Icy Inferno (Troyler AU)

⋙ Chapter Twenty-Five

The person who’d just taken the bag off my head stood over me, a knife pressed against their side. I blinked hard, wanting their face to come into focus. When they did, I had to stop myself from gasping at the bedraggled sight of the food tech teacher - Ms Blackery. Three other people came forward. One was an anonymous man, who I’d perhaps passed in the street, but never noticed. There was a girl who’d I’d seen around school before, in the youngest year. I remember Tyde saying she’d joined a month ago, saying she’d behaved in a slightly weird away. And then there was Connor.  

“Where am I?” I groaned, closing my eyes again.

“That’s none of your concern,” the young girl said.

“What do you know, Troye?” Connor asked.

“I know a lot of things-”

Ms Blackery kicked me. I fell down, landing awkwardly on my arm. I cried out in pain. “Don’t be a smart ass. What do you know about this?”

“Just that Connor’s been spying on me and Tyler, and almost killed him.”

“I didn’t-”

“Shut up Connor,” the unknown man said.

“Why didn’t you just take Ty when he was at school?” Three of them had been at the school. There’d definitely been enough opportunities for them to take him.

The mystery man decided to answer. “We weren’t 100% sure  that he was a Yokela. He doesn’t look the same, and his forged records were very well made. The sudden departure was pretty obvious though. His name changes things, makes things a little more interesting.”

“Why does him being a Yokela change anything?”

“The Yokela’s did things, terrible things, and they need to be made an example of.”

“What did Tyler do?”

“Tyler didn’t do anything. But then, his name isn’t Tyler.”

“What?”

“You’ve said enough Bryan,” Ms Blackery said, stepping around him before he could reply. Ms Blackery crouched in front of me. She smiled sinisterly, unsheathing her knife. “Here’s how this is going to work. For every wrong answer, you’ll get a cut. Understand?”

When I didn’t answer right away, she pressed it into my neck, not quite cutting yet. “Understand?”

“Yes,” I croaked. She lessened the pressure, but the knife didn’t break contact with my skin.

“When did you figure this out?”

“Today. When Connor talked about the interrogation. He made it obvious he didn’t have one. The only reason he wouldn’t have one is if he was part of the government operations.”

“We really need to improve your undercover skills, Connor,” the younger girl said.

“What other evidence do you have?”

“Well there’s this for starters.”

The knife travelled along my neck, trailed by a line of blood. I quivered in pain. “What else?” Ms Blackery asked.

“Preston Park. I heard his voice. And yours.” I bit my lip. That’s two people down, but who was the third? It definitely wasn’t the others around me. I reasoned it didn’t really matter - they were all turncoats to elementals.

“Did you tell anyone in school?” 

“No.”

"Why not?"