"Miren's dead," Artemis repeated, almost in a chant as Wallace raised an eyebrow at her. "She's dead, right?"
"You could have just called the Gloveria morgue to clarify this," he replied, flexing his fingers before typing again. Coding was a calling, but lately it was getting tedious. Yale wanted him to use his powers for good. But good was hardly interesting. He wrinkled his nose. "Sure, I helped you before. But I don't know what else I can do for you now. Sounds like Olive's handling everything."
"She is." Artemis folded her arms, leaning against his desk. It was around lunch, so they were the only ones in the computer lab. And her brother was too busy at the neighboring medical center to acknowledge her suspended presence. "Penelope won't recover from what happened in time to win prom queen. Parker finally broke up with her. And he fought with Jeno about Miren. Apparently they were a thing." She shook her head as Wallace fought the urge to curse. "Or maybe he was just trying to set off Parker—either way it worked." She wrinkled her nose. "Looks like Jemma has a new recruit for her chaos committee."
"If Jeno and Miren were an item, I would have known about it," he told her, feeling more annoyed than surprised now. How did everything escalate so quickly? Furthermore, why was he missing out on everything?!
"Did you know that Penelope is a lesbian?" Artemis informed him. He gave her a baffled look. She rolled her eyes; so much for knowing everything. "That's what I think The Incident is about—Penelope was probably in love with Miren, who was in love with Parker and vice versa. Coupled with the arranged relationship her and your parents set up, there was friction that manifested in the fight during orientation between Penelope and Miren that Ms. Suarez captured on video." Artemis took a deep breath before continuing.
"Then one of the nuns probably called out Miren because duh, and then she stormed off. Parker was outside too, and must have chased after her only to trip and break his leg, which caused him to blame Miren for losing his academic scholarship for that semester, enforcing the need for him to play nice with Penelope because of your parents' business. To spite Miren and for popularity, Penelope then proceeded to play up her relationship with Parker." Artemis nodded, the only one still following along with her spiel. "But now everything's beyond fucked, so no one has any incentive to keep putting on a show."
Wallace blinked at her. Not because he was confused, but because he was disappointed. Her rationale could have been wrong, but it did seem plausible.
"You sure Penelope isn't just pulling your leg?" Wallace then said, logging off from his program. "I know she's using Chara as a lackey. Maybe you should see what she says."
"I'm done snooping around." The girl waved her hands in defense. "If you want information, you'll have to make nice with your ex." She shrugged. "But she's dating Miles now."
Wallace rolled his eyes. Of course she was. "How is he doing?"
Artemis tensed. She had no idea. Had it really been that long since he kept her company that one night in her dorm? He was a nice, stable guy—probably the best thing about Rinzen now that Wallace was gone.
She opened her mouth to repeat exactly what she had concluded mentally when her phone beeped. It was a text message with a video attachment. An anonymous number.
Anonymous: You'll want to watch this. But you better swear no one leaks it. Otherwise, it'll be on your head too.
"Artemis?" Wallace didn't look particularly impatient; but he did feel out of the loop. Which sucked more than he cared to admit. Wasn't he the one that usually created the loop?
"My brother said I should meet him for lunch," she lied, trying her best to keep her voice leveled. She tried to make sense of the little she could of the video, but all she could see was forestry shot in a type of night vision setting. "You can come too. But I need to go to the restroom first."
Wallace tried his best to size up the sudden shift in atmosphere. She was hiding something. Then again, he was in no place to judge.
"It will be down the hallway on your left," he informed her. When she was gone, he clenched his jaw.
"Yale blows."
***
The knocks on the door felt like they were coming from the inside Miren's head. She groaned as she turned toward it, waking from her sorry excuse of a slumber.
"Jesus Christ," she murmured, closing her eyes again as she heard the thing open, Cowdry's uninvited footsteps making their way inside the room.
"Miles?"
Miren's eyes would have snapped open, but she was in no mood to visually confirm what she'd heard. Nope, she was already in hell. She heard him (of course it was him) stop at her bedside, and knew this was bad. But she shouldn't have been a surprise; it wasn't like things were ever good.
"Parker," she said softly, fighting the urge to curse. She focused on the boy who was radiating with concern. "Don't you have better Sunday plans? I had to have my appendix taken out. So I'd appreciate it if you'd stop looking at me like I woke up from a coma."
"Then why are you wearing a foot cast?" He folded his arms. "And it's Monday. You weren't in class, and Cowdry told me you were at the hospital and would be discharged in the afternoon." He pointed to the clock mounted on the wall. It was a little past one. "Whatever. Come on, let's get out of here."
Miren could only blink at him. Had she really lost track of the days—herself? Was she even still friends with Parker? Did Cowdry clue him in?
The more she looked at him, the more she realized he was clueless. So she folded her arms as hard as she could to hide the...um...boobage she had under her blanket. "Alright. Could you leave so I can get dressed?"
"You sure you don't need any help?" He pointed at the cast again. "I mean, no homo, but it's okay if you do."
"I said it's fine," she pushed. "Really. Just let one of the nurses know I'm ready to be discharged." Parker narrowed his eyes at her like he knew there was more to the story. Then again, Miles wasn't an open book. With a nod, he left the room. And for the first time in forever, Miren dreaded the idea of leaving the hospital.
***
By the time Artemis reached Miles' hospital room, it was empty. She fought the urge to curse as a nurse moved pasted her. Caldwell.
"Hey," the woman said, tucking a chart under her arm. "How did everything work out with the video? Did you find what you're looking for?"
"No," Artemis snapped too quickly. "But it's my fault. I was too late."
Picking up on her foul spirits, Caldwell patted the girl's shoulder. "Then what brings you here now? Unfortunately, I don't know what more you can do here."
"I was looking for a friend, but he's already been discharged." Artemis shook her head. If only that could be the full story..."Miles Ellison. Is there any information you can give me on him?"
"Nothing that wouldn't violate his confidential records." Caldwell pursed her lips. "But I can tell you when he left." She started typing something on her tablet. "Okay, so she—I mean he—had to stay here another night under observation because he took off his heart rate monitor. He left at 1:30pm with his classmate, Parker Harisson." She offered Artemis an optimistic look. "You know the other boy?"
Artemis closed her eyes, a wave of confusion washing over her.
"I wish I didn't."