Flashback: A Short Experimental Adventure (3/10)

3/10

To this day, you feel bad for your lacking enthusiasm—but they immediately forgave you, which strikes you as odd, given what happened in the following hours. You didn't realize until later how vital your presence was to their success.

You hated the storage room. It smelled of mothballs, bleach, and old paper, though you'd only seen the latter first-hand. You three huddled around Alys' phone and reviewed the notes she'd amassed over several months' worth of divinations.

At 2:46 PM, the mark would look out the 53rd window of the office building across the road. A traffic accident Claire engineered would catch their eye, and they'd pop their head past the window frame for a closer look. Alys would whistle sharply. The mark would look her way, and their eyes would meet, and just like that—

"I wonder what they taste like," said Claire, giddy. "Souls."

"Depends on the person."

"What do you think this one's flavour will be?"

"I don't know." You tried sounding disinterested. They shouldn't have cared so much for your opinion; not under three hours from their inaugural kill. You rubbed your brow and prayed for patience. "We have to get to the roof. Do you have elevator passes?"

Alys pulled one from her pocket.

"Claire?"

"I couldn't get one." She shrugged. "We'll find a way around it. Don't worry."

You worried anyway. The twins wouldn't appreciate that until their plan turned pear-shaped, and for the moment you ignored their oversight. Poor things. Looking back, you wish you hadn't.

"We'll see if you can use mine. I might not come up with you after all, if that's what it takes."

You offered Claire the tattered card. She hesitated. This frustrated you: acquiring an elevator pass wasn't easy for someone who really should've been in class. You only managed to wrangle one from the office by_