Forti woke up in bliss. She stumbled through reality, head still in the clouds with thoughts of Riel, of Vasi being alive, until she visited the hospital with her brother after breakfast, and a figurative tub of freezing water was doused over her head.

Her mother rubbed her arm soothingly, sitting by the bedside while Forti stood over her sleeping sister, dripping in cold sobriety. They observed Vasi’s breathing together.

Rise and fall. Rise and fall.

She’s alive, Forti tried to convince herself.

“We have to believe,” her mother said, tired but reassuring. Her father was watching owlishly from a corner chair. “Keep talking with Vasi and trying the triggers from time to time. All we can do is wait.” 

Forti didn’t want to wait.

I won’t let her wait.

Unable to afford caring about others, Forti receded from the few friends she had for the remainder of the school year, drowning herself with school work although it gave her all sorts of attacks in the night. Her only concern was how to acquire the mind reader as she ghosted the halls, planning in her lunch breaks, in her daydreams, in her talks with Riel. 

She researched clearances and permissions, all prohibited or unavailable, but one glance at her family’s faces hovering by Vasi was all it took to investigate illegal means. 

Deodunge might have a distributor.

Its black market infamy was outrageous. Articles complaining about the land churned daily, rivaling gossip magazines in frequency and malevolence, and Forti devoured them for a hint, a taste of how to contact a seller or be a part of the underworld. 

It was futile. 

The research journals and bitter opinion pieces about the stain of Ganmecria, how everything wrong in the country began and ended there, offered little helpful information. Deodunge’s history was fascinating, however. 

Built on a remnant of a fort used long ago, it was a strategic location that can access and be accessed anywhere else in the country. After the Diamond Wars, displaced people of all species settled there, and though at first it flourished, whether by government negligence or human folly, the city sunk into the outlaw anarchical state it was today. 

Forti broke away from the fifth analytical paper repeating Deodunge’s origins before it dissected the rifts in illegal finance between species, catching herself before she slipped further down the rabbit hole. She couldn’t trust they would land her the knowledge she needed anymore, not when most of the authors haven’t lived there, none being from there. 

 The first month of summer passed like water dripping from a leaking faucet into a void.

It was a warm Friday noon when the letter about Vasi’s result arrived. ValorA somehow found out Vasi was alive and promised when she awoke, she had a spot. With Wyver, Forti showed it to their parents, who mustered smiles to tell Vasi she did it. She got in. 

Vasi continued sleeping.

When the siblings came back home, Forti confronted her brother, finally recalling what Rongyae had said.

“I can’t tell you the specifics if you’re going to get tested too,” Wyver admitted hesitantly.

“That’s fine.” Forti believed he didn’t mention it because of academic integrity. “Will they be sending an email about when I have to go to the school?”

Wyver looked away.

“You’ll find out. I can’t tell you much, Forti.”

Forti stopped pushing any further. Nothing could pressure Wyver if he didn’t want to say anything. He was an immovable object when it came to secrecy, and he had very few secrets to begin with.

He was the most stubborn person Forti knew in this regard, with the potential exception of their father, so she reasoned ValorA instructed him not to tell a soul given the confidentiality and exclusivity of this exam. She shouldn’t even have known it was drawing near, only finding out because of Rongyae.

“Want to come with me for grocery shopping?” Forti asked while putting her shoes on. Wyver shook his head no, heading back to their room.

“Good luck,” he said, like a farewell. Forti was already out the door.

When she returned, Wyver was gone. He texted that he was going out to hang with his buddies while she was grabbing cookies in the snack aisle. It was rare for her to be all alone at home. After putting away the groceries, Forti walked around like it was an open house and she was seeing all the rooms for the first time. After summer break ends, she’ll be in her last tertiary year, enthused as she could be considering everything that had happened, and then she’ll go into Gradus and move out to a dorm to pursue a specialization.

The doorbell rang mid-afternoon. Forti looked up from her strategy computer game, knowing whoever it was was not her family. Padding to the front door, she saw the security screen displayed an old man standing at the entrance. 

