Rising War

Chapter 1: Game Day

(Four months after Guiding Stars, Narrated by Aven...)

The room is dead silent, asides from the soft buzz of the air conditioner above our heads. The lights are off, the windows are covered with blankets, and no one dares to move. This is a serious situation, and none of us want to screw it up.

"Alright, team, gather round." Ebony whispers. She holds a small flashlight, providing the only source of light in the room. The six of us- myself, Wynter, Kusinagi, Umbra, Aisley and Delta- inch closer to her, walking as light as feathers. The floor creaks and I hear Umbra wince.

"We have thirty minutes to complete our task. If we fail, we disappoint everyone we care about," she explains, "and I'm not about to let that happen."

"So, what's the plan?" Aisley arches an eyebrow. "If we head outside now, we're going to be attacked."

"We do have them outnumbered." Wynter says with a shrug. "I can take at least two, no doubt. It'll be a piece of cake."

Ebony shakes her head. "There's more to strategy than just 'fight.' If that's our only course of action, we're setting ourselves up to fail."

"That's been my plan my whole life and it hasn't failed me yet." Wynter says. She earns herself an eye roll from Ebony.

"I say we split up. Some of us on offense outside and in here on defense." I suggest. Ebony was put in charge of this challenge, and knowing her, she'll put me on offense and herself on defense. We may be twins, but we don't exactly work well together in these situations. Sibling problems, amirite?

"I like the sound of that." Ebony nods. "Wynter, Umbra, Kusinagi and Aven- I want you four on offense. Delta, Aisley and I will stay here on defense."

Called it.

"Sounds good." Kusinagi says. Before we can plan anything else, someone- or something- starts pounding the door. Delta nearly jumps into Ebony's arms.

"Offense team- head out!" Ebony shoves a chair in front of the door to keep whoevers outside from breaking in.

I glance up. Now that the door is blocked off, the only way out is through the window. Kusinagi's already climbing up my bunk to reach it. Umbra, Wynter and I follow closely after.

The banging on the door gets louder. Whoevers outside is yelling at us, and from the sound of it, seems to be mocking us. I can't make out who it is or what they're saying, though.

Kusinagi rips the blanket down from over the window and slides it open. The bright sun breaks through the darkness, momentarily blinding me. We each jump out of the window and onto the front porch.

You might be thinking.... Aven, what the heck is going on? Why are you guys hiding in the dark and jumping out of windows? What could possibly be this important?

Clearly, you've never been to the Hudson House when it's game day.

Every month, Faith and Fantasma schedule a 'Game Day,' where we all compete in some sort of challenge. Winners get special privileges, like control over the television and first in line for showers. We Hudsons take Game Day very seriously. I'm not giving up my computer privileges up without a fight.

This month, it was announced that we'd be playing our own equivalent of 'Capture the Flag.' We were split into two teams- guys versus girls- and our team leaders were chosen at random. Ebony was chosen for our team, which was honestly the best call. Drake was chosen for the guys (who I want to feel sorry for, but I'm not.)

Since Faith didn't want to go out and buy flags, and Fantasma wasn't too keen on making them himself, they told the team leaders to pick any object to use as our 'flag.' Ebony chose the novel she was currently reading, since books can fit into small spots and can be disguised easily.