When the Stars Align

The Chancellor Has a Dislike for Me

By the time we arrived back at the Hotel, we were all gasping for breath.

"Hurry, inside," Josh ushered us.

We ran inside closing the heavy oak doors behind us. We slumped onto the floor trying to catch our breath.

"We should get you to the infirmary," I said to Jase.

He shook his head. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Come on," I ordered. He rose to his feet.

"I'll come with you," Will said rising to his feet also.

He led us up the stairs to floor 6 and into the infirmary. Nurses ran around attending to the wounded. We followed Will through the room until we found an empty spot. A doctor spotted us and hurried over quickly.

"My brother, he has a bullet lodged in his shoulder," I explained gesturing to Jase.

He took one look at the wound and nodded understandably. "I'm going to have to retrieve the bullet."

He picked up a scalpel. "This may sting a little."

Jase tightened his small hand around mine as the doctor carefully dug around inside the wound searching for the bullet. He grit his teeth as the doctor pulled the scalpel back out with a small bullet on the other end. He cleaned up the wound a little bit and patched it up before hurrying off to deal with other patients.

Jase hoped off the table he was sitting on with a small grunt. No one said a word as we walked down to the rec room. We were just about to go in when the Chancellor came running up to us, out of breath.

"Will, I need to talk to you," he managed. "Now, please."

Will put a hand on Jase's shoulder. "Go find Josh, okay?"

Jase nodded and ran off with a quick glance at me.

"Should we go to your office?" Will asked the Chancellor.

He nodded. "That would probably be best."

Feeling forgotten, I cleared my throat. "I should probably go," I said beginning to step away.

Will grabbed my sleeve. "It's ok, you can stay," he assured me.

"Actually, I had been hoping to talk to you alone, Will," the Chancellor said.

"No. She deserves to hear whatever it is you need to say to me," he argued.

The Chancellor pursed his lips before leading us down to floor 1.

"They should really install elevators," I said trying to break the silence.

Will flicked his eyes towards the Chancellor before nodding in agreement with the ghost of a smirk creeping onto his face. The Chancellor unlocked his office door and led us inside. There were two chairs facing a large oak desk with a swivel chair behind it. It was a typical looking office, there were several bookshelves and a few pictures scattered here and there.

"Is this your family?" I asked picking up a small framed portrait on one of the bookshelves. A toothy five year old with fiery red hair that looked like the Chancellor when he was younger stood with a dark-red haired girl that looked about his age. A mom and dad stood behind them with hands on their shoulders. They had dark circles under their eyes, but they looked like a happy family.

"Yes," he replied coming behind me to glance at the portrait. "My sister and I were fraternal twins, and of course we don't look alike."

The Chancellor walked behind his desk and sat in the swivel chair. He motioned for us to do the same. I sat in one of the chairs facing the desk and Will sat in the other.

"So, to start off with Will, you didn't have permission to leave the premises," he began.

Will nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"Why don't you tell me exactly where you went," the Chancellor said. "Either of you can tell the story."

I glanced at Will, unsure of how much we should tell him.

"Well, the Obscurites captured Jase, Nova's little brother, curtesy of Brendan," Will started.

"Wait, timeout. What did Brendan do?" the Chancellor asked.

"He handed Jase and Carrie, Avery's little sister, over to the Obscurites," I chimed in. "And I haven't seen him since we got here. Do know where he is?"

"Right after you guys left with Avery and Josh, Brendan disappeared and no one has seen him since," the Chancellor replied.

"Is there any possible chance that you might know where he went, um..." I stuttered.

"You can call me Max," he said.

"Max," I finished.

"No, I'm sorry. Anyways continue," Max gestured to Will.

"Right, so Jase and Carrie were captured and we had to go find them, so we used Nova as the bait," Will continued. "And it worked. They led us right to their hideout."

"You let them capture Nova too?" Max asked.

Will nodded slowly. "There wasn't much of a choice."

"Do you have any idea how risky that was?" he asked his voice rising.

"We had to get Jase and Carrie back. How would you feel if the got their hands on your twin sister?" I asked without thinking.

I immediately regretted what had come out of my mouth. Max's eyes darkened. Will fidgeted.

"So, anyway, we followed Josh, Avery, and myself followed Nova to their hideout and were able to rescue her, her brother, and Carrie," Will said. "And I'm sorry if you don't approve, but now we knows where the Obscurite's hideout is, and we can attack them with the element of surprise."

"Except for one thing. If all of this is true, then it's quite possible Brendan joined the Obscurites, and told them exactly where the Hotel was," Max pointed out.

Will nodded. "That's why we need to move as fast as possible."

"I'll notify the board as soon as possible, and we can start forming a strategy," Max rose to his feet.

He nodded in my direction and hurrying off. We let ourselves out of his office.