Oka arrived right as Kalei left, not even saying a word as she went after Aira.

“Where’s she going?” Oka asked when she got to me. Penteldtam was still tuning up, so everyone around us started chatting, not bothering to whisper anymore.

“Aira just skipped out on this with someone, so Kalei’s investigating.”

“Huh,” Oka said. “With who? That sounds juicy.”

“With Syval,” I said.

“Oh…” She became seventy-eight percent less interested.

“You wanna sit?” I asked.

Oka noticed that I had my winter gloves on because of how freaking cold the auditorium was, and daintily took my hand.

“Why, little miss Zeta Faleur,” Oka said, putting on an accent. “I’m charmed you’d extend such an invitation my way.”

“Of course, darlin',” I said, trying my own fancy sounding accent. “I’m delighted to finally make your acquaintance.”

We giggled our way into another silly scenario where we were aristocrats from a hundred years prior.

I was maybe less worried than I should have been about the storm, mainly because I was riding the high of my beach getaway with Oka. It was hard to be too concerned about a void storm when I could just think about my girlfriend’s boobs.

That said, even the amazing things I could now daydream about more clearly would still be interrupted by life. Since waking up I had gotten about a hundred texts from Stella, checking in on me to make sure I didn’t get thrown into the void. It was kind of weird to be on the receiving end of a panicked series of check-in texts. I was expecting another when my phone buzzed, but it was from Tik Moonheart.

“Mars and Kara will be arriving shortly, we would like your assistance.”

I showed Oka my phone as Principal Penteldtam continued to attempt to tune his guitar. Sure enough, Mars and Kara arrived in the auditorium, finding us quickly.  

“Could we borrow you for just a sec?” Mars asked. “Hopefully won’t take long.”

“Can I come with?” Oka asked.

“Course,” Kara nodded.

When we were out in the hallway, the two explained what was up.

“Got a lead on your mom,” Mars said. “And that’s not a ‘your mom’ joke or anything.”

“Didn’t have to add that last part,” Kara said.

“I wanted to be clear!”

I surprisingly didn’t start yelping and freaking out immediately. Nor did I when Kara explained that my mom was seen on campus, bringing Caeda Firae to a cave on the beach. I don't know what my mother was doing, especially not so close to me, or why she was with Caeda of all people. I felt more guilty than afraid for some reason. I hated feeling responsible for it even if I had nothing to do with my mother's machinations.

I thought we’d head to Tik’s on campus office, but instead we went to a different repurposed classroom, one filled with Kitty Kilander merch. Stella and Tik were at the front of the class, along with Caya, Kitty, and Ms. Corinani. Oka and I weren’t the only students present, as Roux was already seated.

“The storm’s getting close,” Caya said. “I’ll try to make this quick.”

I felt like I'd somehow gotten involved with some secret spy agency as I sat with Oka with a row of teachers stood before us.

"Question!” Oka said, raising her hand. “Why are we meeting in the storage room with all the Kitty…paraphernalia?" She gestured to all the Kitty shirts, standees, posters, and other junk around the room, half filling the classroom. It was a bit unsettling seeing all the Kitty standees with vacant open mouth smiles looking like they were staring at me. I wondered if they were leftovers from Kitty's failed ‘KITTYWORLD’ project or if she was really ambitious about selling stuff to us.

"That's Kitty Kilander merch," Kitty said, one of the few adults in the room seated, arms crossed as she rocked her desk with a single foot, the air of someone who wished they were anywhere else. "And this is one of my many offices on campus."

"This one is actually the spot I've been using as my office," Ms. Corinani said. "I've been hoping we could take some of this...lovely merch and sell it? Get it out of here?"

"And I've been hoping you'd shut up and stop asking," Kitty said.

Just as I wondered where Dr. Diast was, she arrived with two cardboard trays in hand, each with four cups of coffee or coffee-type drinks on them.

“Sorry I’m late,” Diast said. “That place on fourth street runs a void storm discount day, so I figured we could all use…” She spotted us. “Dang, full house here. Forgot to get you guys something, too.”

“We’ll be alright,” I said.

“Having wasted enough time already, let’s move on," Caya said after Diast handed out the drinks to the other teachers and faculty. “Octa Kathron has been in touch with one of our students. We were finally able to question said student recently.”

"We persuaded Caeda into telling us where her next meetup with Octa Kathron would be," Mars said.

"Like torture?" Roux said. "Torturing Caeda Firae for info? That'd be pretty cool."

"Nah, you can get a lot out of a person just by being a chill dude,” Mars said.

“The Taramin labs have been moving locations recently, almost randomly,” Tik said. “As Octa Kathron is connected with them, her path has been hard to track.”

