48 A Clandestine Meeting - 2

"Alright, we're here. What did you want?" Saya said haughtily. She eyed Rekka with a neutral expression on her face. It read, "I don't like the feeling of this, but I'll hear you out."

"When Macy received her device, there already was a private message from an unknown source on it," Rekka explained. "Take a look."

Rekka, Macy, Silas, and Saya were huddled together on the floor of Rekka and Macy's room. The lounged in a square formation on the rug underneath the blown glass lights that dangled like large raindrops above the table next to them. Silas wondered why it was specifically him and Saya that Rekka had asked for, and not someone else. In the light, Silas saw Macy's tattoo of the name Last Stand on her thigh in big bold ink.

Macy opened her projector with ease, as if she'd done it a thousand times already. Silas threw a glance at Saya and Rekka – were they seeing this? There was no reaction. It was only Silas who was surprised. He bit his lip, feeling an unpleasant feeling well up in the pit of his stomach, like bile eating away at his insides.

"It says," Macy said with a hint of anxiety in her voice. "That someone has a plan to get us out of RimOps and Lachlan before we get shipped out. We can escape!"

She turned the holographic projection around, redirecting it so that instead of standing like a vertical screen, she hovered it in midair, laid flat like a piece of paper on a table, face up. Silas hadn't even known that was possible. How had Macy figured it out so quickly? Silas almost forgot to read the text on its surface.

His eyes roving down the contents of the message, he landed on a particular passage as Macy scrolled down the text on the screen.

"I've been able to use my magic to intercept and briefly control these custom devices. But I can only do so at night, when Charybdis is asleep. These projectors are meant to monitor you and are secretly recording you while you talk. At the same time, if you attempt to take them off, Charybdis will also be notified. There are also hidden cameras in each of your rooms. At night, I'm able to disable them and send my messages, but when Charybdis is awake, she'll be able to see the messages through the cameras around the building. So, during the day, either avoid opening it or showing it. Or, you can just delete it."

"If this is true, that means another message should be coming soon," Silas observed. "That's also why you wanted to wait until night to show us, right?"

"Good thinking," Rekka said, approving. "But there's one thing that strikes me as odd. This mysterious benefactor mentions their magical powers. If they're able to override Charybdis' systems, then they must be extremely powerful. Which means they're a monster like her."

"Well, hopefully they're like Yona and Jayken," Saya said cheerfully. "After all, we've seen both good and bad monsters. I don't think all of them want us dead. It just seems like the majority of them do. But there's bound to be some good ones who want to keep up safe."

"It means we're not alone, not truly," Macy agreed.

"It's really depressing to think about, really," Silas admitted. He sighed, his cheeks prickling when everybody turned to look at him suddenly. He knew he would draw heads, but he was regretting it now. Still, he had no choice but to explain himself.

"Honestly, I don't really feel like it's hitting you guys yet. I mean, think about it. We're humanity's supposed last hope. Even if there are monsters that want to help us, we're facing impossible odds here. We're in a dangerous and unfamiliar world, everyone wants us dead, we have no idea who we are or what's happened to us, and we're under the monsters' control. I mean,"

Silas sighed again, stumbling on his words. He stuttered, the panic and anxiety he'd constantly been feeling flooding over him again. He'd tried to press it down, but in the end it just flared up.

"It's a lot to take in. I… I don't know what's going on," he said, his voice cracking. "I don't get why they all hate me."

Scylla's snarling face leapt out at him. It haunted him just as much as her words. She could have killed him at any time – just as she'd done to countless other humans. And Hydra, with her scheming smirk, seemed to know his every move. She had complete utter control over him. She toyed with his feelings just to prove her point. It was horrifying. Everything was so alien, yet so familiar. He felt he knew everything about this society but forgetting it all frustrated him to no end. It was like chasing the end of a rainbow.

In the end, Silas was just weak. He was physically weak, but he was mentally weak, too. He tried to distract himself by cutting off his emotions and thinking logically. What was the next step, how he could minimize the damage to himself and guarantee his safety. But in a situation that seemed so wildly out of his control, there was nothing he could do to stop the unrelenting surge of uncertainty and anxiety that was destined to inundate him.

"Like I said, people have different ways of coping," Saya replied simply as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know! I-I just… ugh. I don't know," Silas groaned. "Whatever."

"We have to stay strong," Rekka told him firmly. "We can't let our emotions get to us. We can't be burdened by our nerves. We have a responsibility to uphold, and if we're daunted by it, we'll never succeed. This is the best hope we have, though I may not like it."

"I don't believe that any of these monsters here truly want what is best for us. They're only in it for their own personal gains. But unlike the rest of society, these monsters simply hold their personal desires over any prejudice they have against us. They're not our friends, and they are not our allies. I'm hesitant to trust this source. After all, it's also very likely that it's just another organization that wants to steal us to profit off of us themselves. It's foolish to believe that they're simply going to risk it out of pure moral obligation."

"But at the same time, what choice do we have? In trying times like this, you have to make the right decision no matter what your emotions say otherwise. It's hard, but so is life."

"Thanks," Silas said. He supposed he should say thanks. If he didn't, Rekka would think he was an ingrate, refusing to believe her holy and wise advice. Or something. Silas didn't really know. Maybe tomorrow he'd be in the right mindset to consider it.

"Anyway, you should see the rest of it," Rekka continued, rotating the holographic projection so that the text was aligned in front of Silas' line of sight. Silas' eyes roved quickly down the rest of the text, though he had to back up every few sentences as he found his mind unfocusing, refusing to process the words. He read and reread the message's contents as the plan was laid out in front of him.

"RimOps only has one main exit and entrance at the same place. It's heavily guarded because this is an important and lucrative facility. There's no way you'll be able to escape through it without being spotted. Fortunately, I've observed Charybdis leaving the building through other means. She must have access to a secret passageway of some sorts. I'll be able to mimic her magical signature to open the passageway for you. All you have to do is find it."

"Most likely, the entrance to this secret passageway is in Charybdis' office. I don't know where that is, so I trust that you'll be able to create a situation that gets you into her office. There, use Saya's heightened awareness skills to sniff out a magical identification system. It should be very close nearby. Once you've scoped out her room, report to me as soon as possible my replying to this address. Make sure you don't forget it. Log it down somewhere where Charybdis won't notice.

I hope to hear from you soon. I'll message you again tomorrow,

Your secret helper."