GENTRY

04

Briar has been floating between groups. She does not want to appear too committed to anyone. She's laughed at Kai's jokes though she doesn't find him funny and listened to Ez rant about a book which she had no interest in. She tried to converse with Vieira who shied away, and Felix, who boasted. No one is quite catching her eye yet. Tom or Jetta might if they had dressed nicer for the occasion. Evelyn seems a bit vapid, even for Briar, and Roman seems unable to stop quoting philosophers. Luis and Ellie seem tolerable, but they are already wrapped up in a conversation and Briar does not want to feel like an outsider.

Then, a phone rings upstairs.

It cuts through the party, filling it with silence.

Kai runs up the stairs, racing after it, and Briar, of course, follows.

"I'll get it," Poppy's voice says, and she's soon trailing after.

The others look around at each other. They are all too drunk or too nervous to follow after. Besides, three people have already left, a quarter of the party. Who else is needed?

Upstairs, Kai trips on his way to answer the phone. He hits the carpet, and rolls onto his back, rubbing his jaw. The room smells of pickles.

On the floor below, the guests hear a thump. They flinch.

Briar makes it upstairs and notices what Kai has tripped on. She opens her mouth and stumbles backwards.

Poppy catches her. "Don't scream. Answer the phone."

Kai looks behind him, to see a torso, lying on the ground. A body.

"Answer the phone," Poppy prompts again.

Briar makes it to the phone. It's an old-fashioned brown rotary phone. She picks up the receiver and holds it to her ear, as her hands shake.

"Hello?" her voice croaks.

She is met with a dial tone.

Poppy crosses the room, gliding over the body, and takes the phone. She listens but hangs it up. Looking down at the rotary phone, she notices a sheet of paper, sticking out from beneath it. Her hand slides beneath it to take the paper, as Kai pulls himself up.

"You alright up there?" Felix's voice shouts up the stairwell.

"Yes!" Poppy calls down before the others can answer. "It seems Kai's not as nimble on his feet as you'd think."

"Who is that?" Briar's voice is a sharp whisper. "What is happening?"

"It's an old man," Poppy answers.

"We need to tell the others," Briar hisses.

Kai sees the sheet of paper in Poppy's hand and snatches it.

Poppy lets him, though she hasn't even had an opportunity to read it. "We tell the others, they are going to freak out. It's a test by The Divide. We need to keep it quiet."

Kai nods his head. Though he's never encountered a dead body, he knows how to rally a team. Based on the note, it doesn't seem like alerting the others will help. "We say nothing. Got it?"

Briar has been privy to a secret before. She's never let it stop her. "Alright."

The three of them return downstairs. Kai puts a smile on his face, though he can feel his teeth rattling behind his lips. Once he arrives downstairs, he pulls out the letter.