○ an aftermath. ◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜ the day after the whole debacle in the library, bradley delivered a message from fred finch: avior was to meet him in the infirmary immediately. he had tripped over his own feet what felt like a thousand times on the way there, too caught up in imagining the worst possible scenarios. perhaps marcus had died. perhaps he was okay, and had told fred finch the truth about what happened. perhaps the creature had again survived, and killed half a dozen people before escaping into the forest, and avior would be kicked out of xiphoid for not killing it properly the first (or rather: second) time around. it turned out to be none of these things. in fact, when he arrived, fred finch was grinning broadly, and marcus was not dead. nobody had found out the truth yet, then. good. "well," fred finch said, "i never thought that i'd be discussing demons with you two again, and certainly not under these circumstances. but both of you have the right to know what it was that attacked you in the library," he took a moment to wipe the perspiration off his forehead, then continued. "i don't suppose either of you would be familiar with a scant?" "well, ye—" marcus began. "no, neither of us has the foggiest idea what that might be," avior interrupted, giving marcus a swift jab to the ribs with his elbow. "ah, of course. a scant is, well," fred finch paused for a moment. he looked very uncomfortable. "a variant of demon that is an undead beast and seeks to kill all who enter its territory," avior hoped he looked sufficiently shocked and frightened. "so that's what attacked us, then?" "yes, i'm afraid so. don't worry, we're all doing our best to track down why it was here, of all places, and what we can do to prevent future incidents. you two are safe in our hands," the door to the infirmary opened, and caryn stepped in. "fred?" she called. "we'd love to have your help," fred finch gave her a thumbs-up. "be right there!" he said. he turned back to avior and marcus. "i'll be leaving you now. just so you know, there will be no classes for the remainder of winter session. have a wonderful day!" and he was gone. "i could have died. scants are venomous," marcus said. "nobody asked," avior snapped. "i know what you did," marcus said icily. avior felt his blood turn cold. "you tell a single soul," he threatened, "and i'll bring another scant here to finish the job." marcus laughed drily. "i'm not afraid of you. you don't know what you're talking about. you mean literally nothing to me," that stung a little bit. "that's sweet of you," avior said. "you just love acting all high and mighty, don't you?" marcus said scornfully. "i bet you're afraid that everyone will hate you, and that's why you're a huge jerk all the time. that's really sad, because everyone *does* hate you, and i hate you more than anyone else," now, that REALLY stung. "eat s[][][] and die, stickybeak," avior glowered before turning away and walking quickly across the infirmary, and out the door, and down to the edge of the forest, where he kicked a tree and felt bad about it for a moment when four birds flew out in a rush, then kicked it twice more for good measure. ⋘◦⋙ "do you think i'm a good person?" avior asked arin one evening. they were outside, wandering aimlessly through the snow and sometimes talking, sometimes saying nothing at all. it was a ritual the two of them had developed at some point in the long days after the incident in the library. though arin didn't know the full story, ae knew enough to be sympathetic. avior still hadn't spoken to any of the guys in tertius. he did not sit with them at lunch, did not look any of them in the eye. he slipped out of the cabin in the morning and only returned after twilight. they all loved marcus dearly. if they found out what happened (and avior did not trust himself to keep quiet about it), they would be heartbroken and furious. he couldn't do that to them— couldn't do that to himself. once the story got out, it was only a matter of time before it reached his parents, and then? then, there would be a thousand different kinds of hell to pay. "i think you're a good person, just a little... spontaneous," arin, sweet arin, ever-honest arin replied carefully after a long pause. spontaneous. the word carried such clear undertones. why was it that words like that followed avior everywhere? trailed behind him down hallways, skittered along the corners he turned? oh, how he loathed words that said one thing but meant another. the word 'special' in particular. "he's a bright enough boy, just a little... SPECIAL," the kindest of the many private tutors would say to his parents with furrowed brows and low voices. "he does fine enough, it's just certain areas... he's SPECIAL," his fourth grade teacher had said before giving his parents the phone number for a woman who sold essential oils ("and only the best of the best!") and scurrying away.
"well, you *are* a SPECIAL one, aren't you?" the worst of the private tutors leered, looming above as he stared at a blank page, heart pounding and head aching. he had had quite enough of that word. ⋘◦⋙ / february 28, 2131 / it was time to go home. time to pack up a bag, lock up your cabin, and trudge through the snow to where the long, white bus sat waiting. octavo won the election, to nobody's surprise. they always came out top of the rankings. avior suspected bribery. why was it that xiphoid camp sessions seemed to always end with someone injured? had anyone ever died before? and why was it that it always had something to do with demons? avior would bet anything it was because they were hunting marcus. the stupid idiot was probably luring them right to xiphoid. ⋘◦⋙ the bus slowed again and, inch by inch, came to a stop. avior was out of his seat before the bus had fully stopped moving. "see you in five months," he said to arin. just as he was about to leave, arin grabbed his arm. "i know you're not going to be able to keep in touch, so, just, stay safe, okay? don't let your parents or brother push you around, and—" "hey," avior interrupted. "blacklist, remember?" arin looked somewhat dejected. "right. okay, bye," there was one more person avior had to say goodbye to. he locked eyes with destiny from across the bus and waved. she gave a small smile and waved back. there. that would suffice. xiphoid camp was the worst thing to ever happen to him. he would not miss it one bit.
