➵ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The sun began to rise as the next morning came. They all had woken up and gotten into the clothes they found around the store. Jonas looked outside of the door to see a few guards circling the city.

He came back inside saying, "We can't go out now, there are guards out there."

"Great. So I guess we have to stay put," Jin responded.

"I don't know guys, maybe we can finally just get a moment of peace," Toph mentioned.

Jack looked onto the shelves and found bottles of vodka. He picked them up and said, "Who's ready to really party?"

"It's literally the morning," Jules stated, looking confused. "Plus, I forget what intoxication feels like."

"Well, that won't stop us," he said.

"I'm down," Sapphire said, looking to the rest of them.

"And what happens when the guards show up and we have to fight them drunk?" Jules disputed.

"We'll let them join the party then. The more... the merrier," Jack replied while opening a bottle.

After a few drinks they sat down.

"Wow, I feel-" Toph began to say.

"Weird, loopy, dizzy? Yeah," Jack stated.

"Guys, I have to confess something," Jin said suddenly. "And I'm serious."

Toph looked up at him and glanced down again quickly.

"You remember that fire in that office at the party?" he continued.

"Yeah- what about it?" Jules said.

"Well, I started it. It was an accident really. I grabbed a bottle of gin and it accidentally spilled on the floor," he said regretfully.

"What the heck!? People could've died," she exclaimed angrily.

"Dumbass," Jonas said.

"Nice going, really," Violet replied.

"Look at you man, burning things down. Guess that's your new hobby," Jack said, laughing at his stupidity.

"No wonder you spilled beans on me you clumsy sonofa-" Toph started.

"Don't forget who taught you hand to hand combat, Toph-"

"And you still managed to be a clutz, where did all that precision go?"

"Fine, whatever. I knew I shouldn't have said anything in the first place. I get everyone else attacking me here but it hurts coming from you, Toph."

Toph felt bad. She knew it was an honest mistake and couldn't be mad at him when he was being honest. "It was a mistake. We appreciate you telling us though," she said guiltily.

"Yeah I guess. I really didn't mean to. It just slipped," he replied.

"We got it bro. Don't sweat it. No one got hurt," Jack said.

❋

Jonas, Jin, and Jack were looking at the gear that they stored in their backpacks. Violet, Toph, Sapphire, and Jules, with Jorge, were on the opposite side. They were talking when Violet realized that she had the files. She went to Jonas and told him, "The files, they're in your backpack. I completely forgot about them."

"Oh, you're right. I guess there's no better time to look at them than now," he responded. He grabbed his backpack and they both began to look through it soon finding the files at the bottom. He handed them to her and she took them back to Sapphire, Toph, and Jules.

"I found our files back at the facility. Thought we should look through them together."

"Yeah we should," Toph responded.

"Cool!" Sapphire and Jules exclaimed.

They all opened their files reading them carefully. The typed print on the paper was read in concentration by them all with complete silence.

"My last name is Stablet," Jules mused.

"Wait, what? Mine too," Toph told her.

"Same," Violet and Sapphire said.

"Where were you guys born?" Toph demanded.

"Phobos," Sapphire stated.

"Me too," Violet, Toph, and Jules said.

They put their files side by side taking all papers and documents out of them to examine them. They didn't know why their files were similar. They soon all looked up at each other realizing why the information coincided.

"We're sisters," they said in unison.