The War of Elevens| Book 1 of the Space Thief Chronicles

Chapter 21| Murderesses

Lilly never made it to breakfast the next morning. 

She was in the middle of an intense argument with Wyx about whether or not bears had tails as they made the trek to Treasurer's Place. Wyx swore that bears most definitely did not have tails, and Lilly responded by rolled her eyes and telling him he was out of his mind. They were about to enter the cafeteria when Instructor Stevia's stern voice cut like an electric jolt through the rotunda.

"Private Ci!"

Lilly wondered if her stomach would ever stop somersaulting when Stevia called her name as she turned around. Wyx jumped down from Lilly's shoulder and hid behind her ankles.

"Good morning," Lilly replied. Much to Wyx's disappointment, she'd been practicing her manners with the instructors. One sassy sentence and she was terrified she'd get sent sprinting suicides for an hour—it had happened to Max plenty of times, and Lilly hated running.

From below, she heard Wyx mutter, "Zander and Kaitlynn must be rubbing off on you."

Lilly shoved him with her heel and moved out of the doorway of Treasurer's Place. The vibrant, fruity smell of acai berries and yogurt wafted out from the cafeteria, and her stomach gave an impulsive growl. Oh, she was so ready for breakfast.

"Melissa Stowe is your full-time guardian, correct?" Stevia asked, drawing uncomfortably close to Lilly. When it came to Stevia, anything more than two feet away was uncomfortably close. Her tall, muscular frame and her chiseled, austere facial features were reminiscent of boulders: hard, unmoving, despondent. This morning, Stevia's expression was severely grim—it was always severely grim, but with the instructor standing this close, Lilly felt the severity of Stevia's grimness chilling her bone marrow. 

It was a miracle how anyone with such a brooding face could be so strikingly beautiful. 

"She is," Lilly answered. "Yes ma'am."

"Ma'am!" Wyx hissed, clucking his tongue in disapproval.

Stevia looked down at him. "Come with me, and...don't bring your pet."

Wyx snapped, "She is my sidekick!" before dashing into Treasurer's Place.

Stevia led Lilly down a long corridor that stretched from behind the main stairwell to the Northern Wing, and Lilly's growling stomach grew queasy. Stevia was already intimidating with her consistent stormy mood, her long dark hair twisted into tight, scalp-searing braids, and her unnaturally stiff gait. 

They turned into yet another empty hall and paused in front of a small gilded door beside a spiral staircase. This hallway was quiet and bare compared to the other luxurious decorations in the rest of the facility—the navy walls housed oil paintings depicting several different species of dragons, each piece framed with elegantly carved metal. Several fairies loitered on the banister of the staircase, chittering in their tinkling little language. With a single steel look from Stevia, the fairies jumped with colorful bursts of light and fluttered up to the next floor. 

"What's happening?" Lilly asked slowly, trying to keep her nervous temper under control. She could feel it slipping, slipping, and she'd worked so hard to keep herself composed around the adults here. 

Stevia crossed her arms and leaned back against the gold-framed door, staring down at Lilly with the same hard gaze she'd given the fairies. "Centurie tried to get in touch with your cousin about what happened yesterday, but she didn't answer any of the letters he sent her last night. We asked Bloom Officials to go to her house in Earthens. She wasn't there." 

Heat spread through Lilly's stomach. 

Okay, that wasn't bad. Maybe she was out working late or getting dinner or going for a run. Maybe she was at the library, or the bookstore, or maybe she just needed to get out of Belle Village for a while. There were hundreds of perfectly mundane reasons why Melissa would not be at home.