Sentry of the Arcane

Chapter 22: Fitz

Laurel steps forward to look inside the elevator. "Wh-where is it..?" she ask, her eyes widening. She glances over at Sophie. Sophie's chocolate-brown eyes widen as she rushes forward at the female Altruistic. Laurel begins to run the other way, but Audrey grabs her by the shoulders. She then hoists Laurel over her shoulder and walks towards her room. Sophie follows, but not after she whispers to me, "Laurel was about to run to Mr. Wallace, but because she so scared, not because she's angry like I was. I can tell. We're going to do something that's going to calm all three of us." She gestures to Benen and Donovan. "Benen's going to need that too."

I nod, glancing over at the other boys. I immediately see the dark circles under Benen's eyes, implying that he didn't sleep, but only said that so Laurel wouldn't worry. I frown, shaking my head. "First, we should do something you two need." I begin walking towards Benen's room again. Stopping at his door, I glance back at Benen and point at him. "We're going to sleep for a while, then do whatever you two want to do afterwards."

"But-" Benen begins to object.

I hold a hand up to stop him mid-sentence. "Don't even try to say that you actually fell asleep, because I know you didn't. You were wide awake throughout the remaining hours of the night, but you said what you said so Laurel wouldn't worry." I see Benen's wide eyes at my words. Nodding as if we have come to an agreement, I say, "Open your door. But you'll be sleeping in your bed." When Benen opens his mouth, I press my lips together and shake my head.

Benen sighs in submission as he trudges towards his bed. He yawns as he crawls under the covers, but his yawn stops midway since he fell asleep that quickly.

I sit myself in a couch that's in the same area my desk is in my room. Donovan sits next to me, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pressed together tightly. Leaning back, he glances over at me and asks, "So what happened with you and Sophie?"

I stiffen in my spot. "Sophie was thinking about Mr. Wallace and how he was supposed to have Laurel's canvas. But both were destroyed, and Benen said that he saw a man. So she was about to confront him about that before I stopped her." I exhale sharply and lean back as well. "It seemed like she was angry about how a killer like that was that close to one of the six of us. Not because of whoever had the canvas." I'll talk to her about that later as well, I note mentally. I need the whole story.

Donovan nods. "Audrey was so close to running after you, she would've if I hadn't grabbed her and pulled her back." He then shakes his head. "She's too aggressive, but seems to be a very loyal person at the same time."

"She also seems rather impatient," I add, remembering the time where she tackled Benen because Laurel said something back to her. "Too impatient, especially when it comes to taking action." I look over at the male Sovereign again. "Do you see it?"

He nods. "Yeah, but that's mostly because I'm the same way." Donovan exhales loudly, slouching in his seat more. "I'm just able to restrain my impatience more than she can. And as you can see, that can lead to... problems."

I can't help but laugh. "You can say that again."

Suddenly, we hear clapping and squealing on the other side of the connecting door, which makes me wonder what the girls are doing. Standing up, I look over at the sleeping Benen before nearing the connecting door. When I hear Donovan unsuccessfully follow me, I smirk as I slowly turn the doorknob. I then pause. "What are you doing?" Donovan asks when I turn around to face him.

I gesture to my attire. "As you can see, we're still in our pajamas. I'm going to take a shower and change into more proper clothes." He nods as I stare at Benen again. "Do you think he'll wake up while we're gone?"

Donovan shakes his head as he pushes me out of Benen's bedroom. "Nah. Let's go change."

...

Dressed in a red shirt with a maroon vest and dark brown pants, I grab my key card as I muse my hair up a bit since it's still a bit damp. When I close the door to my room, I hear someone yell, "BOO!" I shout in surprise as I jump against the door, a hand over my racing heart. My eyes widen before narrowing as I glare daggers at the male Sovereign. Mentally cursing at him, I shake my head and silently walk towards the elevator.

"Haha! You should've seen the look on your face!" Donovan exclaims for about the sixteenth time since I got in the elevator. "Good thing you can scream like a man; otherwise, I'd never let you hear the end of that!"

I scoff and roll my eyes as we both make our way to Benen's room "Hm, I wonder why I'm not surprised by that," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I almost knock on Benen's door, but remember that Benen's sleeping, and I wasn't going to wake him up. "Be glad that I'm two floors above Benen. If you woke him up, you'd be in serious trouble."

Donovan only laughs as we make our way down to his room again.