Amnesty Gray

Amnesty Gray - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Amnesty is a total prude. I mean, like, she had a boyfriend? But she totally dumped him two years ago... And now she won’t go out with anyone. I tried to set her up but she yelled in my face about having no time. But, like she doesn’t do anything! Except disappearing all the time...”

 - Ariana Grey, sister.

I ran into my apartment, screaming, “Clothe yourselves! I do not want to see naked body parts again!”

I heard giggling emanating from my living room rug and my hand shot up to cover my eyes. “Get off my rug!” I shrieked, disgusted.

“Okay, okay!” I heard Desiree laugh. I heard the pair of them hurriedly tugging on clothes. “It’s all clear now.”

Cautiously I let my hand drop slightly from my eyes. I peeked through my fingers to see Desiree and Jagger standing before me, fully clothed and wearing an additional pair of matching sheepish grins. I frowned and let my hand fall to my side. “Finally.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Des said apologetically, following me as I walked towards my bedroom to get changed. “But I haven’t seen Jag in a week because of all the missions Newton’s been firing at me! And wait, what do you mean see us naked again?”

I stopped and shot a glare at her. “Graduation after party. Newton’s office. Need I say more to jog your memory?”

“Oh yeah...” she said, giggling. She threw herself on my bed as I rummaged through my wardrobe. She let out a long sigh. “But, seriously. I have been on more missions in the past week than I have ever been on in such a short space of time. What is Newton’s game? Is it just me he’s picking on?”

“Unfortunately, no,” I grumbled, pulling out a pair of jeans and a plain white sweater. “I’ve been on at least thirteen in the past two weeks, and I know Juno’s been on seven. The crime rate’s sky rocketed.”

“It can’t be just a coincidence.” I tugged off my ruined dress and unstrapped my prompter and weapon garters, not caring if Des saw or not. We’d been through too much together to care if we saw each other semi-naked. “I bet something’s up. An Uprising or something in the Tunnels.”

The Tunnels was the nickname for what humans would call the ‘Underground’. Everyone knew it existed, but you could only join if you were selected by a member. And the members were very reclusive. And for good reason.

“You might be on to something,” I said, thinking it over as I dumped my clothes in my hamper. “But unfortunately Newton wouldn’t hear it. He wouldn’t even let me know what the hell I was fighting on my last mission.”

“Oh yeah, you just came back from one, didn’t you? What happened?”

“Well, I was at the dance when the prompter went off,” I said, pulling on my clean clothes and laying down on the bed beside her. “It seemed routine; zombie causing a bit of a fuss, shoot to wound, bring him in. Normal stuff. But when I got up there, this wasn’t just some rogue zombie off the streets looking for a bit of trouble. This thing was hardcore. I’m talking lightning fast, no openings whatsoever, maybe even Forgotten standard. But the prompter didn’t tell me anything about his skill levels.” 

The Forgotten were a small, reclusive agency that had been run down and discarded centuries ago that had trained a handful of the best and most talented magical creatures. It was extremely rare to find one of their pupils these days, as an Uprising had led to its collapse and the murder of many of their students. The murders had thought that the Tribal representatives had been using the school to kidnap creatures and perform experiments on them.