REVOLUTION: A Rebel Among Monsters ✔

Twenty-Six••We Have A Situation

Valnia wrestled between sleep and panic for the rest of the day. And when she slept, she had visions of tunnels, gravelly walls, thick dirt between her toes, dark dampness. Deadly silence punctuated by streaks of blue and pink energy hurling to and fro—the Monster's powers. Eldians versus Impians.

The last time she'd visited the muddy passages, a few weeks before Melaynia's arrival, they could barely accommodate a handful of Ceruleans. Meaning they couldn't contain the Monsters, not yet. And the Monsters were the key reason the tunnels were created—to transport them under the oceans and straight to the Forbidden Side's Monster Island. Then they'd sprinkle their magic over the invisible barriers to break into the Impian's supposed territory.

How were the shafts ready? Had the Monsters invented a new machine to expand the area faster? Valnia wasn't sure she believed it was possible. It was rushed. Premature.

Wylan snuck into her room again, but he didn't push her to talk. She pretended to sleep, and he snuggled up to her, holding her tight to his chest. He was her closest ally, her best friend, the man she loved... and yet she couldn't bring herself to admit to him how much she'd confessed to Melaynia. She was afraid to say how she might have urged her sister towards the rebellion they all hoped to avoid.

As he nestled his nose against her neck, she held in her gasps. Images of Melaynia trespassing into the Forbidden Side pried into her brain, punctuating her dreams with screams and blood and death.

***

When she woke, Wylan was gone.

After pulling on her uniform and fixing her face and hair into something somewhat presentable, she hurried to the Dining Hall.

After a few bites of her usual breakfast of eggs and ham, she allowed some positivity into her mind. Maybe Melaynia wouldn't do anything stupid. Maybe she'd stop herself before it was too late. She'd realize that if she trespassed, she'd be on her own, and no longer under the Monster's protection.

Maybe she'll come back to us. To me.

She informed Lexa she was ready to work again and reprised her classes as usual. Though no one acted differently, she felt different. An eerie sensation increased in her gut; Melaynia had been gone for a little over twenty-four hours. After twelve years away from her... it seemed an eternity.

After a few exhausting pages of reports and grades, she decided to take a break for dinner when Wylan burst into her office, breathless, a pleased look on his face. "Val!"

She glowered at him. "We've talked about this. If my door is closed, you knock—"

"—no time for that," he said, jumping aside when Lexa squeezed inside as well and sealed the door.

"Yes, no time," she said, a gleeful glow appearing on her cheeks.

Valnia took several steps backwards, worried about their excess of joy. "What is going on?"

"They did it." Lexa squirmed up to her, her delight so foreign to Valnia it prompted her to cringe and recoil.

She'd never witnessed the Attendant Supervisor express more than a bit of pride; never had she been so enthusiastic about anything.

"They? Who? The Monsters?" Valnia crossed her arms and slipped behind her desk, seeking some sort of protection from their exuberance. "What did they do?"

"It, Val!" Wylan jutted his chin at Lexa, who angled over the desk, reaching for Valnia's hands.

"They did it," she said, not reacting to Valnia's frown of confusion. "The Eldians found the solution, the means to disarm that damned spell around the Forbidden Side's Monster Island!"