Listen, And The Stars Shall Speak

Suspicion, Suspicion.

A/N: That moment when you know you should update everything, but book eleven comes out in like AN HOUR AND A HALF AND YOU'RE TOO BUSY FREAKING OUT TO DO ANYTHING!!!!

The next day, Dawn went around as usual, although she was patiently awaiting a note from Drought, telling her when she would be completing the next task. But until then, she decided to seek out her friends, and found them in the Prey Center.

"Hey guys!" she grinned, sitting down next to them.

"Hi Dawn," Cypress offered.

"Long time no see," Shore insisted. Ander and Ray's heads snapped up at Dawn's arrival, and they shot her a glare that no one else understood.

"Come on, Mea," Ray declared. "Let's find a spot in school that does radiate the scent of proditione."

"Now now, Ray," Ander proclaimed. "Beehive. All are innocent until proven guilty."

"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't." Ray recited. He and Ander linked arms and pranced away, as if they were headed to a fancy ball.

The others watched them go with raised eyebrows.

"I don't get it, but I still ship it." Permafrost announced.

"How can you ship something you don't understand?" Stardust questioned. Permafrost laughed.

"Oh, you have SO much to learn about shipping." she sighed. Dusk smirked at the comment and glanced over at his sister, frowning as he noticed the bandage on her hand.

"Dawn," he began. She looked up at him. "What happened to your talon?" Dawn's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh! I just," she explained. "My hand slipped and I accidentally sliced it open." She shrugged. "No big deal."

"Mhmm," Dusk offered, still frowning.

"Ander did always say that the first step to joining a cult was to bleed for it." Rin commented.

"Really?" Permafrost asked. "Should I bleed for my ships then? Cause a fandom's pretty much a cult."

"Permafrost, please refrain from physically harming yourself to sail your ships." Stardust pleaded.

"Hey, I'd go to hell for some of them." Permafrost declared. She paused. "And according to my aunt, I AM going to hell for some of them."

"Well, I'll meet you down there, sister." Rin declared.

"Yeah!" Permafrost and Rin high-fived, earning frowns from the rest of the group.

*~*~*~*~*

When Dawn returned to her sleeping cave, sure enough, there was another note from Drought.

Same Place. Same time. 

Know the rules, and bring your strength.

-D.

So, for the second time, Dawn snuck out of her cave at midnight [And went to go read book 11 JK] and went to meet the young leader of the Sting.

"On time again," Drought commented. "That's a good habit to have."

"Well, I am joining a gang," Dawn replied. "You never know what they'll kill you for."

"Woah woah woah," Drought announced. "First of all, we're not a GANG- we're an organization. And second of all, we don't just kill for no reason."

"Oh really?" Dawn questioned. "Third rule. Every fallen member gets avenged."

"Yeah. If you get killed by a jerk, we kill the jerk. Reasons. See?"

"Suuuuuuuuuure." Dawn declared, annoyed. Drought smirked at her sarcasm.

"Why're you so angry?"

"I'm angry because you're being really vague about all of this, and because my brother asked questions about my hand, so I don't want him to ask about anything else you might put me through." Drought paused for a minute, studying her.

"You're cute when you're angry," Drought commented with a smile. Dawn frowned.

"Aren't we cousins?"

"Eh, technically. Doesn't really matter."

"Um....okay?" Drought nodded thoughtfully before snapping out of his trance.

"It's time for your second task. Are you prepared?"

"Yes."

"Alright then." Drought held up his hand, revealing a very large scorpion. It crawled around his hand, looking irritated. Dawn's eyes widened. "Let it sting you." Drought explained.

"But it's huge! Couldn't it kill me?"

"Nah. The big ones are harmless. It's the little ones you have to be worried about."

 Without another word, the scorpion was dropped into her hand, and it crawled around. Dawn shivered slightly at the weird feeling, and then the scorpion stung her. She winced at the sudden pain, but then Drought took the bug back, and it was over.

"Not so bad, right?" he questioned. Dawn nodded. That had been surprisingly simple. "The last task will be the most difficult." Drought insisted. "And it can't be done here."

"What do you mean?"

"You're nearly a full member, Dawn." Drought explained. "It's about time you took a trip to our headquarters."