Since we were the last ones to leave the room, I half expected the mezzanine and surrounding hallways to be absolutely packed with people rushing to lunch. However, when we stepped outside, I found the area to be relatively quiet.

  “The school staggers our lunch hours,” Amelia explained when she saw me looking around. “I’ve been told it’s because the administration thinks having the entire population of the building show up at the same time is too much of a risk.”

  “I guess that kind of makes sense,” I muttered. “I imagine that if a Rupture opened up in the middle of the cafeteria, you’d lose just as many people to being trampled as you would to invaders.”

  Amelia nodded. “The downside is our ‘lunch hour’ changes from day to day. So some days we eat at eleven, sometimes we don’t eat until one. I don’t mind not eating right at noon, but I really wish they’d assign each class a time, instead of scheduling it whenever it’s convenient.”

  She led us further down the mezzanine, towards the back of the building, where we began to encounter more and more students from other classes. We descended the back stairway and emerged on the main floor, next to something that looked like a food court.

  My stomach growled, and I placed a hand over it to get it to quiet down, but it was too late. Both Olivia and Amelia looked at me, amused.

  “I got caught up in the moment and forgot my lunch back in the classroom,” I admitted. “And I don’t have any money for lunch.”

  “Don’t worry about it, basic meals are covered by the school so that you can pick up a sandwich and juice box for free. If you want something like a burger, you need to pay extra,” Amelia explained.

  “That’s nice of them,” Olivia chirped.

  “You wouldn’t say that if you’d tasted the sandwiches,” Olivia muttered, causing me to chuckle.

  “Don’t worry, I’m used to stale bread and dry cheese,” I said, looking around.

  Most of the kids were lining up at something that looked like a fast-food joint, ordering at a cash register, then receiving their custom orders over to the side. On the other side of the room was a wall of small glass lockers. A couple of students walked up to the lockers, placed their tracker against one of the doors, and pulled out a cellophane-wrapped sandwich from within.

  “You two should go line up, I’ll grab a sandwich and find us a table,” I said.

  “I have a place I like to eat,” Amelia exclaimed. “It’s next to wing B, central staircase. You’ll know the one, because it has a long purple gash in the top.”

  “Why not eat around here?” Olivia asked.

  “I used to, when I first arrived. All the new students tend to congregate in this area,” Amelia explained. “But then a Rupture opened up right in the middle of everyone.”

  She shuddered. “A couple of kids died before anyone could react, and plenty of others got injured in the fight that followed. After that, I decided it was safer to eat in a slightly more isolated area.”

  Olivia and I exchanged a glance.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll find the table. I don’t want to be caught in something like that anymore than you do,” I told her.

  I waved to the pair as I headed over to the wall of lockers. I didn’t know precisely how the system worked, but each locker had a tag in the upper-left corner that said what type of sandwich was inside. It took me a minute to browse through the selections and find something I liked, a plain ham and cheese on white.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Imitating the kids I’d seen earlier, I waved my tracker in front of the door. It sprang open, and my sandwich came flying out, held by a hairy red arm.

  “One ham and cheese!” Hairy exclaimed happily.

  I crouched down and looked through the locker, only to find him standing on the other side of the wall, in some sort of prep area.

  “How did you get back there?” I hissed.

  “Through the loading dock! It was the only way I could find to get into the building,” the bull proclaimed.

  “Why didn’t you come through the front doors?” I asked.

  Hairy froze. “I couldn’t find them?”

  “You couldn’t find the massive glass doors that were on the side of the building closest to the admin building?” I grumbled.

  “Uhhhh… nope!” Hairy replied, grinning widely.

  I rubbed my head. Talking to Hairy was so difficult sometimes.

  “Just get out of there,” I growled, snatching the sandwich out of his hand. “I’ll meet you by the staff door.”

  The bull nodded enthusiastically and retracted his arm so I could close the locker. By the time I wandered over to the side of the wall of lockers, to the nearest staff door, Hairy had already wandered out of the prep area.

  “Where have you been? And where are the others?” I asked, doing my best not look directly at the big red highland bull.

  “Had business to take care of,” Hairy declared. “And the others are around somewhere… we split up to look for you.”

  “How did you even know I was in this building? None of you asked when I left,” I asked.

  “Angelica knew! She always knows!” the bull replied happily.

  “Right…” I muttered.

  I’d always thought Hairy and the others always showed up wherever I was because they were just figments of my imagination, but if one of my friends had a way to track me there was a chance they were real and following me around. But was that true, or just something my brain made up to explain everything that was going on.

  “Why does this have to be so complicated?” I groaned, rubbing my eyes.

  “I dunno,” Hairy shrugged. “Angelica always tells me to concentrate on what’s ahead, and not get distracted by all the details.”

  I glanced at the bull. “And what details are you getting distracted by?”

  “Whether I should wear boxers or briefs,” Hairy replied.

  “You don’t wear either!” I snapped.

  “Which is probably why she tells me not to worry about it,” Hairy replied.

  “Tamera? Who are you talking to?” someone asked. I snapped my head towards the voice, to find Amelia and Olivia standing over a table with a purple slash in it. I’d been so absorbed by my thoughts, and the discussion with Hairy, I’d almost walked past it.

  “That’s… a complicated question,” I muttered, pulling out a chair and sitting across from the the two girls. “And I know it might sound like I’m brushing you off with that answer, I’m not. It’s just that I’m still trying to figure out what’s happening myself.”

  Amelia raised an eyebrow and popped a fry into her mouth. “Oookkkaaaayyyy…”

  I sighed. “It might sound insane, but I have imaginary friends. I’ve had them for years. The thing is, I’m just beginning to realize they may actually be an extension of my powers. Or a conduit to my powers, or something. It’s complicated.”

  “Hey! You’re willing to tell your new friends about us? That’s great! You don’t have to keep pretending we don’t exist in public,” Hairy exclaimed.

  “You’re right, it does sound insane,” Amelia replied, grabbing another handful of fries, “but I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff since I came to this school. Maybe it’s true.”

  She chomped down on the fries, nodding to herself for several seconds, then took a sip of soda to clear her mouth. “So what are your powers exactly, and why do you think they’ve bound themselves to your friends?”

  “That’s the thing… I don’t know if they’ve bound to my imaginary friends, or my powers ARE my imaginary friends. The BEI seems to think I’ve been awakened for years, and I just don’t release instability, so I might have gone years without being undetected,” I explained.

  Amelia froze, her burger halfway to her mouth, and looked at me. “No shit?”

  I tapped on my tracker. “That’s why I have protected status.”

  Amelia took a giant bite out of her burger and chewed thoughtfully for a minute before turning to Olivia. “And what are you in for?”

  “I can detect Ruptures before they manifest,” Oliva explained, as she pecked at her chicken nuggets.

  “No shit?” Amelia exclaimed again. “You two are quite the pair.”

  While the three of us were talking Hairy bounced from one foot to the other excitedly. As soon as he found an opening, he leaned down. “Hey, hey, hey… should I introduce myself to your friends? Do you think they’d like that?”

  I shivered and slowly lowered my sandwich to the table. “You can do that?”

  “Of course, it’s easy. See! Tada!” Hairy exclaimed.

  I didn’t see anything; he looked the same to me, but across the table, Olivia dropped one of her nuggets, causing it to bounce across the table.

  When I glanced ove,r I could see both girls were staring directly at Hairy.

  “What the fuck is that?” Amelia asked.

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