Dark Waters (Warriors S1B5)

Chapter 13

Earth date: 01/08/2012, 15:53

As soon as we had recrudesced to base, Jay said, "Please tell me where I can put this." He upraised the body of the Hautik. The Hautik was trammeled with a cup of lime energy munificently apportioned by Frazz to keep blood from trilling onto Jay.

"Follow me, Jay," Monica said. She and Jay left the room.

Joey exuviated his armor and sat down at the table. The rest of us followed suit. Mr. Cole said nothing. His eyes darted between the six of us, only stopping so he could sit back and rub the bridge of his nose. Will and Bette said nothing, only looking at each other and then at Mr. Cole.

Monica and an armor-free Jay returned, and the two of them took seats. 

I finally spoke up. "Mr. Cole?"

His gaze snapped onto me.

"If you're going to be mad at anyone, be mad at me. I was the one who put it in everyone else's heads to go fight the Hautik."

He sat back, locking his fingers together into a double fist. "I appreciate your candor, Daphne. But when one person jumps off a cliff, the people who follow her are responsible for their own injuries."

"Meaning...?" Frazz ventured.

"Daphne may have been the one who threw out the idea, but it was the rest of you who followed her."

"Mr. Cole, people were going to die!" Joey asseverated.

"Maybe I'd prefer that to having seven dead children on my conscience!" Mr. Cole shouted back.

The room fell silent. Mr. Cole closed his eyes.

"They know the risks, Cole," Will said.

"Do they, Will? Do they truly?"

"Mr. Cole?" Max spoke up.

"Speak, Maxwell."

Max's neutral expression vacillated for a moment at the use of his full name, but he pressed on. "I didn't tell you about the lady in the graveyard."

"Who or what is the lady in the graveyard? Do tell, Maxwell."

"It's Max."

"Now is not the time to be testing my patience, Maxwell."

For a transient juncture, Max's eyes mantled with a deep turquoise. Then the effect was gone. "On Christmas, my family went to visit..." His voice scrupled. "...Debbie's grave. While we were there, we met a lady. She'd been at the airport when the Blun'i attacked. It almost got her, but I saved her, and she told me because of that, she finally got around to visiting her baby who died."

"Oh my g*d!" Kristi clapped her hands to her cheeks.

Max's neutral expression fluctuated again as he disported Kristi an irked gander. "So if you think I'm in this because I want to be in danger, you're wrong. I'm in this to have stories like that."

Mr. Cole recurred to his reclining deportment, first decussating his arms over his chest, then abrading the top of his head. "Do the rest of you agree?" he finally petitioned.