“We’re just gonna have some words with her,” Kara said.

I bit the inside of my cheek. It started to dawn on me that I could encounter my mother again. The last time I saw her was through some void vision while I was shapeshifted into a cat, but the time before that she and Dad had me tied up and injected with some substance that caused beast tendency, trying to summon an ancient goddess called Endora by turning me into a monster. Try as I might, thinking about Oka only kind of blocked the panic of that out.

But maybe we could finally figure out just what she was doing. And put a stop to it.

“After recent attempts, I've been hesitant to bringing students along, but I can't deny I could use the backup,” Caya said. “We’ll be returning to the beachside caves to further investigate a strange spot that Roux had brought to our attention.”

“Question, what’s to stop Caeda from blabbing to Zeta’s—or 'Zates' as Koridia refers to her—mom about this?” Roux asked. “If these Taramin people are moving around, they might already be gone again.”

“We planned for Caeda,” Mars said.

Roux gasped. “You did torture her!”

“We didn’t!” Kara said. “Mars got it out of her just by talking. Caeda Firae probably doesn’t have any idea that we even caught anything about when and where her meeting is.”

“Probably,” Roux said, sounding none too convinced. “Follow up question. Taramin Industries practically owns this school, don’t they? This sounds like a recipe for a fruitless fruit salad. Because it’s fruitless as in doomed to failure.”

Berin stepped forward for this. “That metaphor aside, it’s…complicated. Taramin Industries is a massive corporation, one heavily tied to the Kilanders, yes, but I’ve never spoken to anyone from the labs. It’d take a long while to explain the various ways our school and family is tied up with the Kilanders,” He sighed, looking like he wanted to say more before he sat down.

“At some point we’ll have a long talk about things of that nature,” Caya said. “For now, the mission. As for Berin, Kitty, and Corinani—"

“Finally talking about something interesting, oh my goddddd,” Kitty said. “What am I doing in this, huh? What's the star player doing? Want to send me to a moon? I'll go to a moon, I've been to space. And void space. Is it void space?"

“You, and Berin are staying here and watching over the talent show,” Caya said.

"Clearly, the talent show will be the most dangerous," Corinani said.

"Wait, nuh uh!" Kitty said. She made a buzzer noise five times in a row. "You're benching me for the baby hour?"

"I don't remember you being trustworthy enough to lead your own team," Caya said. "And we need a strong fighter at the school in case any incidents occur while I’m away.”

“Um,” I raised my hand. “One other thing, we all know there’s a void storm coming, right? Like some forecasts said it started already?”

“We’re aware,” Stella said. She clenched her jaw. I knew she was nervous about that, but I wanted the rest of the team to keep it in mind.

“We’re operating on a hope that our mission can be finished quickly and efficiently to avoid the worst of the storm,” Tik said.

"Any weather event in the void tends to be a striking point for Wildfire Hearts, but we haven't heard any chatter about raids this time," Caya said.

"Ah, that brings me back to that raid I pulled on you in fall," Kitty said wistfully. "Good times, good times."

"Remind me why we all just kind of ignored that and let this washed up hag hang around us?" Roux said.

“Excuse me?” Kitty asked. “What did you just call me?”

Roux didn’t flinch as Kitty stood up. Berin somehow got her to sit back down.

"We didn't really have a choice," Oka said.

"She did rescue me that one time," I said. When my parents had me, somehow Kitty was one of the people to save me. I wasn't exactly overwhelmingly grateful for it; it more just pulled her to neutral status.

“Who knows what side I’m really on?” Kitty giggled. "Maybe I'll try something like that again sometime."

"See? That's why you're not coming with," Caya said. "And why Berin is staying with you so you don't pull any stunt like that again."

"Mr. Benta IV will also be present at the talent show, so as much school leadership as possible present would be nice, I think," Berin said.

"What...ever," Kitty rolled her eyes.

I was surprisingly alright with this mission. I was still riding the high of my beach escapade with Oka, so maybe that was dulling my anxious nature a bit.

“No matter what happens, we'll have lots of fun dates and hangouts!" Oka said. "We should right away when we get back! Well, provided this doesn’t go super badly.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t,” Kara said. As she loomed over us with her arms crossed, it struck me that I was very glad she was on our side. She nodded back to Stella, Diast, Tik, and Mars. "You all ready?"

I looked to Oka. “Ready.”

Before we left, Berin pulled Oka aside for a hug.

"Stay safe, alright?" Berin said.

"I will," Oka said.

“We’ll all get a nice dinner after this,” Berin said.

I told myself that Berin was right, even if the tendrils of worry in the corners of my mind said otherwise.