One Bright Spot

Chapter 17

Sorry, Kota:

"I suppose, if you absolutely MUST come with us, you can", Kota tells Teddy.

"I absolutely MUST come with you guys", Teddy replies in a serious manner. Then he cracks a grin, "When do we leave Boss?"

"Where are we going?" Carmila whispers in my ear.

"Um, to another city for some advanced training", I whisper back.

"Oh, okay".

"We leave tonight", Kota's voice drowns out Carmila's. All of his focus is on the blueprints the boys had found in his mother's office earlier when they had been out finding the portal. He lays them flat on the table as we all gather around.

"How long is that from now?" I ask. "This place doesn't really have any clocks that I've seen."

"A little over four hours", Kota says absently. He scoots his chair closer to the table so he can get a better look at the plans. Josh and Theo are on either side of him. Ethan is to Josh's right and my left. I am sitting on the arm rest to Carmila's chair, with both her and Teddy to my right.

"Our ride is on the top floor. We can't all go up at once, or it will raise suspicion. We'll have to go up two or three at a time.

"Now, I have no idea what Crelis is going to be like. For all we know, it could no longer exist or be in a war of its own. Which is why we'll be raiding the armory here in a bit." Kota pauses to take a breath.

"Won't anyone notice a huge chunk of weapons missing?" Ethan asks. Josh and Theo snort back laughter. "What?"

"If we were able to carry a 'huge chunk of weapons' out of my mother's armory, then kudos to us", Kota says. "Everyone in this entire building could carry out a 'huge chunk of weapons' and it wouldn't even begin to make a dent in her stash." He joings Josh and Theo in laughing.

"Oh", Ethan says, his face turning red. He goes silent. I feel bad for him; there was no way he could have known.

"Hey, Kota?" I pipe up.

"Yeah?"

"Lose the 'tude."

He sobers up a little bit, but laughter still falls from his lips. Josh and Theo hide theirs behind their hands. "What 'tude'?" he asks.

"Your condescending one. There was no way he could have known; or any of us could have known, for that matter", I say, gesturing to myself, Carmila, and Teddy in turn. "So, why don't you focus more on the plan than on making fun of your teammates, okay?" I can hear Teddy snickering and turn to give him the evil eye. He makes no effort to quiet himself, so I roll my eyes and turn back to Kota. "Please continue."

Kota is silent for a few moments longer before jumping back into the swing of things.

I can feel Ethan's gaze on me. I turn my head and lock eyes with him. He is gazing up at me appreciatively for defending him to Kota. He does not break the contact and I find myself blushing and looking down at my feet. I peek up at him from under my lashes and find him grinning at me. I shake my head and smile, looking away again for the second time. I turn my attention back to Kota, who has been talking this entire time about things I haven't been listening to. Oh well.

"So, we're all in agreement?" Kota asks.

"Absolutely", I say confidently.

"Do you have any idea what I just said?"

"No, I do not."

Kota rolls his eyes, "We're going to the armory in a bit. When we leave, we will do so in three separate groups. I will lead the first one. Each group will take a different route and meet up at the portal room on the top floor. Each person will be allowed one small bag to take with them.

"When we get to Crelis, our first priority will be finding some form of shelter for our headquarters until we get the lay of the land and find my father. We cannot reveal ourselves to anyone until he knows we're there, got it?"

Murmurs of 'got it's' and 'yes's' resounded around the table.

"Any questions?"

"No."

"Okay. We've got about three and a half hours 'til midnight. Everybody should get a couple hours of shut-eye, cause who knows when the next opportunity might arise." With that, he stands from the table and walks over to his couch, diving into it head first. Within a minute he's asleep.

"Well, I think that's our cue", I laugh. I stand from sitting on Carmila's arm rest, which was starting to get highly uncomfortable. She stands, too, and we go over to Kota's stack of cots. She stretches back out on the one she had been sleeping on earlier while I set mine up.

After some difficulty, I finally manage to get it to cooperate with me. I'm not that cold, but I grab an afaghan blanket anyways and curl up under it. The boys have dispersed throughout the room. I look over at Carmila, who is lightly snoring already. It's a good idea; sleeping is. I yawn and my eyes start to close.

Then they open right back up. My tunnel. I had completely forgotten about it! I am suddenly awake inside and no longer desire to sleep.

I lay still and listen to make sure everyone is asleep. When I'm positive that everyone is, I sit up slowly and swing my legs over the side. The cot creaks beneath me, protesting my shift in weight. I cringe, waiting for someone to wake up and catch me sneaking out.

After a few tense moments, I reach down and pick up my tennis shoes and phone.

I tip toe to the door in my socks. When I get there, I realize I've forgotten my key card.

Go figure.

I start back to my cot when Kota stirs. I freeze, my breathing halts, and my heart thumps wildly. When he settles back in, my breathing returns to normal.

I get back to my cot and retrieve my key from my bag.

For the second time, I go to the door. I open it quietly.

My stomach is full of butterflies and the expectation that I will be discovered. But I'm not.

I need to leave the door open enough so it doesn't latch. I do not know Kota's passcode and I don't want to be locked out when I return. When Ethan and I had gone to our rooms earlier, Theo had to let us in. That was when Kota had woken up. I do not need that again.

I pull off my hoodie and wad it up. I back out the door slowly, leaving the hoodie in a ball on the floor of the doorway. The door catches on it and leaves it open just enough to keep the lock from latching.

I look at the door guiltily for a moment. Then I turn my back to it, "Sorry, Kota." Finally, I swallow my fear and head towards the stairs.