's locker is down the hall - one clear photo shot at Nora's face and gossip about 'the freak's sister' will burn through the school.

She scans the hallway, her eyes locking on a group of jocks and cheerleaders walking past. To her relief, Lizzy's not in the group. Her best friend, Doll, is though, so... I'll have to handle this carefully. Nora inches forward a bit, just within earshot of the Worker walking at the back.

"Hey! Thad!" Nora whispers. "Over here!"

Thad pauses for a second, looking around, then spots Nora hiding. He subtly falls behind the rest of his group, then ducks into the space. "Hey, Nora. Is Addie doing okay?"

"That's... what I wanted to talk to you about, actually," Nora says sheepishly, avoiding the question for now. "I've got... sort of... an idea? A plan? To help her a little bit? And it might imvolve sneaking out to the corpse spire, or attacking a Murder Drone, or maybe asking Uzi for help since she's all buddy-buddy with them now..."

A curious expression crosses Thad's face, and he opens his mouth to say something, but a yell from down the corridor cuts him off. "Thad! Where are you? Pick up the pace a little, we're gonna be late for practice!"

Nora winces. Admittedly, not the best timing on her part.

"I have to go. How important is it?" Thad questions.

"Very. Very important."

"Then I'll meet you after school and you can tell me. Where? Your place so we can check up on Addie?"

"Sounds good." Nora responds, but Thad's already sprinting down the hallway before she can add "Don't tell anyone."

Ugh. It should be fine, right? It's not as if he's going to-

* * *

"You did not bring Jake," Nora whines, staring with undisguised hostility at the unexpected green-eyed tagalong. She's almost tempted to slam the door in both of their faces right now, but she can't do that. The plan needs at least two Drones to work, and as much as Nora wants to work alone, this isn't a project that can be done solo.

Thad scratches the back of his head, looking guilty. "Well, he overheard us talking, and I thought some extra help wouldn't hurt-"

"Not this help!" Nora complains, facepalming. She turns to Jake. Thad's younger brother, popular and cool, and a huge, huge annoyance. "How much did you hear anyway?"

Jake smirks, donning his regular smug expression that always makes Nora want to throw a rock at it. "Taking on a Murder Drone? Sorry, Nora, I'm not sure that's your thing. Also, isn't Uzi your top hated Drone right now?"

So, everything. Great. Just great.

"Can you not-"

"-get Jake to stay here? No, uh... he'll tell Khan if we don't let him come with us." Seeing the skeptical expression on Nora's face, Thad adds, "And he definitely will do that. Trust me."