Emily drizzled maple syrup on her waffles. Crumbs of food littered the stacked plates next to her. Glasses of milk and syrup bottles clung to the side of the table. Shiyu watched Emily gorge herself, not bothering to use any silverware as she shoved a waffle into her mouth. Rachel scratched her head, then glanced at Elijah as he held his cigarette.
"Where the hell are you putting all that, kid? Got a damn black hole for a stomach," Elijah jested.
Emily burped, then grabbed another plate.
"Good thing the pilgrimage isn't a food-eating competition," Shiyu said.
Emily chugged down a glass of milk.
Rachel's eyes drifted toward the ceiling.
"What's wrong with you?" Elijah asked.
Rachel shook her head.
"I can't shake the feeling that I forgot something."
"Your rapier?"
"No, that's back in my hotel room."
Emily wiped her mouth with her arm. "Like a wallet?"
"No."
"A family heirloom?"
"Nope."
Emily shrugged, then grabbed another plate of waffles.
"Well, at least we know what motivates her," Shiyu said.
Emily belched, then chuckled as she poured syrup onto the next plate of waffles.
Elijah stood up from his chair. "Think I'm going to take a little walk, Rachel... got a minute?"
Rachel nodded, then looked at Shiyu. "We will be back."
Elijah flicked his cigarette ash as they left the mall.
"What's on your mind?" Rachel asked.
"It's about our waffle-obsessed orphan," he replied. "Have you noticed anything unusual about her?"
"?ǝɔı̣ʇou ǝɥ pı̣p uǝɥM"
"What do you mean by unusual?"
"You know exactly what I mean. Don't you find it weird that she is just good at everything she does?"
Rachel shrugged, then rubbed her neck. "Untapped potential?"
Elijah shook his head. "Sure, but Sarah is the best musician in all of Tyrial, and she just mopped the floor with her with no training. She has no experience in fencing, and she made you question if she had training. Don't you find that odd?"
"˙ǝʌɐɥ pןnoɥs I"
"Probably why the ENGINE selected her as a chosen. They say it can see what others can't."
Elijah leaned on the wall, then lit another cigarette. "Yeah... but what happens if she keeps being good at everything... what then?"
"Not sure if I am following?"
"Let me put it this way. There is a Sage following her around, certain she is the next PRIME. The ENGINE specifically watched her play her cello in the streets, and statistically, the white mask is the most likely to become the next PRIME. You following now?"
Rachel shrugged. "So the odds are in her favor... what about it?"
"Alright... think of it this way. If you had to fight her for real...do you think you would win?"
"That's an odd question... we are a team."
"Yes, we are... but hypothetically, if it came down to it. Do you think you could beat her, given what you've now seen?"
"Of course... she's no pushover, but I am a trained fighter. Experience beats natural talent every time."
"Are you sure? Sarah, by all definitions, should have beaten Emily, but that didn't happen. Emily said it herself... self-taught... nobody taught her how to play a cello like that."
"That's different."
"Is it?" Elijah asked as he flicked his cigarette.
"I."
"You don't gotta answer it... just something to think about. I've seen a lot of stuff in my time, but there's just something...off about our little orphan."
"You think the trend will continue, is that it?"
Elijah lit another cigarette. "I don't think... I know it will."
"˙ʇǝq ʇsǝq ʎɯ sı̣ ǝH"
"How is that?"
"In my line of work, you learn to trust your instincts. And my instincts are screaming that we haven't even scratched the surface of what that kid can do."
Rachel spotted Emily and Shiyu walking down the sidewalk. She nudged Elijah then leaned next to him.
"Let's continue this later," Rachel whispered.
"Hope we are not interrupting anything?" Shiyu asked.
Emily yawned, then ran her hands through her hair.
"Are you finally full?" Elijah asked.
Emily nodded and smiled. "Best meal ever, now I just want to hibernate for a million years."
Rachel rubbed her neck and smiled. "It is getting late."
"We are driving to Tyrial tomorrow. Be up by noon, or you're walking," Elijah said.
Emily groaned. "Fine... but someone probably should wake me up. I am going to sleep like a bear."
"I will make sure of it," Shiyu replied. "Any word on Sasha or the others by chance?"
