The Classix

(OLD) Chapter 9

Note: I picked out the silvery edits today because I was loving how cohesive the collage looked. Check them out--there are edits, pretty calligraphy, AND a handmade drawing.

PREVIOUSLY ON THE CLASSIX: So like, DEFED hates Emeray but wants to be friend with the other Famoux members. What does this mean for Emeray?! Will this story ever stop being melodramatic!?!!

emeray

DEFED's ring box didn't make it to my birthday dinner. In order to guarantee that the engagement ring wouldn't somehow find itself in another box, Cartney decided to give me zero tangible gifts. Of course, this happened much to the chagrin of Buchan.

"They could not, for the life of them, understand why I had no more interest in giving you a necklace," he told me, chuckling with force. It's hard to find the bulk of these new circumstances funny, but like always, he does his best. "It was hard not to yell, BECAUSE IT WON'T BE A NECKLACE BY THE TIME SHE OPENS IT."

He'd placed the jewelry box by his suit jacket several times throughout the day, always checking to make sure it bared the necklace before letting it out of his sight. If he left his room for so much as a minute to grab something, the box always had a ring glinting idly inside when he checked back.

"It changed every single time," he'd told me, eyes wide, voice somber. "It didn't matter if I was gone for a second. Every. Single. Time."

As it turns out, there aren't only DEFED moles within the Metropolix; they're all over Buchan Studios as well. Since Cartney's apartment is directly connected to Buchan, virtually anyone in the office can access his living quarters.

It's quite apparent now, more than ever, that DEFED always knows where we are, what we're saying, what we're going to do next.

"What does this mean, now?" Cartney asks. A waiter has just cleared our dinner plates from the table, replacing them with dessert menus. Since this restaurant isn't huge, and eavesdropping seems prevalent, we decided that we'd only discuss issues like DEFED when menus are present. People are more prone to leaving us alone when they think all we're talking about is what we should order.

"What do you mean?" I say.

"Well, do you think this is going to be like what you guys went through last time? Round two? Is someone going to die?"

I swallow hard, thinking about breakfast this morning. If there's anybody next in line to die at DEFED's hands, I appear to have a target on my back. We didn't get to discuss it further when Kaytee returned to the dining room with the guards, but it was evident on their faces that they were thinking it. Why would DEFED be rushing to make amends with everyone but me if they didn't want me dead?

"I don't think it's going to be like how it was with Foster," I say. Maybe I only say it because I want it to be true, because I want to comfort myself.

"A cryptic nursery rhyme message straight out of the gates? This time around sounds a lot like last time to me."

Cartney had been the one to receive the final DEFED gift last time––the one that arrived while the Famoux and I were in the Fishbowl. It was the one that came with a book of nursery rhymes, bookmarked to Doctor Foster. As far as the Volx and the other threats go, he wasn't involved as much then as he is now.

But he seems to be really shaken up by the nursery rhymes––it isn't the first time he's brought them up in the last few months. I've been hearing for a while now on our walks about how eerie they are to him. Something about the creepy childish aspect, he always says. They give him the chills.