Year Six- Chapter 50- The Tides

Theta watched as Koschei strode over to the nearest seat, the one directly in front of the inquisitors. There was no hesitation in the older boy's steps, and his air of confidence was infectious; even shy Theta was sure that he could speak to these imposing figures with ease. He sat next to Koschei, placing his hands in his own lap and nodding politely.

"Hello," Koschei said, leaning back in his chair. "Is this about the screens?"

Theta struggled not to give his compatriot a sideways glance. The question felt too pointed, too all-knowing. Instead, Theta kicked him under the table. The kick was then returned twice as hard by Koschei.

Promptly, the door opened behind them with the noise of straining wood, and Ushas walked in, her curly hair a bit of a mess, and her uniform askew. Koschei knew that it had been her free period, so she was probably messing with chemicals before-hand, wearing something far more comfortable than the high-collared, starched shirt and pleated skirt she was required to wear while attending classes. Koschei grinned just thinking of the look on her face when she was told she had to come. And she was probably also pissed about his response to her message, which implied that she would be the one to slip up. It was untrue, but he liked pestering Ushas when he could.

"What is this about?" Ushas asked, trying to force a smile to her face. Theta could see she was trying a different strategy than Koschei. She was trying to seem innocent, but he himself was unsure what part to play.

"Sit down, Lady Rani," one of the questioners demanded.

The girl, holding back her grumbling, sat on Koschei's left side and crossed her arms.

"Listen, I'm working with very sensitive chemicals that have to be checked every hour on the hour, and I would hope that you appreciate the dormitories not exploding."

"Ushas!" Theta hissed, glaring at her.

"Tell me," the man sitting across from Koschei started, "about what you were doing last night."

"This is about the screens." Ushas sounded aggravated. "Listen, I heard about that, and I'm sorry to tell you, but I don't care. I have nothing to do with all this. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to check the-"

"Sit down, Imassa," a woman on the board demanded.

"Okay, let me lay this out for you," the girl began. She was standing, her hands against the back of the chair she had been sitting in. Her eyes were narrowed. "Answer me a question: what time was the system hacked?"

"I don't believe that information pertains-"

"It was after classes, right before the cafeteria closed, I'm assuming, and since people started pouring back into the dorm at around 1900, I'll say it happened around 1800. Sounds good. Now, I was in my room, since I have a project for Borusa I've been intending to finish—the project that involves me checking my chemicals hourly, which, due to my class schedule, I do at the start of every hour. Could I hack the school's projection system from my room? No. Also, I'm a chemist, not a tech specialist. I have no idea how to do much more than repair simple message boxes. You can ask Professor Ochua, I almost failed her wiring class in my third year. I would have no reason to do this. Not to mention that my roommate, my friend, was hurt by this. I wasn't part of this, but if you find out who was, let me know, because I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. What that person did was stupid—spreading information without helping synthesize it is one of the easiest ways to create misinformation." Ushas ended her speech and tilted her head to the side.

"Fetch Borusa," the man in front of Koschei ordered to the woman Ushas had been preaching to.

The Time-Lady got to her feet and walked out of the room. When she came back after a few moments, she brought in the Deca's teacher, whose expression was entirely unreadable.

"Borusa," the leader addressed, "do you have Ushas Imassa working on a project for you?"

"Yes. It requires a lot of her, but I knew that she was willing to sacrifice her little free-time to learn more. Is that the only reason you called me in, Lord Aspirer?"

"Yes. Please return to the library while we continue with the last of the examinations here."

Theta turned to Koschei, shocked. He assumed that they meant the last of the Deca to be questioned, and that meant that, had any one of them given up information, they could very well be walking into a trap. The younger boy's heart-rate began skyrocketing the moment her remembered Mortimus. He would not hesitate to give up Theta, since he hated the younger boy so much. Though he was not involved in the production of the film, that did not mean that he knew nothing about what occurred, and rooming with Rallon meant that he assuredly had a knowledge of who was involved with the hacking,

As Borusa left, Ushas sighed, and looked at the panel, her act never once failing her.

"You are free to go, Lady Rani," the Aspirer said.

Ushas nodded deeply. "Thank you," she said before turning around and walking out of the classroom, leaving just to the two boys there, apparently the last two members of the elite students to go.

While Theta was nearly shaking with nervousness, Koschei became more determined that they were safe, that their actions had been untraceable. They had let Ushas go, and if they had any information at all, any scrap of knowledge, they would have known that she was involved, that she was the cog which the Deca revolved around infallibly.

"Lord Aspirer," Koschei addressed, putting his hands on the table. If there was one thing he learned from his father, it was that he should strike the moment he sensed that he had the upper hand in this verbal battle. He would not be beaten; he would not be taken for a fool.