Elijah shook his head. "Haven't seen them since the ballroom. Probably strategizing, but we can deal with that when we get to Tyrial."
Rachel nodded. "Agreed... no sense worrying about them."
"Well, I am heading to my room. I am exhausted," Emily replied.
Emily lumbered down the cobblestone streets of Leonore. Her white mask glowed underneath streetlights and the star-speckled sky. Her muscles ached as if she had worked out all day; each step felt like walking through quicksand. She dragged her legs up the hotel stairs, eyes half open as she opened her hotel room door.
"Fucking love waffles," Emily mumbled to herself as she flicked the light on.
She gazed around her room, then headed towards the bathroom.
"Probably should finish writing that song. Eh, I will do it later."
The bathroom light flickered on without her flipping the light switch.
Water poured from the faucet as Emily gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She splashed water on her face, then reached for a towel hanging on the door without moving from the sink. Emily rubbed her eyes, then got undressed.
Her reflection did not.
She turned on the shower. Hot water dripped from her pale skin, swirling around her feet. Emily gazed up at the ceiling. Bubbles of water floated in the air. Mulberry ink trickled down the shower curtain. Emily grabbed a bar of soap underneath the shower faucet.
"I wake up where the city numbs," Emily sang.
"Empty stomach, hunger drums."
"Thread and needle in merchant's hands."
"She promises what I can't understand."
"ℳ𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝒻𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒻𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓈. ℐ'𝓂 𝒷𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒."
Emily dropped the bar of soap. It vanished as it made contact with the mulberry ink.
"Damnit, where did I put it?"
Water dripped from her teal highlights as she looked around the shower.
"Eyes like hunger, tangled hair," she sang as she stepped out of the shower, towel wrapped around her body.
The shower turned off on its own.
"Every window shows what I could be."
"If someone would just notice me."
She smiled and laughed as she noticed the soap in the sink. "How the hell?"
She shrugged, then grabbed the soap.
"Oh, the sirens sing in frequencies high."
"Painting tomorrow in starlight."
"ł₣ ɎØɄ Ⱡł₴₮Ɇ₦ ₵ⱠØ₴Ɇ, ₮ⱧɆɎ'ⱠⱠ ₮ɆⱠⱠ ɎØɄ ₮Ⱨł₴."
The shower turned back on as she walked back. She placed the soap back where she found it.
"𝒮𝑒𝓌𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝒶 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈."
The towel returned to its original position just as she stepped back into the shower.
"Stitched with dreams I can't possess."
"Chosen faces fade away."
"In a sky that never sees day."
"Sewn in a bright star dress."
The shower turned off as Emily rubbed her hands through her wet hair. The towel wrapped around her as she left the shower.
"𝒲𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑜 𝑜𝓇𝓅𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝑔𝑜 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉?"
Her reflection watched her walk past. She left the bathroom after getting dressed. The lights stuttered and flickered before turning off.
"The needles pierce and leave their mark."
"ℬ𝒾𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝑜 ℐ 𝒶𝓇𝑒."
Emily gazed out her hotel window. Her eyes drifted towards the ENGINE.
"A future wrapped in future's cost."
"Breathing hope for what I've lost."
"You called me rat, called me scum."
"𝒩𝑜𝓌 ℐ 𝒶𝓂 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒𝓃. 𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 ℐ 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒?"
Emily rubbed her face as she closed the blinds, then sat on the side of her bed. She grabbed her notebook from her hoodie pocket.
"Your voice hums like the ENGINE's call," she wrote in her notebook as she hummed a tune.
"Echoing truths that make me small."
"Oh, the sirens sing in frequencies high."
"Painting tomorrow in starlight."
"If you listen close, they'll tell you this."
The lights flickered overhead before she closed her notebook. She looked up at the ceiling, eyes fixated on the ceiling light. Warm amber light was all it emitted.
"Sewn in a bright star dress."
"Stitched with dreams I can't possess."
"Sewn in a bright star dress."
"In a sky that never sees day."
"Sewn in a bright star dress."
The light overhead flickered mulberry as she yawned. She then put her notebook on the nightstand, closed her eyes, and fell asleep. The light turned off.