And Run

chapter one

The professor's talking so fast Trey thinks she's about to run out of breath. Her arm is about to fall off from trying to keep up and her words threaten to jump off the page, even though her notebook is lined. Looking back and forth between her notes and the board, Trey notices that not a single person sitting in front of her is paying attention; they're online shopping, messaging friends, playing Sims 4, or just plain knocked out.

"Why do I even bother?" she mutters gruffly, but her pen keeps moving.

Go to class, take notes - read: copy what the professor says word-for-word - squeeze in lunch, back to class, then study in the dreary library basement until night falls. Rinse and repeat. That's life, and Trey is fine with it, if it means a stable 6-figure job down the line. In reality, does it? She's not sure.

Trey hauls herself out of her seat and walks like a zombie to the food truck outside. She scans the menu - sweet and sour chicken, pad thai - and her brain jumps to settler colonialism in Southeast Asia. Then she blinks. Those aren't even from the same...never mind. She orders beef and broccoli.

It comes with a fortune cookie. She recalls literally throwing up after eating one of these things when she was younger. Pushing that memory out of her head, Trey sits down on a nearby bench and pops the cookie out of its plastic wrapper. Wonder what my lucky numbers are, she thinks, as if she actually knows how the lottery works.

Her reaction to the fortune is mediocre at best. A mouthed "ha" with no volume. She knows what it means (that she's not only screwed, but completely screwed) but she's not about to give whoever planned this the satisfaction of her flipping shit in public.

At least, that's the plan. A stranger heads in her direction and Trey panics; she sticks the fortune under the bench, magically finding a piece of gum for it to stick to. Disgusting. How long has that been there for? The stranger walks past her with no indication of anything out of the ordinary. She exhales and detaches the fortune as naturally as possible. Pretending nothing just happened, Trey pockets the slip of paper and heads off to her dorm.

***

Trey's crouched over her notes, trying to make sense of the scribbles she made just hours ago. No matter how she tries, she can't remember what she was trying to write.

"Greetings."

She doesn't flinch; Trey has a single and only one other person can get in. "I can't believe you'd say that to me. Are you stuck in 2010 or something?"

Devon ignores her and pokes at something on the table. "What's that?"

Trey looks over at the slip of paper. It's the fortune. "Okay. I definitely did not put that there." She checks her pockets, and sure enough, it's not there.

Devon picks the fortune up. "Wow. That's not ominous at all."

"Don't touch it! It could be cursed." Trey pries the paper from Devon's grasp and re-pockets it.

"Okay, let's think," Devon says, taking a seat. "You're a somewhat decent person, with...not too many enemies, so who's after you?" He looks at Trey incredulously. "Do you have some treasure stashed away somewhere?"

Trey lets out a dry laugh. "If I did, would I still be here?"

"Uh, yes, because you're kind of bounded," Devon says pointedly. He draws something resembling a magic circle with his hands, but Trey reaches over and puts his hands down.

He's right, but Trey isn't about to admit that. "Shouldn't you be studying? Millions of kilometers away from me?" she says instead, looking back at her notebook.

"Not if something interesting is happening."

Trey raises an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

Devon pretends to think. "Someone found a dead rat you threw outside your dorm window and called Campus Security on you because they panicked? And you said the rat must've turned into an angel, so naturally it grew wings and flew away itself, but didn't get very far because it was too fat. Is that not what you said?"

"Was I supposed to tell them the truth? That I was trying to get my imaginary cousin's fat-ass snake to go on a diet?" Devon's eyes widen and he shushes Trey loudly. She ignores him and continues grumbling. "First of all, it's invisible, for all they know. How can an invisible snake eat a very visible rat, is all I'm wondering."

Devon refocuses on the fortune. "What's your plan with this, Trey?"

He sounds serious now, and Trey matches his tone. "Leave it. It's not the first time I've gotten death threats. And it's not like they can actually hurt me, with me being bounded and all. I just wanna live a normal life. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Hard to live a normal life when you're from a family of politicians," Devon comments drily. Trey throws her pen at Devon in response. "So your plan is to ignore it?"

Trey shrugs. "You've got a better plan? I'm sure your parents already know about this. They'll make a huge scene, exhaust their resources to find us, dismiss it as a prank, and blame it on us in the end."

"I'll call Zaf. He'll know what to do." He hops on the phone and sends an S-O-S message, explaining that Trey is being an emotionless wreck and doesn't know what to do.

Trey doesn't respond to that; she sighs and gets up from the table. "I'm gonna change into pajamas," she says, and heads to her room.

"Why?" Devon says. "You know that doesn't make you any smarter, right?" He sticks his leg out as Trey passes, hoping she'll trip. She doesn't.

"I can pretend it does!"

"Yeah, you need all the help you can get."