~Camari~

              "Wow, Cam," Orion said, staring at my new phone with awe, "that's so cool!" Waverly flipped her hair at me and laughed at his wide eyes as he stared at it.

               "When you said your parents bought you a new phone, you kind of forgot to tell us the part about it being the newest model." Waverly waved her hands in the air dramatically, pausing to take a breath, "then again, what else could you expect from our 'drama Queen'?" Zoë rolled her eyes at me, agreeing with Waverly, and shouldered her bag.

               "You say, drama queen, I say snotty brat." Zoë says with a shrug, "Same thing to me."

               "Don't be jelly just 'cause you have a phone from the 1800s," I replied, sliding my phone into my jacket pocket. Zoë shoved my shoulder, sticking her tongue out at me playfully as she shouldered her backpack.

               "You moron, phones weren't a thing in the 1800s." Zoë fired back, rolling her eyes at me.

               "I know I know, don't be so uptight all the time, girl," I said, laughing.

We kept walking down the corridor, occasionally fixing up our jackets but mostly just talking. Waverly sighed, rubbing her eyelids as they fluttered to a close.

               "I should have slept more last night; early morning tests and late-night parties don't mix well. Combine that with being sore from my shopping spree, it just makes me need a long nap." Orion poked her shoulder, gaining her attention as he quickly activated his ability.

               "You know I could always heal any soreness you have in your body; all you have to do is ask." The glow from his eyes shone onto her earrings and made them glow a warm blue colour, a beautiful tone to compliment her dark brown hair. Waverly rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair.

               "And I know, Ori, but every time you do that, it takes energy out of you. And you have a quiz next period, so you'll need all of your energy to be focused." She said with a soft smile, as most people did with Ori. "Don't worry about me; I'm just ranting." Orion sighed thoughtfully, then closed his eyes to deactivate. I stretched out my arms as we turned the corner.

              "I'm so tired today," I whined, "I want to go home-"

Zoe rolled her eyes at me and stopped in her tracks, forcing us to stop as well.

               "You're such a baby sometimes Cam, just suck it up like the rest of us a-" Her phone buzzed in her pocket, cutting her off. I stuck my tongue out at her, and she pulled out her phone, her eyes widened at the number, and then she put her hand over the screen. "I have to take this, be right back. Wait for me, alright?" She asked and walked away, turning the corner and heading into the girl's washroom while someone over the phone babbled away.

Typically, we weren't supposed to have our phones out in between breaks.

But rules can be bent depending on your status, so having the Queen, myself, and top-ranking Princess (also known as the moody princess Zo-Zo) sort of makes it difficult for teachers or students to rat us out and teachers to tell us off, they're mostly afraid of us.

The three of us sauntered over to wait in front of the girl's bathroom, Orion standing the furthest away. Students passed us by in the hallways, most discussing their interests, all shying away from the area once they saw the three of us.

We waited a good five minutes before Orion cleared his throat worriedly,

               "She's been in there for a little bit, do one of you want to go check on her?" I nodded, and Waverly laughed at his red cheeks as he looked towards the female washroom.

               "Ori, I'll hold the door open so that we can talk, but don't come in, alright?"

I held a finger to my mouth, a symbol to be quiet and then counted down on my fingers — a quick signal to tell Waverly and Ori to be quiet.

Three, two, one.

               "SURPRISE!" I yelled and threw open the door. Waverly laughed and held it open; then, we turned towards Zoe.

Oh no...

She was frozen, her hand still to her phone even as the person kept talking. Her eyes were wide and unmoving, and she looked like she had just seen a ghost. I rushed forward, ready to support her if she fell.

               "ZOE! What happened?" Waverly yelled, close behind me. She grabbed Zoe's hand, and I tried grabbing the phone from her grasp, but to my shock, she didn't put up a fight.

Her hand remained right where it was and with her mouth closing and opening slowly. She collapsed onto the floor, still holding her hand by her ear, her body leaning heavily on Waverly. Zoe looked like she was about to faint, her skin had turned colourless.

The person on the other line hung up, but I clicked the button to call again without a second thought. I held it up to my ear, and it rang precisely once before I heard a voice over the phone, which in one simple sentence shattered my heart.

               "911, what's your emergency?"

~Quinley~

I sighed as I walked around the mall, letting my arms swing freely. It was my free period, finally, and school rules let you go off campus during that time. This is what I looked forward to all day.

Fortunately for me, I had some shopping to do and didn't have time to do after school, this was the perfect opportunity.

I walked by a store full of TV's, all on the same channel. A lady with bright pink hair and dark skin held up her cards, and I stopped for a second to listen.

               "Last Saturday, another Black Ace victim was spotted outside The Morgan Fields Art Museum. The victim, whose name has not been released to the public yet, had multiple stab wounds and was lying on a deck of cards as most other murders by this local gang. Authorities released a statement shortly after the incident..." She droned on as I furrowed my brow.

This might have been the sixth time I'd heard about Black Ace, the gang that had popped up about two or three months ago, they have been on a rampage of sorts for a while now. Most gangs dissolved when the authorities put immediate pressure on them, as most authority figures were high-level C-Tiers or above. But it was odd to hear about something like this for a while now.

What was going on?

I shrugged it off and kept walking. When the government wants to control someone, they do, so maybe one measly gang just wasn't enough to kickstart the full power of the authorities.

And trust me,

I know what it means to be under control by the authorities.