Karneth Akiazi wearily typed out the last lines of the paper and sighed,
as he pulled off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. Thought that
would never get done Glancing at the clock on the screen, he decided
that Elyk would probably still be awake, playing mine sweeper or
something. He opened the drawer to his desk and pulled out a pair of
throwing knives, his wallet, keys, lighter, and tools and pulled on his
trench coat as he pocketed them. He carefully crept out and closed the
door before the kitten curled up on the back of the sofa could leap down
and out through the door. As he walked out of the dorm, he turned up his
collar against the snow and clutched the trench coat closed.
Rap, rap, rap.
"Entr�-vous"
"Hey Elyk."
"Oh, Hi Kairn, what�s up?"
"Not much," he shrugged, I just finished my Hum paper. "Feel like
stepping outside for a smoke?"
"Uh, sure. Just a minute."
"Where�s Aerin?"
"Oh she went off with DS peoples." Elyk responded vaguely as she
grabbed her coat and cap.
They left North, Elyk leaped off the steps and shrieked "IT�S
SNOWING!" and Kairn whooped and sent a handful of snow flying at her.
"Jackass!" she muttered as she shook the snow out of her hair.
They walked over to the overhang outside the dorm and lit up as they,
somewhat less mischievously, surveyed the moonlit snowscape.
"Wow, I can�t believe that it�s snowing already. It reminds me of
Montreal."
"Well it�s balancing out from last year when it didn�t snow all
winter."
"Oh," eyes brightening with an idea, "we have to steal one of the
trays from Pierce tomorrow."
"Yea! Sledding down the hill on a Pierce tray." She flicked her
cigarette into the snow and turned around. "Come on, let�s go visit
Darian." Karneth pulled out his key and opened the door, and Elyk walked
in. Just before he turned to go in, something flashed by in the corner of
his eye across the sky, but it was lost in the dark night sky before he
could look at it closely. Kairn shivered involuntarily and quickly
followed Elyk into the building.
"Hullo." Kairn called as he carefully opened the door and leaned
down to intercept the kitten.
"You would not believe what happened at Rocky tonight," Darian
answered as he mock punched Karneth in the shoulder. "Hey Elyk, what�s
up?"
"Not much." she answered as Kairn scooped up the kitten and went
to look for the cat food. "Hello Isis."
"Mrrowr."
"Isis says hel.."
"Hi, I know."
"Help actually, but she�s not actually going to get out of the
room tonight. She�s caused enough trouble as it is."
"Did you do the Circuits homework yet?"
"No, I�ll do it tomorrow, we don�t have Circuits until three.�
"Yeah, but I�ve got classes before then."
"Oh, well I don�t."
"You bitch."
"Anyway, Ned�s planning on switching the lock on the trapdoor to
North�s attic tonight, so I have to head over to Iris�s room in a bit."
Karneth placed Isis back on the floor as he finished filling the bowl with
cat food. And then started putting tools and things into his pockets.
Elyk sat cross-legged on the bed,
"Could Darian give Elyk a massage?"
"I don�t know can I?" Darian asked as he continued playing Diablo
"Please~.." as she stretched the word into an entreat.
"Oh.. Fine." Darian got up and sat behind Elyk, rubbing the
tension out of her neck. She leaned forward with a contented smile and
watched the hypnotic swirls of Darian screensaver.
"You could just sit here and let me do this forever couldn�t you?"
The only answer she gave was a contented smile.
"Well I�ll see you two later." Karneth broke in as he slipped
out.
"Bye" said Elyk.
"Bye Elyk." Karneth nodded towards Darian and left.
"Later." Darian called after him.
"Is the coast clear?"
"Yeah, go ahead." Iris whispered back in a conspiratorial voice.
Ned climbed up the iron rungs beneath the trapdoor and held the padlock to
keep it from slipping out of the jaws of the bolt cutter. Karneth jammed
the handles of the bolt cutter together as hard as he could, and the edges
began to cut into the lock. Karneth strained harder.
"Someone�s coming" Iris hissed. Ned released the lock and jumped
down, scrambling to the lower landing. With a resounding crack, the lock
broke, and Karneth jumped backwards into the bathroom, quietly swinging
shut the door and locking it. Standing there in the darkness he held his
breath. In the silence after the footsteps passed, he heard a click from
the trapdoor, and then a soft hissing sound, like sheets of paper sliding
past one another accompanied by clicking sounds that faded into the
distance. Finally, he inched open the door, and looked around. At that
moment, Iris ducked her head around the corner.
"Where�s Ned?"
"I don�t know, he ran down the stairs." Karneth glanced at the locked
trapdoor. The lock had fallen to the floor, and he bent down to retrieve
it. Karneth stared at the lock, uncomprehendingly.
"What? What is it Karn?"
"Th..th..the lock..." Karneth stammered.
"What about the lo...," Iris broke off as she too stared at the
straightened bar of the padlock.
"I�ve got a bad feeling about this." Karneth muttered, as he looked down
the stairs. "Did you hear anything before I came out?"
"No," she responded, Why?"
"I�m not sure," he mumbled evasively as he started down the steps, one
hand on the pair of throwing knives. Halfway down to the ground floor,
Ned burst into the stairwell from the second floor.
"Did you get the lock?"
"Yes, but.."
"Great, quick let�s put our lock on the door before anyone shows up."
He ran up the stairs excitedly, Iris following him. Karneth glanced once
more down towards the basement, then followed them back up.