"I, like Ushas, have a specialty that has nothing to do with what happened here. Borusa may have told you that I've been studying politics for seven years now, and I can tell you that what this person did was a political disaster. It was unwise to expose oneself by trying to spread information in such an obvious way. The pro-"

"Do not fool around with us, boy," the Time-Lady said, her gaze chilling as she met Koschei's. "One of your fellow students has declared that the two of you committed the act."

"Who?" Koschei demanded, his cockiness vanishing in an instant, replaced with quaint nothingness. His face no longer held any emotion, and his blue eyes became unreadable.

"It does not matter. What does matter is that we plan to remove you from the Academy-"

"No," Theta said, shaking his head. "Please! No!"

"Theta," Koschei warned, trying to shut his roommate up. "Who told you that?" When there was no immediate response, Koschei straightened his back and made contact with the four adults in the room that sat on the other side of the table. Theta shook his head, trying to figure his own way out of the situation, only to look to the side in time to see Koschei's blue eyes become rimmed in gold as he delved into the minds of those questioning them.

"Who knows what you know?"

"The student before you told us," one woman stuttered, her expression slack.

"Koschei what are you doing?" Theta asked. He had never seen Koschei force information out of someone with his power before, and it frightened the boy.

"So you told no one after he left, and you called us in?"

"Lord Borusa knows," the Aspirer said.

"Now, tell me who said Theta and I hacked the projection system."

Koschei was standing now. A smirk stretched across his face. His fingers gripped the table in front of his so tightly that he could feel his bones groaning under the strain. He felt his nose run. He wiped away at it with the back of his hand, barely noticing the red out of the corner of his eyes as he put the hand down.

"Koschei," Theta said, placing a tentative hand onto the older boy's shoulder. Though the older boy didn't seem to realise that his nose was pouring blood, the younger was greatly disturbed.

The politician's son, ever aloof, barely noticed his stomach heaving as he tried to maintain his hold over the four adults, each with their own considerable willpower. He knew that he was running out of time to save Theta, but he also didn't want to relinquish his hold. There was such power in his position. He could do whatever he wanted. He could turn the people before him into babbling children. He could erase every memory they ever had. He could—

"Koschei!"

He could make them go and kill Theta's father. He could make them into his own personal slaves. He could have them kill themselves. He could kill them himself.

"Koschei Mekail!"

"You will declare that no one in the Deca committed the crime," Koschei said, tasting blood in his mouth which signalled him reaching the limits of his control.

After that, his eyes returned to normal, and he got to his feet.

"Come on, Theta, they'll come back to their senses on their own in a few minutes."

The boy rose up as well, too shocked to argue, and followed numbly as Koschei walked to the door. Theta stopped him as he reached for the handle and turned his friend around. Silently, he used his sleeve to wipe away the blood on Koschei's face as best as he could. Koschei nodded his thanks and walked out into the library, his thoughts obviously not on the present.

"Boys," Borusa addressed, walking up. "What did they tell you?"

"They told me that the person before us ratted me out. Who was before us?"

"I wasn't here then," their teacher said honestly. "I have no idea. Why did they let you out? Are you going to pack your things?"

"No. I gave them a convincing argument. You can have your classroom back."

Koschei stomach heaved again, and he bit back a gag. He was not going to become a slave to his body. He could control himself. He balled his hands into fists and walked out of the building, hardly noticing that Theta was trying to eke a comment from him.

Though there was a class that Koschei was supposed to be at, he did not remember where it was, nor did he remember which class it even was; he was trying to keep his body in check and keep his anger caged until he got to his room. On the way to the dormitories, Theta scampered behind his friend, trying not to look remarkably suspicious.

When the two entered their shared room, Theta braced for the outpour that was going to fill the silence.

The door shut, and Koschei was already programming a message box.

"I'm going to kill 'em. I'm going to find out and-"

"Koschei, you need to calm down."

"Gonna rip them limb from limb. They're going to regret ever crossing you."

"Koschei, your nose is bleeding again."

Koschei flung his message box out the window and slammed it shut. He turned back to his roommate, fury in his eyes. But suddenly, the look dissipated as the boy gagged. He crouched down and grabbed a trash bin just in time to start vomiting blood into the basket.

Theta hurried over and tried to keep Koschei's hair out of his eyes, which were watering now.

"You pushed it too far," Theta whispered.

"I didn't find out who it was," Koschei manage to croak out raggedly.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard. Your body can't take it."

Koschei was going to respond with a barbed comment, but he was shut up as the next wave of blood came rushing up his throat.

Next chapter: The Tides: Waxing

AN: So sorry that I did not update all summer. So many odd things occurred, and I didn't succeed in achieving all the things I originally planned. And to elaborate as well, I plan to update once a month now, and hopefully it will be rather regular yet again. So sorry about the delays! ~Shara