Young Writers Society

Nadira glanced down at her leg.

"I...I should be," she hesitantly replied. "I have Charlie to help me walk, and we'll hopefully find a robot soon. We just need to get to where Thytes is, and then Codix, Charlie and I can sneak off to find a robot."

"I'm stronger than I look," Charlie optimistically said, even though all of her friends knew just how physically weak she was.


"I can't find her," Télos said, scanning the room. He felt a jolt of fear. He barely knew her, but she reminded him far too much of the teenagers that he did know. And if one person had almost been kidnapped already, wasn't there a chance that something similar could have happened to her, too?

Enide had some doubts about Charlie's strength, if only because Charlie appeared to be the most ordinary of her friends. But Enide had been wrong plenty of times before, and Nadira looked (sort of) comfortable enough with their situation that Enide wasn't going to question it. And questioning it would waste time, anyhow.

"Lead the way," Enide said, waving Charlie and Nadira off.



Oh dear. If a god couldn't find Charlie, that couldn't mean anything good.

"Could you give us some time?" Thytes said to Lark and Arden. "We appear to be having some, uh, difficulties."

"How can I help?"

Carter couldn't help but laughing at the statement. He didn't need help. And he definitely didn't need his brain to be fried by some cute alien trying to meddle around in his circuit board.

"Avi, just stay on the line so I can follow your voice out."

He laid back on the floor and started pushing the clouds out of his mind.

-----

Flynn surveyed the scene with a hell of a lot of doubt.

"This won't be working out."

Alright, he muttered and closed his eyes to focus more. Shall I keep talking?

"Shut up," he hissed to the man talking beside him. "I need to focus."

* * *

Jacek side-eyed the fanged woman and Arden, then glanced towards the gold-clad man. "I need to find Avi," he said, and sighed. "He's the Royal Consort of my planet, and if we lose him, we also lose the--" He cut himself off and looked away.

"Lose the what, pretty one?" the woman purred and Jacek shook his head, lips pressed together in a thin line. "You're not going to tell me? Pity. I was so looking forward to enjoying you both."

Charlie and Nadira began the awkward travel from the bathroom stall to the door, struggling to get through the stall's doorway and through the doorway to the bathroom itself. Charlie wished she was stronger, but there was nothing she could do about it now - she would just have to hope that she wasn't going to be too sore the next day.

Behind her, Codix started to direct Enide and Tannis to the door, his task probably far easier than her own - he had muscles she could only dream of right now.


Télos, who knew he should be watching for Charlie and his other friends, couldn't help but pay attention to the conversation going on between the others. The title and the response were enough for him to put it together: someone was pregnant.

But even though he was curious, he tore his attention away. He really had to find-

There, coming out of what had to be the bathroom! He eagerly waved a hand when he saw Charlie emerge with the woman from the drinks table. He even added a little jump to his wave, just in case she couldn't see him. Charlie froze for a moment when she noticed him, but then struggled to free a hand and wave back.

"I'll be right back," Télos said, leaving the group to go to Charlie's side instead. Once there, he asked, "Do you need some help?"

Charlie and the woman looked at each other - something told him there was a little more going on than the woman being injured. But then Charlie gave a relieved smile and a nod, and Télos easily supported the woman on the other side.

"I cannot say I am a particular fan of your idea of enjoyment," Thytes said. It was bad enough being around someone who wanted to bite him; standing next to someone who'd been kidnapped by that person, and who needed to protect who Thytes guessed was a pregnant royal, sent chills down his spine.

So the lion's heart skipped a beat when Télos ran off, and skipped another beat when he saw where Télos was going to. The god and Charlie were holding up some injured lady, followed by Enide, Tannis, and one of the many humans that Thytes had seen at this masquerade. Likely due to the god's sword, not to mention Tannis's size, most of the crowd seemed content to leave them alone. Poor Tannis was almost certainly drunk, though - he kept stumbling across the masquerade floor.

Well, the others had the situation under control, and Thytes couldn't carry someone in these heels. Still, he had no idea where Mal was, didn't want to see Lark's former captive, and he wasn't sure if Lark and Arden would be happy to let such a large group accompany them. None of which settled well with him.



"What won't work out?" Mal hissed, then turned over to the man who'd pressed a hand on Carter's head. "And what are you doing?"

Shall I keep talking?

Carter listened to Avi's gentle voice as he walked along. He let the question stew in his brain for awhile and tried to decide what the best thing to do would be. The best scenario would involve absolutely no one getting hurt. But the second best scenario would involve only Carter getting hurt.

Based on the vibrations he could feel from the outside, Carter decided he might need to sacrifice a bit of himself.

-----

Outside, Flynn was looking at the lion who had offered medical aid, trying to decide how to answer the question. He managed to keep a straight face while slyly saying, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"You're really going to have to be more specific," Mal said, crossing his arms. "This whole place is a bad feeling."

It was long before the two trios arrived where Thytes was standing. A glance over, and it was clear that Nadira was trying her hardest not to act like she recognized Thytes. Codix seemed to be having the same trouble - a smile was threatening to break free, even though he was trying to move someone who probably smelled strongly of alcohol.

"Hi, Thytes," Charlie said, her voice a little strained after trying to hold Nadira up for the past few minutes.

"If you want to talk to Thytes, I can keep her up on my own," Télos suddenly offered. Charlie shared a nervous glance with Nadira, but Nadira's expression revealed that she was alright with that.

"Thanks," Charlie said, giving him a shy smile before rushing over to Thytes. Thytes was bound to ask what was going on, and she had to try to avoid that situation. It was her duty as Nadira and Codix's friends. Looking up at the lion, she hesitantly said, "Could...Could we talk about something? Privately?"

Looking back at Lark and Arden, Thytes said, "Would you excuse me just a second?"

Without waiting for a response, he took a few steps away from the group. Not exactly the most private setting, but between the screaming and the injured people in the group (ugh, where had Mal gone off to?) needing some attention, Thytes felt like it would be good enough. Besides, everyone had just gotten together; he wasn't about to let them split up again.

"What would you like to talk about?" he said as Charlie approached.

Avi frowned but didn't open his eyes, keeping his focus on Carter. He knew the risks for prolonged telepathic communication with someone, especially while pregnant, but he needed to take the risk. He knew it could form a bond and that he'd just recently had one broken--quite violently--but he needed to help Carter.

"I am communicating telepathically with Carter," Avi said distractedly, keeping up a telepathic commentary on what was happening in the ballroom--which was essentially chaos--and on what may or may not be happening with the ship. Avi suspected sabotage, but he couldn't be sure until Jacek was back and he was at one of the ship's computers. "So I would appreciate it if you let me concentrate because this is a....delicate balance I'm trying to maintain here."

Mal had no idea what Avi was talking about, but Avi sounded like he knew what he was doing, Flynn hadn't told Avi to leave, and the idea that someone, somehow, could talk to Carter was reassuring.

Turning from Avi to Flynn, Mal shrugged. "Sorry," he mouthed. The lion didn't like being upstaged, but it would've been better if he could've helped Carter at all.

Charlie nervously glanced at the group. She took a deep breath - she didn't want to speak too loudly for fear of being overheard, but she also didn't want to be too soft.

"You...um..." She took another deep breath. "You know John and Emma. John is Codix, and Emma is Nadira."

Looking over at the people in question, Thytes blinked. A few seconds later, he flinced like the realization had just smacked him in the face, his eyes darting back to Charlie.

"Oh," he whispered. "Why are they trying to hide their identities? Do they recognize me? Should I say anything to them, or is my being in the proximity a danger to them?"