He wore a worn, gray sweater over a white button-down with a moldy green tie tucked inside. His left hand gripped a black, leather bowling bag. He looked friendly, but as if perceiving Forti’s presence, stared straight into the camera and Forti jumped.

“Fortien Daetar,” his old voice rumbled. “I come from ValorA to proctor your exam.”

There was something off about him, like a dead pixel on a screen. A furniture piece an inch out of place.

Forti grabbed her phone, deliberating to call her parents or the police. The old man stopped peering into the camera, facing boredly at the door, and she wondered why the elderly man was convinced that she was home.

She called ValorA.

An automated message resounded, asking whether the caller would like to chat with an AI or contact a person through call or video. Forti demanded video, giving consent to be recorded for safety and quality assurance.

A neutral face appeared on Forti’s phone screen.

“Hello, you have reached Valor Academy. My name is Homli, how may I help you?”

“Hi Mir. Homli, a person has arrived at my house saying he came to proctor an exam for me from ValorA. Could you confirm if this is true?”

“I can go check. Can you give me your name please?”

“Fortien Daetar.”
“Thank you Mir. Daetaer. I will be putting you on hold now to ask.”

Mir. Homli’s screen transitioned to a gif of the ValorA coat of arms. 

A stag with a sword resting on its antlers, a catfox with a wreath of flowers and fruit upon its head, and an ape with a crown approached the barren crest to take their places while symbolic heraldry designs flourished and unfurled all over. At the end of the moving artistic rendition was the final brilliant symbol of the distinguished interdimensional school. The gif smoothly started over. 

Forti kept an eye on the monitor. The man was still there, readjusting his hold on his bag. It seemed awfully heavy.

“Thank you for your patience, Mir. Daetaer,” Mir. Homli reappeared. “Can you tell me the name of the proctor at your house?”

“No, he didn’t tell me.”

Someone seemed to be talking with Mir. Homli in the background and out of sight. Forti couldn’t catch their words.

“Is he wearing a… gray sweater?” Mir. Homli asked. “With a… gray tie? I’m sorry, I mean green tie. Is he wearing a gray sweater with a green tie? If you can, could you please show me what he looks like?”
Forti switched her camera to show the monitor as she said, “Yes, he is wearing a gray sweater and green tie.”

“She said yes. Is that him?…” Forti only saw Mir. Homli, so whoever she was speaking with must be watching from somewhere or on something else. 

“Forti, that individual is indeed a proctor from our school. His name is Yrothocles. I’m told he should be carrying a large black bag with him and it seems like he is.”

“Yes, I saw it, too. He is carrying a black bag.”

“Wonderful. He is a proctor from our school. We’re very sorry for this– Er–” There was scuffling, the screen zipped to a woman with hair tidily rolled in a low bun, and a new voice emerged. 

“Mir. Daetaer?”

“Yes.”

Forti switched the camera back on herself.

“Hello, Mir. Daetaer. This is Bes Gabrilon, the dean of admissions of Valor Academy. We apologize for this unconventional arrangement for your exam, and for the situation with your sister. As written in our letter to you and your family, we pledge that when she wakes up, we will admit her in our school, and Valor Academy always honors its vows.”

“Thank you.”

“Yrothocles will explain your test procedure and everything that follows. He’s a peculiar person and we’re aware this method of examination does seem uncustomary, but we assure you that it’s admissible and has been done before. We appreciate your understanding, as this was the only way we could administer it.”

There’s definitely tons of other ways they could have tested me than coming uninvited to my house. 

Rongyae’s face surfaced in Forti’s mind.

ValorA is really weird. Did the same thing happen to Wibby? Why wouldn’t he talk about this? Did he at least tell mom and dad that someone came to our house?

Yet she was overwhelmed with a foreboding feeling that she won’t be telling her parents either. Something about this situation padlocked the need to report that a stranger entered her home, and it left a bad taste in her mouth. 

“Thank you Mir. Gabrilon. I will then be allowing the proctor into my home now as you have confirmed his identity. Have a good day.”

“You as well, Mir. Daetaer. Good luck.”